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"In the last few years. St. John's and Newfoundland have starled to
boom. OUf population now is around 200,000 and going up, so we look
forward to many more changes and mainland customs becoming more
common here. I do hope, however, that the traditional values of
Newfoundlanders will not change."1
The following discussion largely analyzes funeral "tradition" in present-day
Newfoundland, however, in its folkloristic sense including both the old and (he new, with
a view to evaluale the change with regard to the structural significance of the funeral rituaL
11.2. "An undertaker is almost like your clergyman"
With the rilualization of death in the later Middle Ages. the clergy bec.lme [he first
death professionals; at Ihis point, while the Christian celebration took over much of the
customs of old, the dead person's "company" entrusted the conduct of the funeral
celebration to the clergy. Aries analyses the role of undenakers as the second wave of this
process, wilh commercialization replacing c1ericalization of death. Their "integrated"
services offer full charge of the logistics involved from the occurrence of de:'lth 10 the
disposal of the remains. In addition to the facilities already mentioned, Carnell's funer:.l1
home includes a "preparation room" where the embalming is done, a casket display, a
chapel, a crematorium and committal area. Granting the practicality of "integrated
services," a business name such as "Carnell Memorial Chapel" goes far to suggesl religiolls
"competence":
He [R.B.] pointed Ollt thaI although there is the odd call where there is 110
request for a man of the cloth to be present allhe service, the vast ponion
of funerals involve the clergy. Although now about half of the services
originale from Ihe chapel, this is almost a function of having adequate
seating, which is often unavailable in a small church, rather than a drift
away from church-originaled services. 2
IP: What aoout the chapel here? Are funeral services held here?
RB: Oh yes, quite a few of them.
IP: Why is thaI? Why would the family have a funeral service here rather
in their own parish church?
RB: OK, there's a number of reasons. Sometimes a person can be a
member of a church, but probably never attends a church. The only
time Ihey see a church is when they attend a wedding or a baptism or a
funeral. Many times the family will corne and just have the service in
our chapel. Sometimes there's a family, you're only going to have ten
IAndy Zielinski, MCarnell's of Newfoundland,M Canadian Funeral News (July-Augusl 1981):
43-8; the quote is from the laIc Judge Geoffrey C. Carnell.
2Zielinski 45.