What's the difference between coffin bearers and pall bearers?

When arranging a funeral, a family often has a choice of whether they wish to pay for coffin bearers or whether to provide them from family & friends. The coffin bearers carry the coffin from the hearse to the catafalque in the chapel for the funeral service.

Alternatively, if a family is not employing a funeral director but employing a direct cremation service, then the coffin will be placed on the catafalque before family arrive.

During the strictest of rules & regulations over the last year, many funeral directors &/or crematoria insisted that only staff bear the coffin or even, that the coffin was wheeled in on a covered trolley to minimise the number of people touching the coffin.

Traditionally, men are chosen as the coffin bearers but there is nothing to stop families having women to bear the coffin, or a mix of gender. Weight is rarely an issue. A heavy coffin might just need 6 bearers rather than 4. What is more important than gender is that ideally the bearers are of similar height so that when it rests on the bearers’ shoulders, the coffin is carried relatively horizontally.

Most coffins chosen as the casket in the UK tend to be wood veneer & so the handles on the side of the coffin are decorative & not load bearing. As a result, the coffin is always carried on shoulders, unless a trolley is used.

In the USA, it is more common to see coffins carried by the side handles below waist height. This is only possible with solid wood caskets with load bearing handles.

The term “pall bearer” is often misused because the pall is the name given to the decorated cloth material or flag draped over a coffin, most recently observed at Prince Philip’s funeral.

Most coffins these days do not get draped in a pall, but they are available from most funeral directors if you ask.

To get help & support in arranging a funeral service feel free to get in touch or see my website for details.
www.acorn2oakceremonies.co.uk/end-of-life-tributes