Grave matters: Coffins and caskets in burial customs

Rooted deeply in culture, funeral practices are indicative of the deceased’s religious identity as well as the values and traditions around the dead, in the said religion. Although funerary practices vary from culture to culture and each major religion has its own burial customs, respect for the body is a common denominator across the board. Hinduism believes in cremation.

For Zoroastrians, cremating the dead is seen as polluting nature. They instead practice sky burial, where the corpse is exposed to the sun and left to be consumed by scavenging birds of prey. On the other hand, Abhrahamic religions like Christianity and Islam believe what comes from earth must return to it. In that, people of the two closely related faiths believe in resting the dead six feet under the ground.

However, despite similar burial practices, Islam and Christianity also have certain differences when it comes to funerary customs. In Islam, it’s preferred for the dead to be bathed and buried within 24 hours of passing.

A prayer is held and the corpse is wrapped in a shroud of cloth. There are usually no embalming and neither are there any caskets or coffins involved.

The dead is laid in the ground– facing Mecca– and the body is left join the soil. Whereas, coffins and caskets are centeral to a Christian funeral. They are most notably manufactured in towns like Taxila and Murree, where the Christian population is enormous, and require the craftsmanship of skilled carpenters and casket makers. According to Rommel, a veteran coffin-maker who has been associated with business for over three generations, the cost of a coffin can range from anywhere between Rs5,000 to Rs80,000. “The price depends on how elaborate the coffin is. We have ready-made coffins for emergencies, which are usually cheaper but people also place orders in advance with all kinds of specifications. Considering how detailed the design is, it can take up to five to ten days to build a single coffin.”

Speaking about his process, the old-hand coffin-maker said that in most cases, a high-quality single-ply board and deco-paint is used for a coffin’s outer finish, while foam padding and lush silk covers are added to the interior. “Although it is not part of the Islamic burial practice in general, but there are situations where Muslims too require coffins. It is usually when the body is too mutilated to bury directly. Such as for victims of natural disaster or plane crash. We usually have coffins ranging from six to eight feet for such emergencies,” said Rommel.

Addressing the labour and cost involved in manufacturing coffins, the coffin-maker said that his business has been severely hit by inflation in the last few months. “It takes up to three to four craftsmen to put together a single coffin and we produce anywhere around five to six units in a month.

The increasing price of wood and electricity has made it difficult to meet cost, which makes coffins expensive. However, coffins made from the church’s welfare fund are still provided free of cost to anyone who cannot afford to pay for it,” the veteran coffin-maker told The Express Tribune.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 25^th, 2020.