Funeral director
A funeral director, also known as a mortician or undertaker, is a professional involved in the business of funeral rites. These tasks often entail the embalming and burial or cremation of the dead, as well as the planning and arrangement of the actual funeral ceremony. Funeral directors may at times be asked to perform tasks such as dressing (in garments usually suitable for daily wear), casketing (placing the human body in the container), and cossetting (applying any sort of cosmetic or substance to the viewable areas of the person for the purpose of enhancing appearances).
Role in the United States
In the US, most modern day funeral homes are run as family businesses. The majority of morticians work in these small, independent family run funeral homes. The owner usually hires two or three other morticians to help them. Often, this hired help is in the family, perpetuating the family's ownership. Other firms that were family-owned have been acquired and are operated by large corporations such as Service Corporation International, though such homes usually trade under their pre-acquisition names.
Most funeral homes have one or more viewing rooms, a preparation room for embalming, a chapel, and a casket selection room. They usually have a hearse for transportation of bodies, a flower car, and limousines. They also normally sell caskets and urns.[1]
Organizations and licensing in the United States
In the United States, the individual states each have their own licensing regulations for funeral directors. Most require a combination of post-secondary education (typically an associate's degree), passage of a National Board Examination,[2] passage of a state board examination, and one to two years' work as an apprentice.[3]
Employment opportunities
Mortuary science graduates may have to relocate to find jobs.[1]
In media
- The TV series Six Feet Under was about a family-owned funeral home and the family's life.
- In the Anime/Manga Kuroshitsuji/Black Butler, there is a character named The Undertaker, who is a funeral director in Victorian London.
- In the movie My Girl and its sequel My Girl 2, Harry Sultenfuss owns and runs a funeral parlor in his house.
- "Ask a Mortician" web series, hosted by mortician Caitlin Doughty, gives a humorous take on death topics that promotes death acceptance and alternative funerals practices.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Funeral Directors." Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2006-07 Edition. 4 Aug, 2006. Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor. 8 Dec, 2008. <http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos011.htm>
- ↑ theconferenceonline.org, Students' NBE
- ↑ American Board of Funeral Service Education, Frequently Asked Questions
External links
 |
Wikiquote has quotations related to: Undertakers |
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Funeral directors. |
- Funeral Director, Find a UK Funeral Director
- Funeral Supplies Funeral Supplies [EU]
- International Cemetery, Cremation and Funeral Association, Virginia, US
- National Funeral Directors Association, Wisconsin, US
- National Funeral Directors & Morticians Association, Inc., Georgia, US
- Funeral Advice, Funeral Advice UK
- Six Feet Under, a TV series dealing with the life of a family that runs a funeral home
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
