Death and Funeral Practices in Norway

This book provides a shortform definitive reference text on death and funeral practices in Norway as of the 2020s. This volume begins with a short introduction and historical overview, followed by a description of the demographics and legal framework, before featuring a range of chapters on governance and the funeral industry. Both religious and non-religious funeral practices are examined, and the three major funeral practices in Norway - funerals conducted by the Church of Norway, humanist funerals organised by The Norwegian Humanist Association, and open-faith funerals - are described. The chapters cover a broad range of topics including typical funerals and cost breakdowns; the cemetery; various grave types including coffins, urns, named memorial gardens, and columbaria; and the practice of re-using graves. In addition, a chapter devoted to cremation, the rise in its use, and current cremation technologies also examines the practice of ash scattering which has been legal in Norway since 1997. The masonry industry and public memorials are also discussed in a chapter on commemoration, and the last chapter, on funerary heritage, focuses on war cemeteries and epidemic cemeteries. This comprehensive volume will be valuable reading for scholars and reflective practitioners interested in death studies and the funeral industry, with particular interest in insights from Norway and their potential for informing wider research and practice.

Tove Ingebjørg Fjell is Professor of Cultural Studies in the Department of Archaeology, History, Cultural Studies and Religion at the University of Bergen, Norway. She has conducted research on, in addition to death and funeral practices, topics such as natural birth, voluntary childlessness, vaccine hesitancy, and intimate partner violence against men.

1. Introduction 2. History 3. Demographics and legal frameworks 4. Governance 5. The funeral industry 6. Religious and non-religious funeral practices 7. The funeral 8. Paying for the funeral 9. Burial sites 10. Cremation 11. Commemoration 12. Funerary heritage