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America has quite a lot of different mourning traditions. I assure you that the last overnight wake, funeral then year after gathering was quite enough for me.

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I'm not sure if those are the right way for us to grieve? Personally, I found the Jewish mourning ritual of Shiva to be more fulfilling than funerals.

We might need to change the way we grieve too? The book "On Death and Dying" points out that advances in science have made it harder to accept death in our modern age, since a "cure" could legitimacy be just around the corner.

I doubt they will change, deep cultural roots after all. Since the funeral is a small part of the overall, I'd hold off on the judgement based on my description. I would also point out that advances in science are unevenly distributed and actually don't affect a lot of deaths in certain places.

Jews have funerals (and 1-year anniversary gatherings: unveiling). and Shiva is very similar to a wake

Interesting, the Dakota do a one year after gathering (and some relatives have some restrictions on their activities during the year). I wonder how common the practice is?

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