ABSTRACT
Individuals honor friends by attending rituals. In this chapter we focus on two components of the ritual triumvirate: the funeral/memorial service and the committal. For many friends, the funeral or memorial service is the most important ritual. Attendance is an obligation, although in this culture in which death is increasingly privatized, many individuals have never attended a funeral for a peer. Mobility impacts attendance at rituals. Families may discount the need for friends to have a formal leave taking and exclude friends-or certain friends-through using the phrase “family only” or private services. The situation becomes conflicted if the family then invites certain friends to attend. Friends may be frustrated or angered by the design or themes of the funeral.
