What to expect at a Christian funeral

[LoveDareProject]

It's not improper, but if you give it to one of the sons, in his grief, he may forget to give it to the treasurer and it may not get recorded properly.  It just all depends.  Someone gave my $50 for my dad's funeral and I forgot all about it until we were counting the sunshine money to be split, so it's probably in your best interest to give it to the treasurer(s).  I believe this is the same in the traditional funerals as well.

[SummerBerry]

Its always best to give the money to those people who are recording it down vs. family member because they might forget to hand it in later or have it record.

Funeral foods preparation it can be the same rather Christian or not because it really depend on the family expenses and what they want.  I've only been to one Christian funeral so far about a month ago and I have to all the foods there at my grandmother's brother funeral was good.  Some cooked, some take out order from Chinese restaurant, etc.  Some traditional funeral they mainly just have cow cooked and barely anything else.  At my fil's funeral we had all kind of food but nothing too big but just plan that today will be kapoon or fawn served along with the regular dish of cow, pig, etc.  but nothing too much.  Snack, coffee, etc. is there to grab whenever you need it. 

Christian funeral most work are handle by member of their church or other church that are related to the person too.  Traditional is mainly handle by sil, aunt, etc. relatives of the decreased person.

[Believe_N_Me]

As far as the "pe" part of the funeral tradition, it all depends on how extreme the family is about their Christian beliefs.

IMO, I believe the average Hmong Christian doesn't think there's anything wrong with it because it's part of Hmong etiquette. The only reason they stopped doing it is because they're fearful of how the church gatekeepers (the extreme Christians in their congregation) will treat them.  Some people (families) have become so powerful and influential in the church that they practically see themselves as God. 

[megahmong]

I am confused here...dull and lifeless??

do u go to funerals expecting it to be at a club with dubstep music blazing and a DJ spinnin?

its like...moarnin g time...funeral s are supposed to be somewhat of a silent atmoshere.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQ_ScwrJnfY&feature=related

I dunno what kind of funerals you go to but the funerals i go to are actually lively, loud chatter, hysterical cryings, people laughing, joking. I actually have fun at funerals cause I get to meet so many relatives I would not have met if i try to find them on my own!

[thehotone]

Thank you all. Came back and learned something new. They open at 8am, speeches started at 10am till 12pm then lunch and then speech again at 4pm and dinner at 6pm. I however did not like the too many songs they have singing up there and no biography spoken of the deceased except for things from the bible. I also do not like how the family thank the church for their love but not the family members and friends who all came. I was also quite surprise to not hear the Pastor speak against non-Christians. 

Overall, I do like how the church came to cook and relief the family of that duty though the family did make breakfast and snacks for the guests. It was sad to see everyone leaving after dinner that there wasn't alot of us left to zog hmos till midnight so they told everyone to leave early instead.  There wasn't alot of crying so it was a quite burial too. The pastor said to keep it quite and not cry b/c you'll attracted ghosts instead. 

Good thing to know what to expect next time. I was expecting an American receiving and burial but everything is Hmong except there's no qeej and drum.

[LoveDareProject]

Thank you all. Came back and learned something new. They open at 8am, speeches started at 10am till 12pm then lunch and then speech again at 4pm and dinner at 6pm. I however did not like the too many songs they have singing up there and no biography spoken of the deceased except for things from the bible. I also do not like how the family thank the church for their love but not the family members and friends who all came. I was also quite surprise to not hear the Pastor speak against non-Christians. 

Overall, I do like how the church came to cook and relief the family of that duty though the family did make breakfast and snacks for the guests. It was sad to see everyone leaving after dinner that there wasn't alot of us left to zog hmos till midnight so they told everyone to leave early instead.  There wasn't alot of crying so it was a quite burial too. The pastor said to keep it quite and not cry b/c you'll attracted ghosts instead. 

Good thing to know what to expect next time. I was expecting an American receiving and burial but everything is Hmong except there's no qeej and drum.

Sounds like a typical Christain funeral, except for the Pastor saying no crying b/c you'll attract ghosts.  Mostly Christians don't cry a lot b/c they know that their loved ones went to be with God and that someday they will see each other again in heaven.  Most of the time we cry b/c we miss the deceased or b/c it hit us that we will not see that person again this side of Heaven. 

As for the history on the deceased, ONE of the sermons, either the last one or the second to the last is reserved for that... of course, different people do it differently, but from the funerals that I went to, one is dedicated to talking about the person.

[thehotone]

Sounds like a typical Christain funeral, except for the Pastor saying no crying b/c you'll attract ghosts.  Mostly Christians don't cry a lot b/c they know that their loved ones went to be with God and that someday they will see each other again in heaven.  Most of the time we cry b/c we miss the deceased or b/c it hit us that we will not see that person again this side of Heaven. 

As for the history on the deceased, ONE of the sermons, either the last one or the second to the last is reserved for that... of course, different people do it differently, but from the funerals that I went to, one is dedicated to talking about the person.

I actually think "hniav" was forbidden by church goers so they cried but it wasn't like crying cry which made the funeral sad to me b/c no one was crying-cry that their loved one has passed. It felt almost like no one was sad this person died. Everybody just pray, sing and bury and that was it. After the burial, in the old tradition, they invite the guests to the house to eat before they leave but in this Christian funeral, everyone went their own way.

Although, I like it for it simpleness but I also didn't like it b/c there were no traditions to follow. I like the qeej and drum and the hais xis on the last night and there was no words of wisdom for the deceased children or grandchildren at this christian funeral.