History Main / VikingFuneral

* King Harold is actually given a funeral resembling this after [[{{Pun}} croaking]] at the very beginning of ''WesternAnimation/ShrekTheThird''. It even comes with [[WesternAnimation/{{Rupert}} a choir of singing frogs]] performing his funeral dirge.

* The concept is discussed by a mortician [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQJOs8rm6xM here]], including why it's illegal: a fire on a boat is not actually hot enough to cremate a body, so the result would be a lot of charred corpse chunks washing up on shore. She suggests an alternative: cremate the body in a conventional way, then put the ashes in a small boat and burn that (if the waterway allows it, of course).

* Spoofed in''Series/TheBigBangTheory'' where they have a Viking funeral in the bathtub for Amy and Sheldon's discredited theory.[[/folder]]

* The vikings themselves (duh) as reported by Ahmad ibn Fadlan, though, it was generally reserved only for really remarkable chieftains and warlords. Usually the Norsemen simply either interred their dead or cremated them and interred the ashes. If a boat was used, it usually was a simple rowing boat, and it was often used simply as a casket. The reason is obvious: boats, and more so ships, are expensive investments and of more use in mundane and martial tasks than as funerary implements. To be more practical, the vikings would sometimes instead build fake [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stone_ship Stone ships]] and bury their dead in them, instead of burning real ones. Sometimes, the ship was burned on land and a mound was raised above it. The religious idea behind it was simply that the deceased would travel in the ship to the other side. And sometimes they where buried with a horse so they could ride there.

* ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'', true to its Viking-inspired roots, has one of these for [[spoiler:Kodlak Whitemane]], who is burned on a funeral pyre at [[spoiler:the Skyforge]] following [[spoiler:[[VanHelsingHateCrimes the Silver Hand's attack on Jorrvaskr]]]].

* In ''WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragon2'', a funeral for [[spoiler: [[HeroicSacrifice Stoick, after saving Hiccup at the cost of his own life]]]] is conducted by floating the body out on a boat and lighting it on fire with a flaming arrow, while a eulogy is given mentioning Valkyries welcoming the departed into Valhalla. Somewhat unusually, first Hiccup fires an arrow in the boat...and then everyone else present ''also'' fires a flaming arrow in it, as opposed to the "one arrow per boat" method usually seen.

* In ''WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragon2'', a funeral for [[spoiler: [[HeroicSacrifice Stoick, after saving Hiccup at the cost of his own life]]]] is conducted by floating the body out on a boat and lighting it on fire with a flaming arrow, while a eulogy is given mentioning Valkyries welcoming the departed into Valhalla.

* In ''Film/ThorTheDarkWorld'', Frigga and the others who fell during the dark elves' invasion of Asgard are given a mass funeral, each set out on their own boat and set on fire by arrows.

* An explosive example that occurs in modern times, in ''Film/WonderSeven''. TheLancer of the film has died, and the remaining six members of the titular seven, his FamilyOfChoice, gives him a grand farewell, by strapping his corpse on his beloved motorcycle, send it speeding off a cliff with him on it, and then [[ShootTheFuelTank shooting its fuel tank]] so that the motorcycle blows up while going off the slope, effectively cremating the owner with his prized motorcycle and giving him a grand, final farewell.

* [[spoiler: Ray the firefly's]] funeral at the end of ''Disney/ThePrincessAndTheFrog''. Shortly after that, [[spoiler: [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence he comes back as a star in the sky]] right beside his beloved Evangeline.]]

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* ''Film/BeastsOfTheSouthernWild'': [[spoiler: Hushpuppy gives this kind of funeral for his father, Wink, with her friends and their families, mostly survivors of the storm, watching in respect.]]

* The Silver Horde in ''Discworld/InterestingTimes'' plan to give [[spoiler:Teach]] such a funeral. In fact, they plan to give him every barbarian funeral they can think of.

* Unsurprisingly considering it's a tale of an Arab experiencing Viking culture, two of these feature in the film version of ''Literature/TheThirteenthWarrior'', one near the beginning and one near the end of the film.

* One of the last scenes of Peter Jackson's ''Film/TheFellowshipOfTheRing'' shows Boromir's body laid out in a boat and drifting over the waterfall of the Anduin.

* Cremation on a pyre is the traditional funerary rite for Jedi in the ''Film/StarWars'' films, the most iconic being Darth Vader's at the end of ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi''.

* On ''Manga/OnePiece'', the Straw Hat Pirates do this for the ''Going Merry'', their first ship, after it has become too damaged to repair and keep seaworthy.

* The vikings themselves (duh) as reported by Ahmad ibn Fadlan, though, it was generally reserved only for really remarkable chieftains and warlords. Usually the Norsemen simply either interred their dead or cremated them and interred the ashes. If a boat was used, it usually was a simple rowing boat, and it was often used simply as a casket. The reason is [[CaptainObvious obvious]]: boats, and more so ships, are expensive investments and of more use in mundane and martial tasks than as funerary implements. To be more practical, the vikings would sometimes instead build fake [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stone_ship Stone ships]] and bury their dead in them, instead of burning real ones. Sometimes, the ship was burned on land and a mound was raised above it. The religious idea behind it was simply that the deceased would travel in the ship to the other side. And sometimes they where buried with a horse so they could ride there.

In some cases (as in real history), the fire-arrow step isn't performed. This can be due to a lack of flammable sails and fire arrows, a need for haste, or simply different funerary practices. A third (also more accurate) variant exists in which the boat is not [[BurialAtSea set out to sea]], but instead used to lay the corpse in for a [[BurnBabyBurn funeral pyre]]. And finally, Viking funerals need not be literal. Many examples feature metaphorical stand-ins for any of the aspects of the ritual.

* [[BurnBabyBurn Cremation on a pyre]] is the traditional funerary rite for Jedi in the ''Film/StarWars'' films, the most iconic being Darth Vader's at the end of ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi''.

* [[https://warhammerfantasy.fandom.com/wiki/Norsca The Norscans]] of [[TabletopGame/Warhammer Warhammer Fantasy Battle fame]], being the most over-the-top of over-the-top HornyVikings naturally have this form of burial. In the ''Legend of Sigmar'' novels for instance, they cremate a fallen Chaos Lord in his longship just before the titular Sigmar arrives to crash the funeral.