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Originally Posted by Buccaneer
I'm glad someone else brought this up but I think this practice is morbid and freaky. My wife tells me it was common in her Catholic family but she finds it freaky as well. I guess it is a cultural thing, extending from traditional Catholic to Southern blacks as well as the Islamic cultures.
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Actually, it is a very healthy thing, psycologically wise, to have a "viewing" or an open casket. There is a need for closure and permission to mourn that are both met with the viewing of the body. When you deal with people that have a problem with grief, many times part of it is they didn't get a chance to see/touch the body (so the death is not real) and get to say goodbye one last time.