Sweden takes the longest time in the world to bury its dead, according to figures compiled by Sweden’s authorized funeral parlors for TV4 Nyheterna.
Critics now believe that we must shorten the times to be able to start the mourning work and out of respect for the deceased.
– The decomposition of the body begins already after three weeks in a refrigerator, so based on ethics and dignity, one should not wait too long, says Katarina Evenseth, acting head of unit at Gothenburg’s funeral society.
Thinking about death is something many people resist and which possibly explains the fact that we Swedes take the longest time in the world to bury our relatives.
According to Sweden’s authorized funeral agencies, the average time between death and burial has also increased from 23.2 days in 2019 to 25.4 days last year. Katarina Evenseth believes that our busy lives can be an explanation for why we wait so long.
– We have fully subscribed calendars, both when it comes to work and leisure. If there are also several families’ almanacs to be synchronized, it can be almost insurmountable to find something within the stipulated month, says Katarina Evenseth.
The law is not always followed
Funeral homes are often the first to meet the relatives after someone has passed away. They believe that the burial law, which means that a person must be buried no later than four weeks after death, is not always followed.
It is perfectly legal for the relatives to cremate the deceased and have an urn instead of a casket burial – which means that you can postpone the ceremony for a whole year. At the funeral home, it is believed that tougher rules could shorten the times.
– I would have liked to have been assigned a funeral date and then that is what counts. If you want to show up, you do. Ideally, I would have seen that one could change the approach. That it is important to bury a person and to celebrate someone who lived a long life, says undertaker Oskar Fjällman.
“Don’t know when our moment will come”
Katarina Evenseth also thinks that we should get better at talking about death and our wishes around it in order to have faster funerals.
– Dare to talk about death and burial! We don’t know when our moment will come, but we can dare to discuss how we want it to be with each other.