How to Perform a Pagan Funeral

It's difficult to generalize about how to perform a pagan funeral, primarily because there are no universally accepted funeral rites or traditions that bind the different pagan categories together. However, if someone you love is a pagan and wants to have a pagan funeral, here are some suggestions on how to pull it off.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Officiant, like a priest or priestess familiar with pagan tradition
• Venue for the funeral
• Body or remains of the deceased
• Decorations and music appropriate for the funeral

1. Find out what pagan tradition the person followed in life, if you don't already know it. Just as a Catholic funeral rite is not suitable for a lifelong Baptist, do not assume that someone who worshiped Egyptian deities would have wanted a neopagan memorial service.

2. See if there is a person who would be willing to officiate at the funeral. Traditional choices for a pagan funeral are the person's family members or friends who are pagans (or sympathetic to their beliefs). He or she may have been a member of a coven, and there may be a priest or priestess willing to perform the funeral. In a pinch, a Unitarian Universalist minister may be available to perform the rites.

3. Locate an appropriate venue for the ceremony. Most pagan funerals are conducted outside. The deceased may have had a special place that felt very spiritual to him or her, like a forest or a seashore, and you may want to hold the funeral at that location.

4. Determine how the person would have wanted his or her body to be taken care of after death. Many pagan traditions use cremation as the preferred way of disposing of a body.

5. Call the corners and watchtowers at the beginning of the ceremony. An essential part of any ritual is calling them to assist. The first corner is the east, symbolized by air, the second is the south, symbolized by fire, the third is the west, symbolized by water and the fourth is the north, symbolized by earth. The watchtowers provide protection for the participants in the ritual.

6. Arrange to have music, colors and other decorations appropriate for the ceremony. This does not have to mimic Judeo-Christian funeral traditions. Their tradition may have specific flowers adorning an altar, candles of a certain color, incense and music from a different culture setting the mood of reverence and respect for the deceased.

7. Pay some kind of tribute to the spiritual being that the person honored in life. He or she may have honored a specific god or goddess, Mother Earth, the life force or another celestial being that symbolized deeply held beliefs.

Tips & Warnings

• Treat the entire ceremony as reverently as you would one in your own tradition. Even if you think that the entire thing is a bunch of hooey, remember that these beliefs were as important to the deceased as your own are to you. Paying the final bit of respect to this person's life is appropriate.
• If holding the ceremony in a public place, find out if you need to have a permit or authorization to do so. You do not need to tell the authorities that it is for a pagan rite if you choose not to. Simply telling them that it is for a memorial service is perfectly acceptable.
• Purple is commonly used for a pagan funeral to symbolize Spirit and the soul.

Resources

• Contact the Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans.