When someone dies in America, a funeral service is held. Although cremations are permitted and do occur with greater frequency nowadays, the usual method of disposing the dead has traditionally been by burial.

After death the body is taken to a mortician who embalms it. This is a process by which blood is drained from the corpse and is replaced with embalming fluids. Modern embalming grew from 17th century attempts to preserve anatomical specimens. Formaldehyde infused to replace the blood is the most common embalming agent. The body is cleaned and shrouded with a suit if it is a man, and with a gown if it is a woman. Then the face is cosmetically altered to give the appearance of being asleep rather than dead. Color is added to the cheeks and lips as if to recall the days when the dead person was up and about and enjoying life.

The body is then brought to a funeral parlor where several other bodies may be waked. The body is placed on display for about two or three days. This is known as a wake. Friends, relatives and associates of the deceased attend the wake in order to comfort the family. The reason for such a lengthy wake is to enable enough time for family who may travel long distances to attend.

The room where the wake is being held is called a chapel. It bears a resemblance to a church, but has no religious significance. The casket is usually opened and a bench is placed before it so that visitors may kneel and say a prayer while viewing the body. The fragrance of carnations, roses and other strongly scented flowers fills the room as though to overcome the odor of death. The flowers are usually sent from friends who might not have been able to attend the wake. At times the family may specifically request that no flowers be sent but that a donation be made to a specific charity in the deceased's name.
It is customary at the wake to bestow condolences on the family who has suffered the loss of a beloved member. The widow or widower and the immediate children receive the first priority. It is polite to recall some good quality or memory of the person and not to stay too long. Those in mourning need time to be alone. There was a time when the waking hours for visitors was quite long and the family was left with little time to grieve, but in recent years the hours of public viewing have been reduced and the immediate family has more time to bind themselves to each other at this moment of loss.

After the wake, a religious or memorial service is held and then the body is brought to a cemetery where it is buried and laid to rest. At the cemetery a final blessing and prayer is recited at the gravesite before the casket is laid into the ground. For some who were close the deceased this may be a deeply traumatic experience. In recent years to lessen the pain of loss the final prayer may be given at a chapel in the cemetery away from the actual gravesite.