Any Day Above Ground is a Good Day

Saturday, February 13,2010

“Any day above ground is a good day” is one of the quotes that we saw at the National Museum of Funeral History . We had read about this museum in the CAA Tour Book.  It was not a CAA “Gem” but it sounded a little unusual and definitely different from anything that we’ve seen so far.  It is located on the north-west side of Houston so we drove 46 miles through Houston traffic from our campground just outside Houston.  Have I mentioned that these cities are huge and it takes the better part of an hour to get anywhere.  There are malls the size of Polo Park or St. Vital Centre every few miles to serve the surrounding local area. 

We arrived just a few minutes after the noon opening and didn’t leave till almost 4:30 PM – Did I ever mention that you probably don’t want to visit a museum with the Lewis’s.  We sometimes usually spend a full day in most museums.  CAA suggested 1/2 hour for a tour here. 

There is an impressive display of funeral cars, wagons and sleighs, as well as a number of caskets.  Some of the older caskets have windows that you can see the deceased’s face and shoulders.  Some of the caskets were made of bronze and could weigh over 400 pounds, without the occupant.  Some “cartoonish” coffins are also shown although I’m not sure if any of these types were ever used.

The museum shows a typical 19th Century home where the parlour would be where the body would lie in state.  It is from this usage the we got the name Funeral Parlour or Funeral Home. The funeral director would come to the home and prepare the body and fumigate the room if a disease had claimed the deceased.  As people moved into apartments in the cities it created the need for the funeral business to be located in fixed premises.

The ancient Egyptians took the art of embalming and the care of the dead to a high level.  They were able to mummify bodies to the point that the mummy of the Pharaoh Ramses II is still on display today.  But the science of embalming didn’t really advance until the mid-1800’s when an enterprising doctor was able to develop an embalming fluid and a method of injecting it into the body that would slow down the decay process. He took his methods to the Civil War battlefields where, for $7 for an enlisted man or $13 for an officer he would embalm the soldier and send the body home.

They have a great papal display.  In our “now” world it is nice to be able to see what happens behind the scenes of a papal death and the election of a new pope. There are some very vivid behind the scene pictures of the burial preparations for Pope John Paul II.  After his lying in state, he was placed in a simple wooden coffin  along with some coins and an aluminum container with his accomplishments as pope. The lid with his name and his coat of arms (each Pope has his own coat of arms) on the top is secured with dowels.  This is wrapped around three times with red ribbon which is then sealed with red wax, (they didn’t explain the significance of this) and this coffin was placed into a lead coffin which was then soldered shut.  This was then placed in a wooden sarcophagus and entombed below St. Peters Basilica in the Vatican.  The new pope is then elected by the College of Cardinals.

Fact – There have been 265 popes from the original St. Peter to the current Pope Benedict XVI.

One of the last displays is that of the Unknown Soldier.  One thing that stood out for me was there was a folded American flag (as is done with all flags that are draped over a soldier’s coffin) in a triangular display case.  I had seen these same display cases in a hobby store earlier…there were probably 30 of these cases on display.  You can only hope that they won’t sell any of them.  Sad truth though, is that they will likely sell all of them and then have to re-order.

“The only difference between a rut and a grave is the depth.”

By the time we left at 4:30 the sun had come out and burned off the fog of this morning.  We saw that the temperature got up to about 13 degrees Celsius.  The trip home took about an hour and twenty minutes with traffic on the Interstate like a parking lot in a few places. 

 

Observation  - We watched the opening ceremonies for the Winter Olympics last night and I’ve got to admit that I was really impressed with the extravaganza that the Vancouver Organizing Committee put on.  Even the American broadcasters, applauded the ceremonies.