We say prayers for the family that they will heal from their loss. We pray for the soul of the deceased, and we ask God’s mercy. Not everyone sings hymns at a funeral, but if the funeral is held in a church we often sing the favorite hymns of the person who died. Many times the deceased have made the selections ahead of time. The practical use of doing something together when someone close to you has passed away is that it helps you to support each other and get through the grieving process. Endorphins are released when singing, which is also helpful. This is the true, and maybe sometimes unconscious, reason. The religious answer might be to help the deceased’s soul through Purgatory, if you’re Catholic, or to beseech God to have mercy on his or her soul. This aspect is of course not true, as it’s based on myth, but it still helps the survivors through the grieving process. Hymns and prayers are said to remind and encourage the survivors that they can one day be re-united with the deceased. It is a reflection on our beliefs about God and the part death plays in life.

All actions at a funeral are to help the living come to closure with their feelings about and with the passed person. Often this is not the final moment in closure.

There is a history of a (mourning period) where duration in many cultures ranges from days to a closure point defined by an elder