Some may see this as a morbid subject for others it is a curiously interesting topic. A box to bury the dead no matter the material or shape, can be described as a coffin. In North America the coffin is often described as a casket. Undertakers used its original association with a jewellery box to soften the impact of the connection with the dead and burials coined the term casket. The term casket has since then become to be associated with a 4-sided rectangular box of constant width. The 6-sided traditional coffin is an anthropodial shape. Coffin or casket construction is not restricted solely to the use of wood. Other materials including stone, metal (lead particularly) and even crushed seashells have been used in the past.
The practice of conducting a ceremony for the dead goes back to the dawn of civilisation itself. With this came a sacred place for the dead to rest. Neanderthal man was found to bury the dead over 60,000 years ago.
Arguably, the Victorian era in Britain was the height of Britain’s obsession with funeral etiquette. Funerals for those who could afford it were grand affairs. The funeral was announced with a suitably black edged mourning card. The coffin would usually be held at the deceased home from the morning of the funeral, sometimes with the coffin lid open, so that friends and relatives could pay their last respects. The deceased would often be dressed in their finest clothes or a specifically designed burial gown to show them off at their best.
The coffin would be horse drawn through the streets in a glass sided hearse led by the chief mourner attended by various foot attendants. The horses pulling the hearse would be decked in feathers and the coffin draped in black, purple or dark green cloth. At the cemetery the procession would go to the chapel for a service then onto the graveside for the burial. It was customary for the women to leave and the actual internment was observed by the men folk.
As an idea for your Victorian dolls house or miniature church: why not dress it as it would have been for the grand Victorian funeral? 1:12th scale coffin pall (or coffin pall) crochet pattern