This book explores the funerary culture in the Netherlands through a mixture of photographs, figures and case studies. The nine chapters demonstrate the process of funeralising and ideas about death in the Netherlands, providing an overview of contemporary funerary practices and their changes over time.

This study on the common practice of Islamic death rites in the Netherlands affords valuable insights in the lived religion of Muslims. Particularly in a small town context marked by migration and diversity, Muslims are challenged to re-imagine and re-invent their ritual repertoire. This results in dynamic ritual practices that are the product of vibrant negotiation processes in which rites interact with ritual actors and their (changing) contexts. The emerging ritual repertoire and their dynamics are widely overlooked in an institutionalized and traditional religion like Islam. (Series: Death Studies. Nijmegen Studies in Thanatology - Vol. 3)

This book on death rites and situational beliefs in the Netherlands offers valuable insight into the ways in which the recently bereaved make sense of a death. It shows how people seek and create meaning by reinventing ritual repertoires and by re-imagining afterlife beliefs. Attention is given to the changing role of religion, the co-creation of personalized funerals, and to innovation in cremation and remembrance practices. By demonstrating how people transform their relationship with the deceased through material practices, this study emphasizes the widely-overlooked dynamics of continuing bonds. *** "In her analysis, the author displays a commanding grasp of the bereavement literature.... Serious scholars should find much of value in this work.... Recommended." --Choice, Vol. 55, No. 7, March 2018(Series: Death Studies. Nijmegen Studies in Thanatology, Vol. 5) [Subject: Religious Studies, Death Rites]

Funeral rites help people to cope with their loss and express their religious needs. Even in a secularised society such as that in the Netherlands large groups of people still fall back on ecclesiastic rites when a loved one dies. But how does one explain that there are more people participating in church funerals than people who assign religion a focal place in their lives? How do present-day funeral-goers regard the rites in which they participate? Does the rite actually help them to bridge the gaps left by the deceased? This study considers such questions from the angle of ritual and liturgical studies by way of empirical research into perceptions of present-day church funerals in the Netherlands.

Dessing examined the effects of migration on the lifecycle rituals of Moroccan, Turkish and Surinamese Muslims in the Netherlands. She explores how Islamic rituals marking birth, circumcision, marriage, and death have responded and accomodated to the Dutch legal and social context.