NBE Glossary: History of Funeral Directing & Embalming

Natron

A combination of salts found in dry lake beds of the dessert and used by early Egyptians in preparation of bodies.

Ogee Design

A design introduced to square sided caskets in order to reduce the excess space and weight, particularly of metal caskets.

Pagan

A follower of a polytheistic religion.

Effigy

A life-sized, waxen recreation of the deceased; often used at state funeral because the body of the deceased should be present for the funeral, but could not be preserved for that length of time.

Selected Independent Funeral Homes

A limited, invitation-only membership funeral service organization formed in 1917 on the basis of one member firm per city.

Funeral Service Foundation

A national organization which advances professionalism in funeral service and enhances public knowledge and understanding through education and research.

American Monument Association

A national trade association representing the major granite and marble memorial manufacturers and quarries throughout the United States.

Chadwick's Report

A report published in 1843 on unsanitary conditions in London created by intramural burials and the high cost of funerals.

Funeral Trolley Car

A specially designed train car run on a city's trolley line to transport casket and mourners to cemeteries on the outskirts of the city.

Inviter to Funerals

A specialty connected with funerals in colonial America; called personally upon those expected to attend funerals.

Monument Builders of North America

AN international trade association of persons and firms in the memorial industry.

International Order of the Golden Rule

AN organization of independent, family-owned funeral homes established in 1928, whose mission is to build and support member interaction, information exchange and professional business development through a wide range of programs, services, and resources.

Jewish Funeral Directors of America

An association which guides, aids, and supports members in honoring the deceased and comforting the bereaved by preserving, promoting, and practicing the customs and traditions of the Jewish funeral.

National Concrete Burial Vault Association

An organization of concrete burial vault manufacturers, ***** primary purpose is to provide a unified voice for the concrete burial vault industry, and to continually research and develop, then specify and promote minimum performance standards.

Circle of Necessity

Ancient Egyptian belief that the soul of the deceased would make a 3000 year journey and return tot he body.

Mound Burial

Ancient Viking custom; after deceased was placed in his boat with items necessary for the spirit to maintain the position held on earth, all was cremated and the pyre then covered with earth.

Layers out of the Dead

Became an occupational specialty practiced by women in many larger US cities by the end of the 18th century; predecessor or the undertaker.

Bloodletting

Belief or practice of draining a quantity of blood to cure illness or disease.

Extramural Burial

Burial outside the walls of the city; concept introduced during the ancient Roman times.

Restorative Art

Care of the deceased to recreate natural form and color. Joel Crandall is credited with developing the specialty in 1912; known as the father of restorative art.

Style 'E' State Coffin

Casket designed for President Ulysses S. Grant by Stein Coffin Co. in 1885 which helped elevate acceptance of cloth-covered caskets.

Purgatorial Doctrine

Catholic belief that those whose souls are not perfectly cleansed undergo a process of cleansing before they can enter heaven.

Sexton

Church caretaker who had responsibility for church property, ringing of bells and digging of graves in the churchyard cemetery.

Praeco

Crier, A special funeral functionary in ancient Rome who summoned participants to a public funeral.

Direct Disposition

Disposition of human remains without any rites or ceremonies with the body present.

Immediate Burial

Disposition via earth burial without any form of funeral rite at the time of disposition with the body present.

Professional Mourners

Due to fear that the dead might be jealous, the ancient Romans and Greeks hired persons to shriek, tear their hair and rend garments, ect. in order to insure adequate display of emotion.

Life Signals

Due to the fear of premature burial, many early American coffins were designed and patented with a method to alert the living if someone was buried alive.

Sarcophagus

Early Egyptians cut massive coffins from a single mass of stone to protect from grave robbers.

Animistic View

Early Roman view of the afterlife which emphasizes the soul as the vital principle. (The soul at death hovered around the place of burial and required constant attention of the descendants to be happy. Neglect would bring evil upon them.)

Anubis

Egyptian god of embalming said to be of human form with the head of a jackal.

Osiris

Egyptian god of the underworld and judge of the dead.

Crier

English custom of Middle Ages which lasted until the 19th century; person who walked the street calling out the name of the deceased and asking people to pray for the soul of the departed.

National Association of Colleges of Mortuary Science

Established in 1942 as an organization for privately sponsored schools with the goal of advancement of mortuary education.

Undertakers Mutual Protective Association

First formal organization of undertakers; kept a black book of objectionable and delinquent customers to be shared among members only.

Bier

Forerunner of today's hearse; a hand stretcher on which the uncoffined body was carried tot he grave.

Leagues of Prayer

Formed in Middle Ages by laypersons to bury the dead and to pray for the souls of the faithful departed.

Cremation Association of North America

Founded in 1913, CANA is an international organization of cemeteries, crematories, funeral directors, industry suppliers, and consultants.

Casket

From the French term "casse" meaning 'jewel box' or container for something valuable. Came into dominant use in patent literature for burial receptacle in 1890's in America.

Coffin

From the Greek word 'kofinos'; utilitarian container designed to hold human remains, often anthropoidal in shape.

Adaptive Funeral

Funeral rite that is adjusted tot he needs and wants of those directly involved; altered to suit the trends of the time.

Obsequies

Funeral rites or burial ceremonies.

Burial Case

Genetic term used in America to designate all burial receptacles as new variations of the coffin were being offered.

