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.
I agree except...my headstone is for ME! ;-) I don’t want to leave without SAYIN’ SOMETHIN’!
I’ve already designed mine. Although I’ll, obviously, never know if it is placed or how long it might endure...I sure like the idea! Come to think of it, I’d like a big, old stone BENCH loaded with stuff I want to say!
Another thing I’d like (I’m so vain that I don’t want to be forgotten!) would be to have “memorial rings” for my kids and grand’s. Shakespeare did that: He left money to friends for memorial rings. COOL IDEA, that!
One hopes, however, that these would not be buried forever...and I sure won’t care about a lovely, pink, frilly and silky pillow upon which to rest my empty, unfeeling, dead head! ;-)