The Ecological Funeral: New Ideas in Contemporary Lithuania

Abstract

The article examines ecological funerals in contemporary Lithuania. The present study focuses on content and visual analysis of funeral celebrations taking information from the contemporary Lithuanian mass media and social media networks, as well as the websites of seven funeral companies. The field research is based on digital material gathered by the author in 2021-2022. I am interested in changes to funeral customs over the latest decade, approaching the subject matter through three key research questions: What factors motivate Lithuanian citizens to decide on an ecological funeral? What changes to the traditional funeral are the most ecologically sustainable? What has the effect of the Covid-19 pandemic been on people’s ideas about ecological funerals?

Keywords

• ecological funeral
• contemporary lithuania
• covid-19 pandemic