A funeral service is a time when a grief-stricken family can come together and offer mutual support and comfort. While some families find that scattering cremation ashes may help them find the most closure, other families may have personalities better suited to interring remains in a burial plot and having a permanent memorial to visit. There are several other aspects to the profile of a family whose best choice is traditional burial, too. Here are some of the characteristics that, if they apply to your family, may mean that choosing a traditional burial for yourself or a deceased loved one may be the best fit.

1. Geographically close

A traditional burial involves an embalming process, which allows the remains of the deceased to wait several days for the funeral service to take place. However, if your family is widely spread across the continent or even across the world and the funeral was unexpected, it may be difficult or impossible for all the family members to arrange to be at the funeral within these few short days. Therefore, a family that lives together or at least doesn't have members who live outside the country is the best fit for this type of burial.

2. Emotionally close

A deceased person who has only a few close friends and/or relatives can certainly have a traditional burial with a wake, a graveside service, and/or other elements related to Western burial tradition. However, if there are only a few members of the family, they might want to opt for a more intimate arrangement such as a ceremony where they take turns scattering cremated remains in some wilderness location. In a situation where the entire extended family was close to the deceased person in question, having a service that includes each of the dozens of family members who were heavily impacted by the loved one's passing is imperative. A traditional burial service is ideal for this.

3. Religiously devout

Whereas many modern, progressive families in America today are choosing cremation, many families who have close religious affiliations may have beliefs that prevent them from choosing this option. Or even if not everyone in the family shares these beliefs, catering to them can help the members that do believe in-ground burial is necessary can help keep a more peaceful atmosphere among family members and can put the religiously devout members' minds at ease about the future of their loved one's soul.

These three aspects of the deceased person's family show how circumstances and family characteristics can affect what the best type of funeral arrangement for each person is. If you realize that your family has any of the traits described above, you may want to give traditional burial a closer look as an option for your funeral arrangements.

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