Writing your own eulogy is on the rise

A RISING number of people are speaking from beyond the grave by writing their own eulogies before they die.

There has also been an increase in non-religious and Humanist funerals in recent years as people opt for secular over traditional religious goodbyes.

Now a growing number of people are also taking more control of their actual funeral ceremony by writing it with civil celebrants before they pass away.

The executive director of the Irish Institute of Celebrants (IIOC), Dr Lorraine Mancey O’Brien, said it is an emerging trend in Ireland.

She said a dying person can take more time to remember the big events in their life than griefstricken relatives who only have a few days to write a memorial.

She said the deceased even convey poignant messages after they have gone during the funeral.

She said: ‘A lot of people who write what we call a “living ceremony” would say my message is “don’t grieve for me too long, be sad, but move on with your life”, or to families in crisis, “stop fighting”, or all sorts of things. It’s amazingly powerful.

John Kennedy, general manager of Jennings Funeral Directors in Dublin, said there has been a rise in civil services. ‘Five years ago we weren’t doing any. Now we are doing a few a month.’

Colm Kieran, the spokesman for the Irish Association of Funeral Directors, said: ‘There has been an increase, but the demand for civil services is in the larger urban areas, not typically in rural towns and villages.’

‘It is amazingly powerful’