No Funerals on Sunday

Indiana, 1906

Cemetery in Muncie, Ind., Will Bar Burials on Holy Days and Holidays

Muncie, Ind. — Heeding a popular cry against Sunday funerals, the trustees of Beach Grove cemetery, in Muncie, have issued an order forbidding any burial in that cemetery on any Sunday, on January 1, May 30 or December 25, of any year except in cases of great necessity or contagious diseases. This order is not to take effect, however, until the first day of next year. After that time, therefore, if there be Sunday funerals in Muncie, the burials must be made in some country cemetery or in some other town.

The cemetery trustees give the following as their reasons for this action: The Sunday funeral disturbs the quiet of the Lord's day, as it is frequently attended by bands of music and by hundreds of curiosity seekers, and is "often accompanied by an evident desire for display on the part of the supposed or real mourners;" if funeral services are held in a church, they frequently disturb the regular service of that church; cemeteries are most often visited on Sundays and a funeral serves to excite morbid curiosity and causes visitors in the burying ground to trample upon graves and to "disregard the decorum that should attend such occasions;" the Sunday funeral is in violation of the decalogue which says: "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy," because it necessitates work on the part of the cemetery employes.

Muncie ministers are heartily in favor of the plan and it is believed the public will be, also.