Wakes and Visitation

The wake is a watch kept by the living over a deceased person before burial takes place. Formerly held as a matter of course when a death occurred, the wake has become a thing of the past in many Western societies in the course of the last half a century, while in others it has been transformed into a family-centered, semiprivate event. Where it has retained its traditional features and functions, it is a highly structured public event, held in the presence of the deceased, in which the deceased's family, kin, and community take part. The duration of the wake and the extent of the ceremony involved reflects the deceased's status in society and the manner of his or her death. In traditional communities, the circumstances of death are reflected in a ceremonial wake. When a person has died a natural death, the wake can be an elaborate event extending over a couple of days. In the past, where death was due to violence, if death had resulted from drowning, if it had occurred before birth (stillbirth), or if the person remained unbaptized when death intervened, the wake could be a scaled-down affair, or it might even be dispensed with, thus reflecting the perceived anomalous nature of the death and the uncertainty about the deceased's status in the afterlife. Nowadays, the tragic deaths of young and old can be occasions for elaborate religious and public ceremonies and intense public participation in the funerary ritual.

After the moment of death passed, the deceased is usually left undisturbed, with his or her face uncovered for a number of hours to ensure that death has actually occurred and to allow rigor mortis to set in. In some cultures this period is thought of as an interval when the soul makes a number of farewell journeys before returning to the body to bid it a final good-bye as it departs forever from this life. When the person has died at home, the commencement of this period of solitude for the deceased is regarded as the moment when the household commences its preparations for the impending wake. This includes making arrangements for a supply of wake goods, especially food and drink, to be made available in the house, but it can also involve the provision of mortuary clothes for the deceased and the ordering of the coffin. The preparations for the wake also involve the rearrangement of space in the house to cater for the viewing of the corpse by family and community, and to enable people to pray for the deceased. The home will also facilitate the dispensing of hospitality to the wake guests, and, where the customs still prevail, will enable the participants to engage in ritual lamentation for the dead and the performance of wake games or other forms of amusement while the wake is in progress. But as the deceased is the central figure of the wake, he or she has to be prepared and readied for public viewing before the wake can begin.

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