I know that this is not a popular view...but I can’t understand spending thousands on any coffin. All of that expensive woodwork and COMFORTABLE lining is such a waste. IF you want a funeral showing the body, there could be some sort of elaborate couch; but burying all of that money is silly.
I’ll be cremated...and even for that you have to BUY A BOX! Insane...buy a box to burn. The cardboard box is about $70...but that’s much better than those lovely work$ of art.
You’re right but the proper way to think about it is that funerals and all of the accompanying paraphernalia is for the living not the dead.
The coffin, the headstone, the wake they are all for the living. It is part of the social order in how we deal with the deaths of those we love.
The more affluent we become the more we lavish on the dead. It is no different than anything else.