ABSTRACT
If America has done much to form symbols of equality into tran scendent symbols of social order, and thus added to the hierarchal lore of modern society, it has also created other characteristic forms in the "spiritualization" of money in both religion and art. We see this most clearly in the celebration of Christmas. The infusion of money with sacred social values can also be seen in our funeral practices. Few funerals are conducted now in homes, yet as late as 1910, most families insisted on bringing their dead from hospitals, or wherever death occurred, to the house as soon as possible. Funerals have shifted from churches and homes to commercial funeral homes because spending money in itself has become a way of showing respect, and now in our time, of showing reverence. Even the radical Midwesterners in architecture did not deny the transcendence of money.
