When you really think about it, a lot of the somber pomp and circumstance surrounding funerals is a little strange. For most funerals, a dead body is pumped full of toxic chemicals to preserve it, paraded in front of loved ones, piled into one of the strangest-looking cars in existence and then laid to rest in a hole in the ground in a large field of dead people. Not only that, but the whole affair usually costs the relatives around $5000 dollars. Well it turns out that pretty much all of the minutia of funeral rites has a long and storied history about it… and plenty of businesses willing to charge exorbitant amounts of money to send loved ones to the afterlife in style.
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