The funeral industry is still fairly segregated, based on culture, religion, or race but that is slowly changing. There are various color "tones" to embalming fluids to match the skin tone- much like women's make-up. My guess is that the funeral home did not have the right color embalming fluid and get the deceased too much color and they used make-up to try and fix him. But then who knows!

I never knew that embalming fluid came in tones. Never even thought of it having a color other than clear. Are you saying it shows through the skin?

The embalming fluid I've seen was reddish. Not exactly like blood, but it was red.

Another reason why viewings creep me out! LOL

When I saw his body, I just wanted to take off running!!
It really was a frightning sight. You always hear people saying "It looks just like him" or He looks like he wants to speak...well not this body!!

Did you know that embalming is not required if the body is buried soon enough after death, or for a closed and sealed casket. State laws vary.

Embalming was not done during colonial America. It became popular during the Civil War when families of the war dead wished to hold the body for a week or more to allow time for the next of kin to arrive. Another reason for embalming was for transporting the body over a distance that required significant time.

In my genealogical search, I have found a case of person dying at home during a cold wave in winter. The ground was frozen too deeply to open a grave. (A 150 yrs ago, graves were hand dug, and frontier farmers may not have had the heavy equipment to dig an officially prescribed grave.) The body was not embalmed. In that instance, a viewing was down to verify that the deceased person was indeed who the family said he was, and then the body was placed into its burial box, the box closed, and then placed outside to freeze. It could be kept for a considerable lenght of time, time enough for the grave diggers open a grave.

Jemdandy's post reminded me of a genealogy moment I had.
I could not for the life of me locate the burial of one of my ancestors. After contacting her daughter, I found that she had been cremated, and at the time her remains were in a U-Haul storage, and had been there for years!
To my children: Please, if you read this, don't put me in a storage facility and leave me there forever. Amen.

Trin

Yes it come in tones. It doesn't so much "show" through the skin but just as our blood give our skin a pigment, the any other fluid inside us will give a pigment.

Embalming became popular when Lincoln died ad people were impressed with how well he "traveled".
Vaults are not usually required by law but many cemeteries require them to keep graves from caving in. Some cemeteries also require embalming. Just things to ask when you buy plots (and get it in writing since cemeteries are bought and sold all the time).

I don't view bodies anymore. I still remember my mom taking me to funerals and viewings when I was a little kid. It haunted me.

That's why I've asked my family to have no viewing of my body and have me cremated, and spread my ashes in a flower garden.

Thanks for posting this.It has been a very interesting post and I have enjoyed reading this for as how things are done for funerals.I do not like going to a funeral Terri.Ashley want go even when we ask her if she wants to go unless and I say unless it is close family memebers.She does not like talking about death and funerals.It was very hard when my mom died and Ashley nearly passed out from just walking up to the casket.Greg and I went to a funeral several Sundays ago a close friend of ours ,she had died from cancer.I had sent her a get well card a few days before she died and she was at the hospital.Her daughter said ,when she read it,she could barely speak but her daughter layed over in the bed to understand what she said,She said I love Judy,Greg and Ashley as they were my children.She had never married and no children.,That made us feel so good.I also received several thank you notes from the gifts I had sent her,and I will always cherish these notes.Just thought I add this.But again it is very intersting to read how they do funerals.Thanks arosegirl for posting this post.

This has been an interesting thread.I never knew embalming fluid came in colors and my cousin's husband owns a funeral home.Of course that subject has never come up in any of our conversations!LOL I did Google and check it out and actually the embalmer chooses whether or not to add the coloring solution.Suppose to make the body look "more natural".OOOOOK! I'm dead,I hope I don't look natural!LOL
Judy- I hate going to funerals too and don't unless it is a really close friend or family.I will not go down and view the body.I always sit in the back so I can slip out instead.I use to go to funerals all the time because I was taught it was to show respect for the deceased.HUH? They don't know I'm there and the family usually doesn't see me either so that doesn't make sense.LOL DH and I have our funerals planned and there will be a graveside service with closed casket.If someone wants to view my body they can do it at the funeral home.If someone never came to visit me when I was alive,I don't want them to see me when I'm dead!LOL
Jannie-The more I think about it the more I am leaning toward cremation.Burial space is getting scarce and to me it makes more sense to cremate,plus it's much less expensive.I'd rather my kids share the cash from the difference in the price.Our burial plots are in a newer part of the cemetery and will be stacked.DH says he want's to be on top so you know where that leaves me.LOL Sorry,that just popped out.LOL OK,on that note I will get outta here!

It is interesting to hear how different ones feel about this subject. I don't mind going to funerals, I don't enjoy them of course but dying is a part of life and everyone is going to have to face it. Please, those of you who wish to be cremated let it be known what one is to do with your remains in the future. My sister and her husband were both cremated and my parents, who were not crazy for the cremations to start with, ended up with both their urns/remains as my nephew (sister and brother-in-laws only child) could not face up to keeping them. Several years later both my parents are deceased and so my other sister who lives in my parents house has inherited 'them' and has them in a closet in her spare bedroom hoping our nephew will someday do whatever it is he should do with 'them'. What will happen to these two urns/ remains in the future??? Who wants some ancestors remains whom they never knew?