In the beginning

Today I'll begin with a bit of humor and end that way too..with a little serious thrown in for good measure.

Lead cups were used to drink ale or whisky.

The combination would sometimes knock the imbibers out for a couple of days.
Someone walking along the road would take them for dead and prepare them for
burial. They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family
would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up.
Hence the custom; “of holding a wake”.

Interestingly, I've had some discussions lately surrounding  people's wishes upon their demise.  One gal had asked for no calling hours and no service. One gentleman wanted a party. Another old fella wanted one last ride on a fire truck and many wanted cremation. One octogenarian wanted no embalming, a pine box and no service. It's not my favorite subject but one that saves families lots of grief and often lots of arguments. We're all going to be there and it only takes a minute or two to jot it down and make sure somebody knows where the paper is... My family knows that I want a festive gathering with Beach Boys music blaring throughout...even if I'm 90 (and I hope I am!)

England is old and small and the local folks started running out of places to bury
people. So they would dig up coffins and would take the bones to a bone-house,
and reuse the grave.. When reopening these coffins, 1 out of 25 coffins were found
to have scratch marks on the inside and they realized they had been burying
people alive. So they would tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, lead it through
the coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a bell. Someone would have to sit
out in the graveyard all night (the graveyard shift) to listen for the bell; thus, someone
could be, “saved by the bell” or was "considered a dead ringer”.  Yikes !!