Name of Ritual

入殓 An encoffining ceremony

Description of Ritual/Practice

• Some also refer to 入殓 as “住大屋” or “归大屋”.
• Ritual specialists would inform the relevant deities that death has occurred.
• Descendants kneel while holding lighted joss sticks and call out to the deceased to come back and rest in their coffin 大屋.
• A funeral blanket is draped onto the coffin. Buddhist funeral blankets are printed with sutras.

Who practices it? Who conducts the ritual?

Family members and funeral staff, ritual specialists

Is it still practiced now?

• Coffins in the past used to rest on two 4-legged stools, with the 8 stool legs symbolising the legs of heaven, earth, mankind, and the deceased. Undertakers now use scaffolds with wheels to facilitate moving the coffin during the various stages of a funeral.
• This ritual, while led by funeral service providers and ritual specialists, is observed to be performed at a Freethinker funeral. It is a reminder that many of the Chinese death rituals are cultural in nature.