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P

PALL

The transportation of the deceased by a coffin or casket, also used to describe the cloth used to drape the casket or coffin.

PALLBEARER

an individual appointed to carry a coffin or casket during transportation of the body, traditionally considered an honor, six people are to be asked by the family to provide this final caring act for the deceased

PHASMOPHOBIA

the fear of ghosts

PHILATORY

a transparent reliquary to contain and exhibit the bones and relics of saints.

PLACOPHOBIA

a phobia, specifically the fear of tombstones

PNEUMATIPHOBIA

a phobia, specifically the fear of spirits

POLYANDRIUM

originally a cemetery for the victims of great battles

PROTECTIVE CASKET

A marketing angle used by the funeral industry to sell a higher profit casket model by advertisting its ability to "seal" and protect the remains inside. The model features an inexpensive gasket that will render the box to be airtight., and create the illusion of a preserved body. In reality, the body will deteriorate at faster rate due to the decomposition by anaerobic bacteria, which causes putrefied liquification of the body.

PYRE

a ceremonial construction made of wood and fire, designed to reduce a corpse to ashes as part of the burial ritual, used traditionally in the Hindu religion

RD Glossary by Run Digital