Coffin
A coffin is a
.Coffins are sometimes referred to as a casket, particularly in American English. Any box in which the dead are buried is a coffin, and while a casket was originally regarded as a
Etymology
First attested in English in 1380,[
The
History
The earliest evidence of wooden coffin remains, dated at 5000 BC, was found in the
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Ancient Egyptian coffin, 1802–1640 BC
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Coffin of prince Liu Wu, covered with jade panels. China, 154 BC
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Plain bespoke stone coffin, circa 7th century
Practices
A coffin may be buried in the ground directly, placed in a burial vault or cremated. Alternatively it may be entombed above ground in a mausoleum, a chapel, a church, or in a loculus within catacombs. Some countries practice one form almost exclusively, whereas in others it may depend on the individual cemetery.
In part of
The handles and other ornaments (such as doves, stipple crosses, crucifix, symbols etc.) that go on the outside of a coffin are called fittings (sometimes called 'coffin furniture' – not to be confused with furniture that is coffin shaped) while organizing the inside of the coffin with fabric of some kind is known as "trimming the coffin".
Cultures that practice burial have widely different styles of coffins. In
Sometimes coffins are constructed to permanently display the corpse, as in the case of the glass-covered coffin of the Haraldskær Woman on display in the Church of Saint Nicolai in Vejle, Denmark or the glass-coffin of Vladimir Lenin and Mao Zedong, which are in Red Square, Moscow and Tiananmen Square, Beijing, respectively.
When a coffin is used to transport a
Design
This section needs additional citations for verification. (January 2020) |
Coffins are traditionally made with six sides plus the top (lid) and bottom, tapered around the shoulders, or rectangular with four sides.[15] Another form of four-sided coffin is trapezoidal (also known as the "wedge" form) and is considered a variant of the six-sided hexagonal kind of coffin.[16] Continental Europe at one time favoured the rectangular coffin or casket, although variations exist in size and shape. The rectangular form, and also the trapezoidal form, is still regularly used in Germany, Austria, Hungary and other parts of Eastern and Central Europe, with the lid sometimes made to slope gently from the head down towards the foot. Coffins in the UK are mainly similar to the hexagonal design, but with one-piece sides, curved at the shoulder instead of having a join. In Medieval Japan, round coffins were used, which resembled barrels in shape and were usually made by coopers. In the case of a death at sea, there have been instances where trunks have been pressed into use as coffins. Coffins usually have handles on the side so they will be easier to carry.
They may incorporate features that claim to protect the body or for public health reasons. For example, some may offer a protective casket that uses a gasket to seal the casket shut after it is closed for the final time. In England, it has long been law[17] that a coffin for interment above ground should be sealed; this was traditionally implemented as a wooden outer coffin around a lead lining, around a third inner shell. After some decades have passed, the lead may ripple and tear. In the United States, numerous cemeteries require a vault of some kind in order to bury the deceased. A burial vault serves as an outer enclosure for buried remains and the coffin serves as an inner enclosure. The primary purpose of the vault is to prevent collapse of the coffin due to the weight of the soil above.
Some manufacturers offer a warranty on the structural integrity of the coffin. However, no coffin, regardless of its construction material (e.g., metal rather than wood), whether or not it is sealed, and whether or not the deceased was
Coffins are made of many materials, including steel, various types of wood, and other materials such as fiberglass or recycled kraft paper. There is emerging interest in eco-friendly coffins made of purely natural materials such as bamboo, X-Board, willow or banana leaf.[18] In the latter part of the 19th century and the early part of the 20th century in the United States, glass coffins were widely sold by travelling salesmen, who also would try to sell stock of the companies making the coffins.[19]
Custom coffins are occasionally created and some companies also make set ranges with non-traditional designs. These include printing or painting of peaceful tropical scenes, sea-shells, sunsets, cherubim, and patriotic flags. Some manufacturers have designed them to look like gym carry bags, guitar cases, cigar humidors, and even yellow dumpster bins. Other coffins are left deliberately blank so that friends and family can inscribe final wishes and thoughts upon them to the deceased. In Taiwan, coffins made of crushed oyster shells[20] were used in the 18th and 19th centuries.[citation needed] In the 1990s, the rock group Kiss released a customized Kiss Kasket, which featured their trademark makeup designs and KISS logo and could also be used as a cooler. Pantera guitarist Dimebag Darrell was buried in one.[21]
Design coffins in Ghana
Design coffins in
Cremation
With the resurgence of cremation in the Western world, manufacturers have begun providing options for those who choose cremation. For a direct cremation a cardboard box is sometimes used. Those who wish to have a funeral visitation (sometimes called a viewing) or traditional funeral service will use a coffin of some sort.
Some choose to use a coffin made of wood or other materials like particle board or low-density fibreboard. Others will rent a regular casket for the duration of the services. These caskets have a removable bed and liner which is replaced after each use. There are also rental caskets with an outer shell that looks like a traditional coffin and a cardboard box that fits inside the shell. At the end of the services the inner box is removed and the deceased is cremated inside this box.
For cremation, glasses must be removed from the deceased.
