Rituals for the departed especially among Catholics in recent years are becoming unrealistic.
The purpose of an obituary advertisement is to announce the death of a loved one to relatives, friends and neighbours. However, the size of the advertisement often is a sign of affluence and position in the society or of indebtedness for inheritance.
Mourners too bend head over heels to place obituaries and show publicly their close association, if one is a very prominent individual.
Mountains of wreaths and bouquets are sometimes overdone. The coffin too is an issue of display of wealth and status of the family and so is the number of celebrants at the mass.
Some churches limit eulogies to just one speaker but a prominent dead receives many mentions short eulogies at the beginning, during Eucharistic celebrations and at the conclusion of the rituals holding the mourners to ransom and delays.
All what the dead need is a burial and an opportunity to the mourners to pay their last respects.
