Funeral services tradition around the world

Part of my degree thesis at college was on differences between funeral services around the world. I know it may sound awkward to write a degree thesis on funeral services but I kind of wanted to do something somehow different from everyone else. I mean, none ever talks or writes about this uncomfortable issue, for obvious reasons but death is part of life and considering my major is in folklore I thought it would be interesting to write the cultural differences regarding funeral mores around the world.

A friend of mine moved to Libya years ago and her mother unfortunately died over there for a car accident and I have been astonished to hear about how hard it has been for my friend to get her mother an European style funeral service. She had to pay lots of money to the local police in order to get her mother berried in a catholic cemetery and avail her of a catholic church service. I got immediately curious on the way funeral services work in Libya and so I decided to learn more on world mores regarding funerals and to write a thesis on it.

This is what I learned: in Japan for example, a funeral includes a wake ( everyone has to wear black clothes) , the cremation, the burial in a family grave and periodic memorial services as of Buddhist tradition. Usually, the eldest son is responsible of funeral services organization. Instead , in China, funeral services rotate around the the funeral itself. The funeral customs are very important for Chinese people and they differ in time and location according to the local religion and customs. China is such a wide area rich of many different cub-cultures. The most common custom is inhumation . The dead person's relatives shall wear mourning dresses ( each must be made of 5 different materials according to how close the relationship was with the dead relative) . Usually the ceremony lasts over 7 days and Taoists are invited to chant scriptures in order to make it easier for the soul to reach purgatory. For the Islamic cultures the rites are much different , but again, as in China, they change according to different areas and different customs.
Funeral services are very complex. The mandatory rites include: bathing the dead body, Enshrouding dead body in a white linen outfit, funeral Islamic prayers, burial in a grave ( the position of the dead person's head must be facing the Mecca).

In Latin American cultures, most people are catholic and customs are very similar to catholic European countries customs. Last but not least is the African concept of death and the many types of rudimentary and simple funeral services they have. Most African people consider death the beginning of a person's deeper relationship with God and the Universe. Though they feel sad and distressed by death, they actually think about it as a re-birth. This is why each person who dies deserves a correct funeral supported by proper death rites. Another interesting aspect is that most Africans have the custom of removing the dead body from a hole in the house's wall instead of the front door, in order to make it more difficult for the soul to remember the way back home. Funeral services speaking, of course in Africa nor Islam nor China people use modern funeral services mediums as funeral cars or elaborated flower crowns , they mostly pay attention to the spiritual side of the funeral.
Only western culture is so much focused on the profit side of funerals , unfortunately. What a shame.