To fill the void created by the Covid related restrictions on public gatherings, and the complete ban on funerals until very recently, we have officiated two complete live funerals on Zoom and Facebook. 

The first, in Italian, was for a celebrant trained by our celebrant network (www.cerimonieuniche.it) who died of Covid, officiated by Richard Brown and Elena Pradella, while the second, in English, was for an American writer and translator who had lived in Italy since the 1980s, celebrated by Clarissa Botsford and Richard Brown.

Friends were invited to send in a photo of themselves, holding some object that represented their beloved friend.. These photos were then used to create a slideshow which was played at the end of the ceremony to fill the virtual space with love. 

The main event was on Zoom and was streamed to Facebook live. In the Zoom room we had the chief mourners, while over 100 people were “present” at the live on-line funeral, posting comments all along, making it actually more participative than a normal funeral. Moreover, people who were unable to attend could watch the ceremony in their own time.

To represent the committal, in the first funeral the celebrant used a lighted candle with a musical accompaniment, which he then blew out. In the second one there was a picture of a bird accompanied by bird song (she was a great bird lover), which then became a video and flew off screen (see the short clip below).

While of course we all miss the physical contact of being together, we feel that the new technology can help us bridge the gap, especially when families live so far apart as is common today. So, not only can online funerals fill the void in exceptional circumstances they can also provide a new way to commemorate a person’s life.