Merry Christmas!

 

From our family to yours, we hope you have a wonderful Christmas and a very Happy New Year!  

- Sonoran Skies Mortuary

Candy, Neal, TJ & Jessica 

Glossary of Funeral Terminology

We understand that it can be difficult to navigate through planning or pre-planning a funeral. We find that it is typically something people have never done before. Some terms can be confusing, even if you may have heard them before. For your convenience, here is a list of common funeral terms and their meanings.

Aftercare - A term used to refer to the various services (final arrangements) that are available from a funeral home or crematory following the death of a loved one. 

Air Tray - A transfer container consisting of a wooden tray with a cardboard covering for the casket.

Alternative Container - An unfinished wood box or other non-metal receptacle often made of fiberboard, pressed wood or composition materials, and generally much lower in cost than caskets.

Anatomical Donation - A donation of a human body to take effect after the donor’s death for the purpose of research or education. No part of the body is made available for transplant.

Arrangement Conference - A meeting in which the funeral home staff gathers with the family of the deceased to make funeral arrangements.

Arrangement Room - A room in the funeral home used to make the necessary funeral arrangements with the family of the deceased.

At need - These are funeral arrangements made directly following a death.

Autopsy - An examination of the body after death by a medical examiner, usually with such dissection as will expose the vital organs for determining the cause of death or the character and extent of changes due to disease or injury.

Burial - Placing of remains in an underground chamber, usually in a cemetery.

Burial Permit - A certificate issued by local government authorizing ground burial or entombment of the deceased.

Burial Vault - A lined and sealed unit that is specifically engineered to support the weight of the earth grave as well as the heavy equipment that passes over it.

Casket - A container made of wood, metal or plastic into which the body is placed for interment. Caskets are sometimes referred to as "coffins."

Cemetery - Land specifically used as a burial ground for the dead.

Cemetery Services - Opening and closing graves, set up for services, crypts or niches, setting grave liners and vaults, setting markers, and long-term maintenance of cemetery facilities and grounds.

Chapel - A large room in the funeral home in which the funeral or memorial service is held.

Columbarium - A room or building with compartments for funeral urns to be stored. They are like a mausoleum, but specifically designed to house cremated remains.

Combination Unit - A particle board box with a cardboard tray and cover to satisfy air shipping regulations.

Committal Service - A brief service of prayers or readings at the graveside during or prior to the burial of the casket.

Cosmetology - Use of cosmetics to restore appearance to the deceased.

Cremation - Exposing remains and the container encasing them to extreme heat and flame and processing the resulting bone fragments to a uniform size and consistency.

Cremation Permit - A certificate issued by local government authorizing cremation of the deceased.

Cremation Urn - A container to hold cremated remains. An urn can be placed in a columbarium or mausoleum, buried in the ground, or some other significant spot.

Crematory - A building which houses a cremation chamber called a retort.

Crypt - A vault or chamber used for housing remains.

Death Certificate - A legal document signed by the attending physician showing the cause of death and other vital statistical data pertaining to the deceased.

Direct Cremation - A disposition of human remains by cremation without formal viewing, visitation or ceremony with the body present.

Disinter - To remove the remains from their place of interment.

Display Room - The room in the funeral home in which funeral merchandise such as cremation urns, jewelry and burial garments and vaults are displayed.

Embalm - The process of preserving a body by means of circulating or placing preservative and antiseptic through the veins, arteries and body cavities.

Endowment Care Fund - Money collected by the cemetery from the purchasers which is placed in trust for the maintenance and upkeep of the cemetery in the future.

Entombment - Burial in a mausoleum.

Eulogy - A brief speech that offers praise and celebrates the life of the person who has passed.

Exhume - To disinter.

Family Room - A large room in the funeral home in which the funeral or memorial service is held.

Flower Car - A vehicle used for the transportation of flower pieces from the funeral home to the church and/or cemetery.

Final Disposition – The final arrangement, generally referring to the decision to choose between burial or cremation.

First Call – The initial call from the family notifying the funeral home of a death and requesting the funeral homes services.

Funeral Home – A business that offers funeral services for the deceased and their families. Also called a mortuary.

Funeral Service – A service commemorating the deceased, with the body present.

Funeral Spray - A collective mass of cut flowers sent to the residence of the deceased or to the funeral home as a floral tribute to the deceased.

Gauge - A measure of thickness of metals used in carbon steel caskets.  20-gauge is the lightest steel commonly used in casket production while 16-gauge steel is the heaviest. 

