Funerals in another … dimension – Ecological coffins, quizzes for burial or cremation, preliminary funeral agreement and multi-chamber ceremonies

Ecological coffins, a preliminary funeral agreement, a multi-camera at the ceremony, themed funerals, state-of-the-art vehicles for the procession, with a mechanism reminiscent of a movie car, are some of the … highlights of the new era for funeral offices.

As they say owners of funeral offices in Thessalonikithe benefits and the way of organizing a funeral have passed to another dimension, maintaining, however, in full respect both the person leading to his last home and his relatives.

“With the growing environmental awareness of the people in recent years, we are trying to do the best for the protection of the environment,” says Kleon Gesios, owner of a funeral home, in APE-MPE, explaining the shift to ecological coffins. As he notes, there is a new funeral art, with biodegradable material in the production of coffins, which has slowly begun to be used in our country.

“In Thessaloniki, we have done the first ones our orders from Indonesia and it is expected in a short period of time to receive the ecological coffins and to enable the relatives of the deceased to choose the specific material “, says Mr. Gesios, explaining that this is a special, multi-member fully biodegradable material and in the burial the molecular Its structure produces lower levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

In the meantime, according to him, the number of those who choose combustion is increasing. With this in mind, on the page of the funeral home there is a different … quiz, to which one can answer and clarify whether burial or cremation suits him, with questions such as: “protection is important to you of the environment? “,” do you consider the cemetery as a last home? ” etc.

Funeral plan and CSI benefits

Vassilis Baboulas, one of the co-owners of a funeral home in Thessaloniki, points out that in recent years great steps have been taken in our country in companies that are active in this field and aim to upgrade the quality of services, but also to harmonize with the needs. of the time, often following foreign trends.

“The most popular application in funeral homes abroad is funeral planning. “As macabre as it sounds, one can plan everything for his funeral, from the beginning to the end”, says Mr. Baboulas. Explains how to plan a funeral with a specific one insurance program is something for which the interested party comes to consultation with the people in charge in the office and plans the ceremony step by step.

“One can choose from the simplest to the strangest things. If -for example- he wants a choir, a funeral, what flowers he prefers, if he wants burial or cremation, if he wants the staff to wear dark or light colored clothes during the ceremony, if there will be a reception and what will be the menu. “Even the list of who should be informed and who should not be present”, says Mr. Baboulas.

This particular funeral home provides one more CSI-like service. In collaboration with laboratories, he proceeds, at the request of the relatives, to analyze the DNA of the deceased, from whom they take samples and then inform the relatives about inherited diseases that can occur – especially in first degree relatives.

Funeral “broadcast” from Thessaloniki to Texas and themed ceremonies

Since 1965, Mr. Mavridis’s funeral office has seen a lot with their own eyes, from their grandparents until today, when the company passed to the second generation. Speaking to APE-MPE, the head of the office, Giannis Mavridis, explains that now that technology has made leaps and bounds, live connections to funerals have exceeded all expectations.

“Connecting to cameras at funerals was something that started because of the coronavirus, since there was no possibility for the physical presence of many relatives who wanted to say goodbye to their own people. Today are frequent … live broadcasts, mainly for reasons of distance. We recently had a live connection with Texas. A man who wanted to be buried in Thessaloniki passed away. The repatriation procedures took place, but it was impossible for the relatives to travel, so the cameras were set up both in the church and in the cemeteries and they saw the whole mystery through live streaming “, explains Mr. Mavridis.

He adds that there is a great demand and thematic funerals are popular in the world, especially if they ask for reports and information from the favorite group of the person who passed away. “We had several fan ceremonies with our favorite team, something that is even more widespread in foreign countries. “We organized a funeral where the relatives were dressed in the colors of the group, wore T-shirts and scarves, held flags and even torches!”, Notes Mr. Mavridis.

Procession vehicles with film equipment

Antonis Chrysidis is the owner of one of the longest-lived funeral homes and has seen many changes and developments in the area during the 77 years that the family has been involved in this industry. From the time of his grandfather, from the time they put the dead in carts to be transported to cemeteries, until today, with the explosion of technology has simplified them and made everything easier.

“It simply came to our notice then state-of-the-art cars with electric drawers, air conditioning and everything is done with buttons and facilities for transporting people who have passed away and are led on their last journey. There is a lot that can be done at the push of a button and of course with special equipment. It is possible to open the car with a mechanism and the movement can be done with movements similar to the elevator.

As for the weather conditions, as he says, there is no problem as in a few minutes awnings are set up to protect the people from rain or heat.

The owners of the funeral homes, however, point out that what has not changed and remains the same, is the human pain for the loss of our own people.

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