History Main / FreakyFuneralForms

* In ''Shadow Operations'', a Star Trek-themed PBEM roleplaying game, the North Plains Olvern Carnora use the bones of their deceased to create objects for use, which allows the dead to remain part of their tribe. Ryramorl has an ocarina-like instrument made from the skull of his brother, who ironically had been an [[DreadfulMusician absolutely terrible singer]]. Ryramorl, however, tells a friend he would rather hear his brother sing for an hour than play the ocarina for five minutes, as it would mean his brother would be still alive.

* In ''Shadow Operations'', a Star Trek-themed PBEM roleplaying game, the North Plane Olvern Carnora use the bones of their deceased to create objects for use, allowing the dead to remain part of their tribe. Ryramorl has an ocarina-like instrument made from the skull of his brother, who ironically had been an [[DreadfulMusician absolutely terrible singer]]. Ryramorl, however, tells a friend he would rather hear his brother sing for an hour than play the ocarina for five minutes, as it would mean his brother would be still alive.

* The Fore people's funerary rituals included eating the dead, which was outlawed by their European rulers. What really killed off this ritual was the discovery that the deadly disease Kuru (which is similar to Mad Cow Disease) was transmitted through this ritual.

[[folder:Folklore]]
* Some iterations of the classic tale of RobinHood go beyond his exploits of robbing from the rich and giving to the poor. After all is said and done, an elderly Robin lay on his death bed, and his final request be that one of his most trusted friends fire a golden arrow from the window of his tower, and be buried wherever it lands.
[[/folder]]

* ''ComicBook/TheSandman'': Citizens of the Necropolis Litharge are expected to know every burial custom and to perform them exquisitely, leaving one trainee a bit nonplussed when he has to dismember a body for [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sky_burial sky burial]] and then have a ritual meal with the corpse's blood on his hands. [[SubvertedTrope However]], when he does so, he finds it contemplative, respectful, and not gross at all.

* In ''{{Anime/Shiki}}'', it's specifically noted that the village of Sotoba is considered odd because they bury their dead instead of cremating them like the majority of bodies in Japan. This ends up being a plot point because that's why the [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Shiki]] decided to set up shop there as it gave them ready access to new thralls.

** The Ssaelit believe that decay is a divine insult that jeopardizes the soul's {{Reincarnation}}, so they burn their dead, [[http://www.casualvillain.com/Unsounded/comic/ch14/ch14_19.html friend or foe]], and find burial disgusting.

** The hyenas practice funereal cannibalism (specifically, they eat the liver of the deceased), which is not only repulsive but actually harmful to her, as she's an herbivore. [[DueToTheDead But he was her friend, and she goes through with it.]]

** The Ssaelit believe that decay is a divine insult that jeopardizes the soul's {{Reincarnation}}, so they burn their dead and find burial disgusting.

* ''Series/{{Community}}'' showcases the [[ChurchOfHappyology Reformed Neo-Buddhism]] funeral practice of storing the dead level 5 member's "life vapors" in an [[Franchise/{{Transformers}} energon]] pod (that looks suspiciously like a lava lamp) until technology to turn the vapors into [[CameBackStrong a new stronger body]] is invented ''twice:'' First in [[Recap/CommunityS2E03ThePsychologyOfLettingGo "The Psychology of Letting Go"]] when Pierce's mother dies and Jeff, having recently confronted his own mortality, tries to ridicule and destroy Pierce's faith, and then in [[Recap/CommunityS5E04CooperativePolygraph "Cooperative Polygraph"]] when [[spoiler:Pierce himself dies.]]

** The hyenas practice funereal cannibalism (specifically, they eat the liver of the deceased), which is not only repulsive but actually harmful to her, as she's an herbivore.

* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'': In ''Discworld/MenAtArms'', we can see that the funeral of a member of the Fools' Guild involves: a clown carrying the urn with the ashes, that clown being slapped with a bladder on a stick by another clown, the slapped clown throwing the contents of the urn into the attacker's pants in retaliation, and the orchestra that is playing in the background getting into a fight after a trombone "accidentally" hits someone. This is all enacted with [[SeriousBusiness complete seriousness]] on the clowns' part.

* ''Literature/JohannesCabal'': It's professional rather than cultural, but {{Necromancer}}s consider it a professional courtesy to obtain each other's remains for HumanResources after their [[TorchesAndPitchforks usually untimely demise]]. Johannes' brother Horst is slightly appalled to learn that he has an old friend in specimen jars, but the friend's spirit is rather pleased to hear of it.