Coffins in Finland: the history of production, design and attitudes

Abstract

Coffins as death-related objects have changed in Finland during the past 150 years and the Finnish funeral industry has been created to answer the changing needs of customers. No longer do people build coffins in the household, or only buy a coffin and some other items from the funeral company: now professionals manage entire funerals. Coffin designs have become simpler and less socially discriminating and the colour formerly reserved for children and young people, white, has become the most popular colour for a coffin. Attitudes towards coffins have also changed, from mild dislike of having a coffin in the home to general demand of hiding coffins even in funeral companies’ premises. Magical fears have been replaced by psychological explanations for avoiding coffins, where public funerals have been replaced by private mourning. In an until recently relatively poor and agrarian country these developments have been somewhat faster in Finland than in many other Western European countries, suggesting a publicly expressed need to modernise the nation in matters of death can be found.