Grave - A space in the ground in a cemetery for the burial of remains.

Grave Liner or Outer Container - A concrete cover that fits over a casket in a grave. Some liners cover tops and sides of the casket. Others, referred to as vaults, completely enclose the casket. Grave liners minimize ground settling.

Graveside Service - A service to commemorate the deceased held at the cemetery before burial.

Green Burial - Natural burial in a designated park-like area designed for burial in simple wood caskets or none at all. (No embalming permitted, all-natural products, grave marker rules vary according to provider).

Hearse - A motor coach designed and usually used for the transporting of the casketed remains from the place the funeral service is conducted to the cemetery.

Immediate Burial - A disposition of human remains by burial that does not include the use of facilities and staff for any visitation or ceremony, public or private, prior to burial.  The burial will be scheduled at the mutual convenience of the funeral home and cemetery with no family or friends present.

Interment - The burial or final placement of remains.

Inurnment - The placing of cremated remains in an urn.

Lead Car - The vehicle in which a member of the Funeral Home staff rides.  When the procession is formed, the lead car moves to the head and leads the procession to the church and/or cemetery.

Limousine – A luxurious automobile designed to seat five or more persons behind the driver's seat.

Mausoleum - An above ground building in which remains are buried or entombed.

Memorial Donation - A memorial contribution specified to a specific cause or charity, usually in lieu of flowers.

Memorial Folders - Memorial Folders are tributes that are custom designed and passed out to family and friends before the funeral service begins.  Memorial Folders are 3 or 4 pages and can be personalized with pictures, birth and death dates, the order of service, a meaningful prayer, favorite poem, inspirational quote, obituary special bible verse, scripture, or anything else the family would like to include.  When folded, memorial folders measure 4.25" x 5.5." 

Memorial Marker - This is the headstone that marks the space where the deceased has been laid to rest. Typically made of stone and/or metal these markers detail the date of birth and death – and may include symbols, scripture, or tributes.

Memorial Register Book - A guest book to be signed by visitors at a funeral service. It contains signatures of attendees and sometimes personal messages for the family of the deceased.  Also has space for entering other data such as name, dates of birth and death of the deceased, name of the officiating clergyman, place of interment, time and date of service, list of floral tributes, etc.

Memorial Service - A ceremony commemorating the deceased, without the body present.

Morgue - A place in which the bodies of persons found deceased are kept until identified and claimed or until arrangements for burial have been made.

Next-of-Kin - a person's nearest relative; the person who holds the responsibility for making decisions for the funeral on behalf of the deceased.

Niche - A space in a columbarium, mausoleum or niche wall to hold an urn containing cremated remains.

Obituary - It is a notice of a death, typically found in a newspaper, which includes a brief biography of the deceased person and service arrangements.

Outer Burial Container - Any container which is designed for placement in the grave around the casket, including containers commonly known as burial vaults, grave boxes, and grave liners.

Pallbearers - Individuals who are given the honor of carrying the casket, as needed, during funeral service.

Plot - A measured piece of land in a cemetery in which interment rights are purchased by a family or an individual. A plot usually contains two or more graves.

Prayer Cards - Prayer cards are small, business-like cards (they each measure 2.5" x 4.25") with a full color image on the front side, and the back side is blank for you to personalize with your loved one's name, dates of birth and passing, and a befitting prayer, poem, quote, the obituary, or funeral/memorial service details.  A photo may also be added if desired.  Prayer cards are handed out at the beginning of a funeral/memorial service, and many families choose to have extra cards printed to give to those who may have not been able to attend services.

Preparation Room - A room in a funeral home designed and equipped for preparing the deceased for final disposition.

Pre-plan - Funeral arrangements completed by an individual prior to his/her death.  To learn more about pre-planning visit our website.

Procession - The procession is the line of vehicles involved in traveling from the place of the funeral to the cemetery.

Removal - The transfer of human remains from the place of death to the funeral home.

Rental Casket - Casket used as a temporary receptacle for the dead human remains for visitation and funeral, with the intention that the remains will be placed in some other suitable container for permanent disposition.

Scattering Garden - A dedicated section of a cemetery wherein families can scatter the ashes of their loved ones. Urn - A container where cremains are placed.  Usually made of metal, wood or stone. The urn can be buried, placed in niche or taken home with the family.

Vault - A grave liner that completely encloses a casket.

Visitation - This is a time when family and friends take time to view the body of the deceased.

Ziegler case - A gasket-sealed container which can be used as an insert into a casket or a separate shipping container.