Last Rites: Wisdom from a Fourth-Generation Undertaker

Sounds True: Insights at the Edge

Tami Simon

Spirituality, Religion & Spirituality

4.6 • 1.9K Ratings

🗓️ 13 September 2022

⏱️ 59 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Ceremonies for honoring the departed are crucial parts of our lives, but few people know where our traditional practices come from—and what they reveal about our history, culture, and beliefs about death. In today's podcast, Tami Simon speaks with funeral director, embalmer, and certified postmortem reconstructionist and cremationist Todd Harra to talk about the roots of the Western funeral and to remove some of the fears that surround it. Their riveting conversation looks at: the myths and misconceptions about the funeral director, the sacred responsibility of handling the deceased, the rise in home funerals in our time, the origins of the practices of embalming and coffin burial, the different shades of the "green" cemetery and burial, why there is great value in permanent memorialization, making a ceremony sacred, why simply showing up is the greatest way to support those in mourning, mushroom suits and the controversy around them, the process of natural organic reduction (NOR), and much more. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Insights at the Edge, produced by Sounds True. My name's Tammy Simon. I'm the founder of Sounds True,
0:08.4	and I'd love to take a moment to introduce you to the Sounds True Foundation. The goal of the
0:14.3	Sounds True Foundation is to provide access and eliminate financial barriers to transformational education and resources, such as
0:24.6	teachings and trainings on mindfulness, emotional awareness, and self-compassion.
0:30.9	If you'd like to learn more and join with us in our efforts, please visit soundstruefoundation.org.
0:42.3	In this episode of Insights at the Edge, my guest is Todd Hera. Todd has over a decade of experience as a licensed funeral director and embalmer, and he's a certified post-mortem
0:56.8	reconstructionist and cremationist. Todd has written two nonfiction books about the profession,
1:05.0	mortuary, confidential, and over our dead bodies. And he's also an associate editor for Southern Calls, a renowned journal in the funeral profession.
1:17.6	With Sounds True, Todd has written a new book and it's called Last Rights,
1:23.6	The Evolution of the American Funeral. Quite honestly, I've never spoken before with a funeral director.
1:33.3	And quite honestly, I've never even been inside a funeral home.
1:37.3	So talking to Todd was a whole lot of new for me,
1:42.3	new information, new insights, and new understandings about right now
1:48.2	where we are in the evolution of the funeral business and how we can make the experience
1:55.8	of dealing with our dead, something that we talk about, that's above board, that's not taboo,
2:04.5	and that's treated as holy, as sacred, which it is. Here's my conversation with Todd Harrah.
2:14.1	Todd, I know you're a fourth generation undertaker. Tell me a little bit and by way of introducing
2:21.7	yourself to our listeners. What is the family lineage of being in the funeral business that
2:28.6	you come from? First off, Tammy, thank you for having me on your show. And my family lineage in the profession
2:36.5	goes back to before the Civil War, with a few stops and starts along the way. A lot of funeral
2:43.9	directors have this kind of, you know, direct family tree, father to son, father to son, as it was for so many
2:50.4	years, you know, prior to women, father to son, as it was for so many years, you know, prior to women
	...

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