When a person dies, it is common for relatives and close friends to hold a wake to watch over the body until it is time for the burial or cremation. But not all families carry out a wake in a funeral home. Can you hold a wake for a loved one at home? How is this type of wake organised? Stelae will answer all your questions.
Is it compulsory to hold a wake for a deceased person?
No one has any obligation to hold a wake when a loved one dies. However, many families do so because Spanish law states that a loved one cannot be buried or cremated until at least 24 hours have elapsed since their death.
During this waiting time, it is traditional in many places to hold a wake for the deceased, since this also gives family and friends the opportunity to offer condolences to close family and support them with tributes to the deceased.
Can I hold the funeral at home?
Confusion exists as to whether you can hold a wake for a loved one at home in Spain. Indeed, since the law can sometimes be different in each autonomous community or in each city, there are many people who wonder if you can hold a wake at home in Madrid, Barcelona or Seville, for example. it just depends on what the specific law says in that area.
Is it legal to hold a wake for someone at home in Spain?
In the past, holding a wake for a deceased family member at home was a tradition and nobody wondered if it was legal or not. Nowadays, there are many more resources for the wake of a loved one to be held in a funeral home which follow all the health and hygiene regulations.
However, many families still follow the tradition of holding a wake for their deceased relatives at home, without knowing if it is allowed or not.
Well, the answer is yes: it is possible to hold a wake at home. This is completely legal in Spain, although there was a period – in the middle of the pandemic – when it was banned.
There are no regulations that prevent holding a wake for a loved one in a private home now, although some requirements must be followed:
- The death certificate must be obtained at the Civil Registry.
- A funeral car must be used to transport the deceased to their burial or cremation, as these are the only vehicles authorised to carry this out.
- At least 24 hours must pass before the deceased is buried or cremated.
What is the price of holding a wake for a person at home?
One of the reasons many families still continue holding a wake for their loved ones at home is to save on costs.
Depending on the associated funeral services that you wish to hire, the savings for renting a wake room in a funeral home can range from 100 to 1,000 euros, although not everyone knows how to organise a wake at home.
For this reason, it is common to use a funeral company to take care of everything, which can have an additional cost of between 100 and 200 euros, although it is always better to request a personalised estimate in each case. Fees and funeral services offered may vary.
How is a wake at home organised?
Saving on costs is not the only reason why you may wish to hold a wake at home. Families may have a particular preference to hold the wake at home, or perhaps there is no funeral home in the vicinity of where the burial or cremation is to take place.
As many families still continue with this custom as a matter of tradition, the organisation of a wake at home is one of the services offered by some funeral companies. How is it organised?
- Contact a funeral company that provides this service.
- The funeral company will be responsible for preparing the deceased and will place them in the chosen coffin, for example.
- Choose the services you need for the wake, such as floral arrangements and even catering or music, if it is what the family wish to have.
- There are other additional services such as the management of obituaries to inform relatives where the wake will be held.
- After the wake at home, the funeral company will take care of the transfer of the deceased to the cemetery or crematorium for burial or cremation.
It is important that families who choose to organise a wake at home have enough space for it, not only to house the coffin, but also the possible floral arrangements and the presence of family and friends who will be visiting to offer their condolences.
For those who choose this type of wake to save costs, it is important to point out that there are other options available such as direct cremation, a service we offer at Stelae, in which the funeral is simpler, without a wake or other additional services that increase the price.
