We know, for a long time, the funeral followed a very traditional ritual where originality was not required (which can also be understood) and moreover, strongly marked by the religious.
Today, we see that customs are changing, that codes are becoming more flexible and enriched: thus, according to this new study, the French would imagine many funerals in the image of the deceased and would be ready, so that the ceremony is the true reflection of his tastes and his personality, to evolve the codes.
In fact, 48% of respondents indicate that they could organize a ceremony for a loved one that would deviate from convention (colourful, in an atypical place, etc.). Because that’s what the deceased would have liked (for two-thirds) but also because a third (34%) believe that it would bring them comfort.
More than half (57%) of these respondents would like to be able to propose a celebration whose theme would be linked to the center of interest of the deceased; a trend accentuated among young people aged 18 to 24 (69%) and women (60%). Nearly one in two people surveyed (48%) would also attach particular importance to the place, which must have meaning for themselves or for the deceased: in nature, on private property, by the sea…
In a context where the choice of cremation is constantly increasing, it seems important to leave a trace for loved ones. Indeed, more than two-thirds -68%- would like to have a place dedicated to the memory of the deceased (memorial, tree, garden, other place of dispersal, etc.) and half (51%) would like
recover, at the end of the ceremony, a symbolic object that evokes the deceased person.
On the other hand, nearly two-thirds -64%- would like the deceased to have remembered to leave them a letter, a
audio or video recording, a photo album, especially young people (80% of 25-34 year olds) and women (70%). A place of memory, which can also take a digital form: 41% would like to have an online memorial space.
Today, still according to this survey, more than four out of ten French people say they are interested in the possibility of choosing, configuring and ordering a coffin or a funeral urn on the Internet and a large third (38%) would even be ready to organize their funerals entirely online, without going to an agency.
As for the fact of participating in the funeral ceremony, it is a quarter of the French who would be ready to follow a ceremony from a distance. On video then…
* CSA study “The French and their funerals”, carried out from August 29 to September 5, 2022 on a national sample of 1008 people aged 18 and over, representative of the French population.
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