What is the significance of having a bagpipe play at funerals?
373403
'The flowers of the forest' was traditionally played by the highland regiment at the funerals of fallen men.\n\nI suspect that ex-pat scots in america would want a piper to play at their funerals.\n\nIt is traditional to have a piper at a wedding.
760872
You could sing Silent Night...My friend's brother died a while ago and I sang it at his grave
804241
A quick trip to dictionary.com would have saved you from looking silly, there.\n----------------------------\nknoll1  /noʊl/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[nohl] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation\n–noun\na small, rounded hill or eminence; hillock.\n----\nknell  /nɛl/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[nel] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation\n–noun\n1.the sound made by a bell rung slowly, esp. for a death or a funeral.\n2.a sound or sign announcing the death of a person or the end, extinction, failure, etc., of something: the knell of parting day.\n3.any mournful sound.\n–verb (used without object)\n4.to sound, as a bell, esp. a funeral bell.\n5.to give forth a mournful, ominous, or warning sound.\n–verb (used with object)\n6.to proclaim or summon by, or as if by, a bell.
172402
Funerals are about closure. The pain to the people who are still around after a person has passed is able to end, or begin ending.  The present becomes the past and painful experiences become painful memories. \n\nIf you needed to be to your friends funeral because you were immersed in grief Id say go there. If you were ok with your friend dying I would go to  the other funeral to support those who needed you more.
418557
It depends. The funeral can be a "closed casket" if the family requests it or if person died from a trauma that resulted in disfiguration or if there is a lot of deterioration.
610762
There are many good songs that are modern that are good for funerals.  For me I want The Dance by Garth Brooks and Pagan Born by Inkkubus Sukkubus because they fit me and my mentality.  I don't believe cremation is a sin in most religions and it is becoming more popular as times goes by.
341532
I used BibleGateway.com and did a Keyword search for "music" - I got 106 hits from the entire Bible (New International Version), some of which named more than one instrument.  For example, 1 Chronicles 15:16 names lyres, harps and cymbals.\n\nIt might be useful for you to play around with.
1691
The Story of the Umbrella dates back to around 1830, when the black community sang slow spirituals behind a funeral. After the burial the umbrellas were brought out and twirled to lively music, signaling that the soul of the deceased was now in heaven and happiness prevailed.\nTraditional Black (JAZ) funerals treated death as a home coming for the believing departed, so it was and still is in many traditions a celebration\n\nThe umbrella is now a cente4eral theme in most celebrations in Mew Orleans even sporting event etc.
717837
Having respect for people that we love. Also respect for people that can not protect themselves. How would you feel if someone close to you had passed and their remains not respected? I'm sure you would be concerned as well. Are you aware that in a mortuary that from beginning to end the up most respect is used for the deceased?
556750
I believe it would be very appropriate for Taps to be played.  Taps symbolizes a lot with the military and when a deceased serviceman is being honored, he or she should be honored with the well known tune.
496897
Generally a wake is the visitation where people come to pay their respects to the person who died and go through a line to (sometimes) view the body and to talk with the family.  The funeral is the service that honors and remembers the person that died and is like the final resting point for that person.  As far as it being offensive to attended the wake and not the funeral, it depends on how close you are to the family and/or the person that passed away.  I wouldn't consider it rude to go to one and not the other.  And you have to remember, the family of the person who died aren't really going to be thinking about who came to what- their minds are so far away from the "real" world.  And for cultural and spriitual significances for Catholic, I don't know.
681855
Well, some politicians have chosen to be fitted with a device long used by heavy metal singers, it's a form of air compressor resembling certain parts of the bagpipe.  I believe it's called 'the Jobblower' or somesuch.  It allows for continuous singing or oration but, unlike the bagpipe which also allows for long-term noise making, it has no drones.  It does seem to attract them though.  Glad to help!
1140692
jimmy bagpipe macduff. he invented them for the same reasons as people invented guitars or banjos - to make sounds
779009
i actually been to one.  they mourn for the dead person.  they usually sing in a wierd vocal.  u usually kneel for a few hours (hurts!)  they say the biography of the dead person.  then they do some stuff  about purifying i think. (its usually repetetive).  they follow the zodiac on who can face the closing of the coffin.
256435
Maybe a momento to honor the deceased.  Otherwise the only other thing would probably be flowers.
791512
There is one about, The Piper of Dunmail Raise. If you see him it means death to someone you are with.
570583
This is the festival of Beltane, originally celebrated in the religions of the indigious peoples of nothern Europe.\nIt is a festival in which one lights a fire to celebrate the coming of the summer and fertility of the earth.\nHistorically this was a good time for the Christian Inquisitors to find and execute those who followed the old gods - this is probably where the association with death comes from.  Beltane was not a festival associated with major human sacrifces - these festivals would have occured in mid-winter (about the last week of December).\nBeltane is also the maypole festival.  The maypole repesenting an ejaculating penis fertilising the earth.  Some christian churches perform maypole dances which is strange as this is a pagan ritual.\n\n\n"You have an angel on your shoulder but you wear the old god's horns/ And you dance around the maypole while the vicar makes a toast/ to the pagan celebration, and extends an invitation to us all/ so he can save us when we fall."\n- Ian Anderson