Wouldn’t it be nice to hear all the lovely things friends and family might say about us at our funeral? Isabelle Aron meets five people – some with a terminal diagnosis – who have done just that
Picture the scene: all your friends and family have gathered together to celebrate your life. They share heartfelt tributes about how much you’ve meant to them and they laugh together at memorable moments. Some use it as a chance to say the things they wish they’d said to you earlier. This probably sounds like a regular funeral, but what if there was one crucial difference? What if the person on the receiving end of this outpouring of love were still alive and able to attend?
Living funerals, which are also known as pre-funerals, offer a chance for people to say goodbye to their friends and families on their own terms and to celebrate their life while they are still alive. It’s not an entirely new concept. Living funerals started gaining popularity in Japan in the 1990s, where they’re known as seizenso (“funeral while living”), with the idea that it would take the pressure off family members or friends organising a funeral after someone had died. The practice has also taken off in South Korea. In 2019, 25,000 people took part in a mass living funeral to face their mortality and embrace living.
