How do funerals allow people to respond to death?

Answers will vary. Funerals provide an organized way of responding to death that is tied to religious custom and cultural tradition. They offer family and community a ritual that allows them to grieve publicly and say farewell to the person who died. Funerals grant a kind of closure that can help observers begin to move on with their lives. Family members of the deceased decide how simple or elaborate they prefer the funeral to be, whether they want embalming, and whether the deceased's body should be buried or cremated. Sometimes these matters are spelled out by religious or family custom. Sometimes family members fight over them.