Funerals,Family,and Forefathers: A View of Italian-American Funeral Practices

Abstract

Italian-American funeral practices have received little attention in the literature. This study deals with this gap by tracing the evolution of funeral practices from the Old World, preimmigrant culture of the southern Italian to the contemporary New World funeral practices of Italian-Americans reflective of the so-called American way of death.

The article is structured around the thesis that the author's own family experience of the ritualistic observance of death had its roots in Old World customs and traditions, was subsequently modified by American social patterns, secularism, industrialization, and funeral customs, and was further shaped by particular psychosocial family dynamics.

The concluding section compares the author's personal experience of Roman Catholic home funerals with the larger societal practices described.

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