America is often known as a melting pot of many cultures. This would suggest that funerals around America would be wildly different from one region, or social class, or ethnic group, to another. However, the funeral is repetitive and is nearly identical across the US. When hearing the word "funeral," most can conjure up a picture in their mind of the deceased lying in a coffin in a dimly lit room, surrounded by mourners in black. General features of these funerals include the rapid removal of the corpse to a funeral parlor, embalming, institutionalized viewing, and disposal by burial (Metcalff & Huntington 1991, 194).

In a survey of 8,227 American funeral directors, it was found that 94% of funerals had both the viewing of the body and a graveside service (Browne 1980, 317). The funeral ritual is a complex event with both secular and sacred aspects. Browne breaks these rituals down into 5 categories: post death activities, viewing of the body, the religious ceremony, the graveside disposition and the post funeral socialization. These rituals are universal across the US.

Death is often a subject one tries to avoid. Jackson suggests that there are two major shifts in American attitudes towards death. During the mid-eighteenth and mid-nineteenth centuries there was a domestication and sentimentalization of death. this increased the role of death and the dead in the world of the living. The second shift occurred by the end of the nineteenth century and accelerated with each decade of the twentieth century. This period was characterized by a major withdrawal of the living from the dying and dead (Jackson 1977, 298). Before these shifts the culturally proper place for death was in the home surrounded by loved ones, all gathered to witness the final moments. As America evolved, so did these rituals. There were three main forces behind this evolution: urbanization, advances in medical science, and an increasingly secular outlook (Jackson 1977, 305).

City life made it difficult to keep a dying loved one in the home. Increased mobility meant that families were spread across the country and would often not tend to the dying. People would increasingly die in hospitals and care facilities and the body would be disposed of by a professional. This minimized the exposure to death and led to a loss of contact with death for Americans.

With medical and public health advances people are living longer than ever. Medicine can cause someone who is almost dead to remain alive almost indefinitely. Because of this, death ceased to be natural and was seen more as a "failure" (Aries 1976, 113). Today most deaths happen in hospitals or care facilities and are witnessed only by professionals. As death and dying have become less visible they have less impact on social order and life.

In Colonial America death was seen as an escape from hardships of the world. As there was a widely held belief in god, these American's believed that the dead was truly in a better place. In a secular society, as America is increasingly becoming, culture no longer supports the certainty of an afterlife so death becomes dissociated from life (Jackson 1977, 308). The idea of the person no longer existing makes the topic hard to discuss. This leads to a decrease in ritual usage and a more professionalized and detached disposal of the dead.

A new movement to normalize death has become popular across the United States. The Order of the Good Death's website explains what it means to be death positive:

1. I believe that by hiding death and dying behind closed doors we do more harm than good to our society.
2. I believe that the culture of silence around death should be broken through discussion, gatherings, art, innovation, and scholarship.
3. I believe that talking about and engaging with my inevitable death is not morbid, but displays a natural curiosity about the human condition.
4. I believe that the dead body is not dangerous, and that everyone should be empowered (should they wish to be) to be involved in care for their own dead.
5. I believe that the laws that govern death, dying and end-of-life care should ensure that a person’s wishes are honored, regardless of sexual, gender, racial or religious identity.
6. I believe that my death should be handled in a way that does not do great harm to the environment.
7. I believe that my family and friends should know my end-of-life wishes, and that I should have the necessary paperwork to back-up those wishes.
8. I believe that my open, honest advocacy around death can make a difference, and can change culture.

With more widespread education available about the death industry, more people are choosing to do more than just the traditional burial. Natural, or "green," burials are becoming more popular. This means that the body of the deceased is simply buried in a hole dug into the ground and left to decompose naturally. Often with these burials the family prepares the body themselves and has the service in their homes. There are an increasing number of morticians willing to help with this procedure. This link provides more information about green funerals in your area.

With the death positive movement there has also been an increase in green death technology. Traditional American funerals and cemetery burials call for embalmed corpses in metal caskets placed in concrete vaults. This is terrible for the environment and people are starting to see that. Even cremation, which is becoming increasingly popular, can be environmentally damaging as it releases toxins into the air. Many scientists are working with morticians to provide safer and healthier ways to dispose of the dead. Alkaline Hydrolysis uses water and an alkali solution to dissolve the body, leaving only the bones. A woman named Jae Rhim Lee invented the "mushroom burial suit" which is put on the deceased before a natural burial and helps accelerate decomposition and transfers those nutrients to plant life. There is also a method of cryogenically freezing a body and breaking it up called "promession."