Libitinarius

Head undertaker in ancient Rome; the secular role model for today's funeral director; conducted his business at the temple of Libitina where death were also registered.

Cortege

Historical term for funeral procession.

Anthropoid

Human shaped; some early coffins were described as anthropoidal shaped.

International Cemetery, Cremation, and Funeral Association

International trade association representing all segments of the cemetery, funeral service, cremation, and memorialization profession.

Canopic Jars

Jars made of alabaster, limestone, basalt, clay, and other materials used by the early Egyptians to store viscera of the deceased.

Funeralis

Latin for torchlight procession; word 'funeral' is derived from this.

Necropolis

Literally means 'city of the dead', cemeteries located on the west bank of the Nile River, they included mortuary temples and residences of mortuary workers.

Trocar

Long hollow tube patented in 1868 by Samuel Rogers of Philadelphia; used by embalmers to inject fluids into cavities and remove excess liquids.

Designator

Master of ceremonies and director of the ancient Roman funeral procession.

Hand Pump

Method to apply a continuous flow of embalming solution via manual manipulation of a handheld mechanism instrument resembling a large hypodermic syringe attached to a bottle apparatus.

Funeral Feast

Middle Ages, the wake also served as a feast to welcome the principal heir to his new estate.

Soul Shot

Mortuary fee paid to insure entrance of the decedent's soul into heaven.

Pollinctores

Name of the ancient Roman embalmers. They were either slaves or employees of Libitinarius.

International Conference of Funeral Service Examining Boards

Organization of licensing agencies in North America. Provides examination services, information, and regulatory support to funeral service licensing boards, educators, and government bodies.

American Board of Funeral Service Education

Organization with responsibility to accredit funeral service and mortuary science programs.

Burial Club

Organizations intended to assist people of the working classes, particularly guild members, to defray the heavy expenses of the funeral and to perpetuate the memory of dead friends; costs were shared by others via weekly collections; were the forerunners of industrial insurance.

National Funeral Directors and Morticians Association

Organized in 1924 as the Independent National Funeral Directors Association; established to represent specific interests of African-American funeral directors.

University Mortuary Science Education Association

Organized of college and university-based funeral service programs established in 1961.

Undertaker

Original term applied to those whose occupation included responsibility to organize and facilitate funeral activities; used by some for the term funeral director.

Wake

Originated as an ancient Hebrew practice, family and friends sit with the deceased as a precaution against premature burial.

Catacombs

Originated in ancient Rome as excavated cemeteries cut out of soft rock for the tombs of wealthy Christians; later became a place for religious rites to avoid persecution.

Burial Vault

Outer enclosure for caskets placed in the grave; originally intended to prevent grave robbery.

Fisk Metallic Coffin

Patent in 1848 as form-fitting, airtight metallic coffin designed to improve ability to preserve the body; also had a glass plate to allow for viewing of the face.

Cooling Board

Portable table on which the deceased was placed and used in conjunction with the corpse cooler; later became the embalming table when embalming was done in the home of the deceased.

Funeral Service Bureau of America

Promoted the study and use of cost accounting methods to foster the business interests of its members and to help dispel the aura of mystery that was felt to exist it the public mind regarding the business of funeral directing.

Funeral Undertaker

Provided services of organizing and facilitation funeral details as an occupation.

Furnishing Undertaker

Provided supplies and merchandise to funeral undertakers who were dealing directly with the public.

Catafalque

Raised platform used for a body to lie in state.

Mystery Cults

Religious/Philosophical belief of the ancient Greeks and Oriental East emphasizing spiritual aspects of the afterlife and the hope of joining the cult god in a wonderful existence in eternity.

Casket and Funeral Supply Association of America

Represents the interests of funeral service suppliers; its members manufacture or distribute virtually every type of product used by funeral directors.

Burial in Woolen Act of 1666

Required that woolen cloth be substituted for linen in the shroud an lining of the coffin; was an attempt to shift the use of imported linen to the expanding paper industry of England and provide customers for the wool industry.

Trade Embalmer

Term originated when some of the original graduates of early embalming courses gave up regular employment with a single firm to provide embalming service to firms which had no trained embalmer.

Libitina

The ancient Roman goddess of corpses and funerals.

Catholic Cemetery Conference

The oldest and largest Catholic cemetery association servicing Catholic cemeteries nationally and internationally.

National Funeral Directors Association

The oldest and largest national association of funeral directors and embalmers organized in 1882, that provides advocacy, education, information, products, programs, and services to help members enhance the quality of services to families.

Cremation

The reduction of a dead human body to inorganic bone fragments by intense heat in a specifically designed retort or chamber.

Barber-Surgeon

The sole trade permitted to embalm and perform anatomical dissections in the city of London.

Elysian Fields

The version of heaven in Greek mythology.

Hearse

Today, a vehicle specifically designed to transport casketed remains.

Drummers

Traveling salesman who went from town to town selling their products. Early embalmers often obtained their products and training in this manner.

Corpse Cooler

Type of ice chest placed over the torso of the deceased in order to slow down the process of decomposition prior to the funeral.

Undertaker's Buggy

name given to the vehicle used by undertakers to transport the necessary mortuary paraphernalia to the homes where funerals were typically held. These vehicles sometimes had an appearance similar to a hearse, but were much less ornate.