‘I’m glad she has her glasses on. That really makes the difference’: Grave goods in English and American death rituals

Abstract

Very little has been written about the inclusion of grave goods in contemporary English or American death rituals. Typically, the study of grave goods has fallen within the spheres of archaeological and anthropological research, with sociological theories of material culture considering how objects left behind by the dead form part of the lives of the bereaved. In this article, the author focuses on the objects that are placed with the recently dead in English and American death rituals. She does so by drawing on data collected from a funeral directors’ establishment in England and a funeral home in the USA. Based on this research, she concludes that the practice of including grave goods, such as clothing, eyewear, jewellery, photographs and letters in English coffins and American caskets is common and that this practice should not be neglected when considering the death rituals of different contemporary Western societies.