Industry
Traditionally, in the Western world, a coffin was made, when required, by the village
In modern times coffins are almost always mass-produced. Some manufacturers do not sell directly to the public, and only work with funeral homes. In that case, the funeral director usually sells the casket to a family for a deceased person as part of the funeral services offered, and the price of the casket is included in the total bill for services rendered.
Some funeral homes have small showrooms to present families with the available caskets that could be used for a deceased family member. In many modern funeral homes the showroom will consist of sample pieces that show only the end pieces of each type of coffin that can be used. They also include samples of the lining and other materials. This allows funeral homes to showcase a larger number of coffin styles without the need for a larger showroom. Other types may be available from a catalogue, including decorative paint effects or printed photographs or patterns.
Under a United States federal regulation, 16 CFR Part 453 (known as the Funeral Rule), if a family provides a casket they purchased elsewhere (for example from a United States retail warehouse store, as illustrated here), the establishment is required to accept the casket and use it in the services. If the casket is delivered direct to the funeral home from the manufacturer or store, they are required to accept delivery of the casket. The funeral home may not add any extra charges or fees to the overall bill if a family decides to purchase a casket elsewhere. If the casket was bought from the funeral home, these regulations require bills to be completely itemized.
See also
Notes
- ^ See also berceau, couffin and cophinus at Wiktionary
References
This article needs additional citations for verification. (April 2018) |
- ^ "casket, coffin (nn.)". Columbia Guide to Standard American English. Bartleby.com.
- ^ Mattioli, Dana (Feb 24, 2010). "Casket Makers Dig In as Sales Take Hit". The Wall Street Journal.
- ^ "Departmental Honors" (PDF). Utc.edu. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-06-06. Retrieved 2014-03-10.
- ^ funerals.org. Archived December 27, 2010, at the Wayback Machine.
- ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles. "cophinus". A Latin Dictionary. Perseus Digital Library.
- ^ Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert. "κόφινος". A Greek-English Lexicon. Perseus Digital Library.
- ^ "Palaeolexicon". Word study tool of ancient languages. palaeolexicon.com.
- ^ Wang (1997), 93–96.
- ^ Underhill (2002), 106.
- ^ Legge (2004), 525.
- ^ Watson (2003), 101.
- ^ Mair (1997), 336.
- ^ Luan (2006), 49–55.
- ^ "Bark coffin, National Museum of Australia". Nma.gov.au. Retrieved 2014-03-10.
- ^ "The old days A grave story of coffins". Retrieved 2022-09-29 – via PressReader.
- ^ "Coffin Icon at I Am Decals". www.iamdecals.com. Retrieved 2022-04-28.
- ^ Moloney, Aisling (2017-08-30). "Why was Princess Diana's coffin lined with lead?". Metro. Retrieved 2022-04-28.
- ^ Bamboo Coffins "Coffin-maker resurrects tradition", from BBC Business News, published 2001-12-28
- ^ Meier, Allison C. "Great Glass Coffin Scam: When Hucksters Sold the Fantasy of Death Without Decay". collectorsweekly.com. Retrieved 18 March 2019.
- ^ "Digging up history in Tainan's Science Park". The China Post. 2006-11-30. Retrieved 2014-03-10.
- ^ "Kiss...Forever: Official 'Kiss Kaskets' Let Kiss' Fans Rock and Roll for Eternity". Signatures Network. June 12, 2001. Retrieved May 21, 2006.
- ^ A Deathbed of a Living Man. A Coffin for the Centre Pompidou. Regula Tschumi in Sâadane Afif (ed.), „Anthologie de l’humour noir“, Paris: Editions Centre Pompidou. 2010. p. 56.
- ^ The buried treasures of the Ga. Coffin art in Ghana. Regula Tschumi. Bern: Benteli 2008, pp. 230–31.
- ^ a b Regula Tschumi: The Figurative Palanquins of the Ga. History and Significance, in: African Arts, Vol. 46, Nr. 4, 2013, S. 60–73.
- ^ Roberta Bonetti, Alternate Histories of the Abebuu Adekai, African Arts, autumn 2010, pp. 14–33: Roberta Bonetti reached in 2010 the same conclusion as Regula Tschumi some years before. She actually considers the well-known stories about the origin of the figure-coffins to have been invented: „[...] We have seen how the same criteria of authenticity that were fundamental in documenting the uniqueness and truthfulness of ancient works have been adopted for recent coffins. The proof is provided by the presumed origin of the work, which has become even more precious and exceptional ever since the death of its „invented“ inventor, Kane Kwei“.
- ^ The buried treasures of the Ga. Coffin art in Ghana. Regula Tschumi. Bern: Benteli 2008, pp. 57, 221–22.
Bibliography
- Regula Tschumi: "The Figurative Palanquins of the Ga. History and Significance", in: African Arts, Vol. 46, Nr. 4, 2013, pp. 60–73.
- Roberta Bonetti" Alternate Histories of the Abebuu Adekai". African Arts, Vol. 43, No. 3, 2010, pp. 14–33.
- Thierry Secretan: Going into darkness: Fantastic coffins from Africa. London 1995. [ISBN missing]
- Regula Tschumi: The Buried Treasures of the Ga. Coffin Art in Ghana. Benteli, 2008. ISBN 978-3-7165-1520-4.
External links
- Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 6 (11th ed.). 1911. p. 650. .
- National Museum of Australia Aboriginal bark coffins