Lon
Well-known Member
- Location
- Central California
Embalming in one fashion or another as most everyone knows was practiced by many ancient civilizations. The genesis of modern day embalming really got it's start during the American Civil War (it's an interesting read). Only officers as a general rule were embalmed for transportation back to their familes because of the costs involved. Rank & file soldiers were typically out of luck. With the advent of Open Casket funerals embalming became routine for not only cosmetic reasons, but sanitary as well. Today other than for the interstate or out of country transportation of bodies, embalming is not required & open casket funerals are less common than in years past. A good embalming generally takes not more than one and a half to two hours and is not really costly, in fact, it's the least costly part of the whole funeral process.