Funerals, State

A state funeral is a public event held in honor of a figure of national significance—most commonly heads of state. There is no legal requirement for a funeral, as burial or cremation can be arranged without any service or congregation, but the continuing popularity of the ceremony is testament to its efficacy as a ritual focus.

The funeral is a liminal event; a rite of passage with coded behavior experienced outside of routine and in the realm of social transition. The immediate nature of rites of passage, and their concrete expression of ephemeral reality, serve as a vehicle for heightened emotions. Although mourning varies from culture to culture, common elements of the ritual practice are (a) the expression of community, (b) the reestablishing of social order, and (c) public expression of private grief.

The Expression of Community

State funerals, due to their civic dimension, enact social transition beyond the private grief of bereaved family and friends. As political rituals, state funerals serve as evidence of value integration, an expression of integration, a mechanism of integration, and a means to constitute integration.

There are a range of performance elements within state funerals, including lying in state, the funeral procession, the funeral service, and the burial, all of which can be used to signal particular cultural values. It is possible to view the state funeral as a performance-based expression of social belief. As such, state funerals are “theaters of power” that function as an occasion to mythologize an individual in a manner that serves the social group.

Mourning rituals of ancient Rome demonstrate the mythologizing of the individual within the context of the community. The accomplishments of the deceased were celebrated with those ancestors. Often elaborate funeral processions took place with hired mourners and a funeral oration that served to publicly reaffirm shared cultural values. The Roman funeral celebrated loyal service in public office and can be seen to honor both the individual and the authority of the state. Katherine Veredery identifies the continuing politicization of the dead body, suggesting that contemporary nation-states also use a funeral event as an opportunity to review national history through the lens of an individual life.

The founders of the United States initially avoided the pageantry of state funerals due to the resonances with British rule. Although William Henry Harrison was the first American president to die in office, Abraham Lincoln's funeral in 1865 is observed as a seminal ceremony, as technology allowed the news to spread quickly across the country, encouraging national, collective mourning. Lincoln was not a popular president, but his death occasioned the rehabilitation of his reputation.

Funerals are powerful rites of reconciliation that may dispel controversy and promote a sense of public accord. In death, Lincoln represented a martyr, and his assassination was seen as an attack on the American people. It is noteworthy that the grandeur of Lincoln's funeral represented an attempt to use the occasion as a restatement of American values. The organizers sought to reach [Page 493]out to as wide an audience as possible and allow for a sense of catharsis through engaging the drama of the funeral rite. Lincoln actually had a number of funerals. His body travelled via a funeral train that stopped in 12 cities where the body lay in state, as well as passing through many more where people gathered on station platforms to mark his passing. A number of local ceremonies took place along the route, with community members constructing their own memorials. Thus, Lincoln's funeral is an example of a stateorchestrated event that was used to mediate between local and federal authorities.

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