Last Rites

One of the joys of living in Singapore is the mix of cultures. But if you lost a friend of a faith different than your own, would you know what to do?

- Melinda Murphy

Singapore is home to a wide variety of cultures, hosting an array of ceremonies and celebrations including special holidays, birth traditions, weddings and, yes, funerals. In all cultures, anybody is invited to the wake to pay respects, but each religion has very different traditions. While there are many variations in the practices, here’s what one can expect at each type of funeral.

Buddhism and Taoism

There is some overlap in the funeral rituals of these two religions. Wakes last three, five, seven or nine days. Families generally wear plain white T-shirts, black pants and coloured cloth badges, the different colours representing their relationship to the deceased. At a Buddhist wake and funeral, visitors will find a bucket of water with fresh flowers so they can “cleanse” themselves from the perceived negative association with the funeral.

Lengths of red thread are often found on the table, alongside refreshments. The threads are tied around the index finger or onto the middle button of the guest’s shirt near the chest to ensure safety from evil spirits. They are untied and thrown away upon leaving the service. If the funeral is held at the void deck of an HDB, red paper will be pasted on the stairways and lift landings to insulate neighbours from the presence of death.

Buddhists arrange a daily sutra chanting by monks from the deceased’s temple whereas, in the Taoist faith, priests conduct rituals the night before the funeral, generally lasting two to four hours. Paper effigies and joss paper money will be burnt on the same night. It’s believed that the spirits of the loved ones will receive these offerings and be able to put them to use in the netherworld. Paper offerings are not generally part of the Buddhist tradition.