Death is something that we all have to deal with. We have all been to burial services in Bergen County, NJ. One thing that every culture has had in common since the dawn of man is that they all have some form of funeral rites, and they have all included these three things: a ceremony, a sacred place of burial and memorials. Neanderthal skeletons have been found in Iraq’s Shanidar cave with antlers and flower fragments near them. This shows evidence of some kind of funeral ritual and memorial that dates all the way back to 60,000 BC. Even with their limited intelligence, Neanderthals still had their own form of burial services. The next progression in burial services occurred at 4000 BC when ancient Egyptians invented embalming, a procedure widely used today. It was only 700 years later that they progressed their mummification. Corpses would look better based on rank and cost. Embalming did not come to America until Civil War times. Many people died miles away from home, and their bodies needed to be preserved to be shipped long distance. The practice of mummification is no longer used, but the mystique of the pharaoh’s curse still lives on. Although there is no evidence that mummies can move around, there were several mysterious deaths that plagued the team of archaeologists that uncovered Tutankhamun’s (better known as King Tut) tomb. In the early days of America,burial services in Bergen County, NJ began in the deceased’s home. People died at an earlier age back then. Because of that death was a lot more common, and the family would use their house’s parlor for the wakes where loved ones could say their goodbyes. These parlors were filled with their best furniture, portraits, pianos and decorations. The rooms themselves were formal and only used for funeral rites. They would then be transported to the church for religious services. There were also superstitions that went along with the body’s transportation. There was a “death door” that went outside. It was bad luck to carry the diseased out of the same door that the living use as it was also bad luck to carry a body feet first. By the mid 19th century, funeral parlors took on the chore of displaying the body so that families did not need to keep loved one’s in their houses. This brought about the new professions of undertakers and morticians, and brought about the types of burial services in Bergen County, NJ that we are familiar with today.
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