Our Mother, Val Doonican & Omar Sharif
The Urge to Dignify Death After a death comes a funeral, pretty much anywhere in the world.The urge to dignify the passing somehow means that we try to despatch the departed loved one with a ritual. In Victorian times, certainly in London, it took as long as possible and 'death-bed' scenes were strung out with weeping and wailing. There were specific words, rituals and keepsakes known as 'memento mori'. Unless you work in a funeral parlour or something, the language of death, arriving right slap in the rawness of your grief, comes as an experience both surreal and funny. The first thing that happens, in Britain at any rate, is that your family doctor certifies that the recently departed is actually dead, and there's nothing suspicious about it. The Doctor's Jaunty Tie In our case, the family doctor had been calling daily throughout the final week of my mother's life. The visit was strangely similar to the day before's, except that he arrived wearing a ...