A Century of Funeral Change in Burial Practices: From Church Burial to Cremation Without a Ceremony

Abstract

The changes in funeral practices in Czech society which occurred during the 20th century were more significant than those that took place during the whole of the second millennium. Traditional Roman Catholic Christian funerals which were performed at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries are described as a starting point from which the focus moves to a study of the major changes from the onwards. The first half of the 20th century was specific in the emergence of cremation. The Communist era was characterized by a huge expansion in the popularity of cremation as well as by a significant increase in the proportion of secular funerals. Contemporary Czech funeral practices can be seen as a direct continuation of those of previous generations and are noteworthy in terms both of having one of the highest cremation rates in Europe and, even more strikingly, the extraordinarily high rate of cases (around one quarter to one third) in which no funeral ceremony is held at all for the deceased.