to think taking photos of someone in a coffin is the height of disrespect?

No you said it was rare, it’s possibly rare in your area, however it certainly isn’t rare in mine and other parts of the UK. It’s quite common!

Most Scottish catholics and my Irish friends who are catholic also have the body at home.

Im in England, it’s rare for my area as it’s mostly a protestant area however I’ve been to a few in England (mostly my catholic friends) over my years living here which in scale is rare.

Just for reference , Scotland is in the UK!

I think it is a memory for them, I do think roman catholics have a different attitude towards death I mean traditionally the coffin is at home and they have the wake round about them. If they didn't want phones they would have been told to put them away.

My older family members take photos by gravesides,

Catholics can be cremated. Borh my parents were.

I’ve been to a wake like this too, suggest you read other related comments

I never said never. There’s a difference

Those Victorian semis with the two rooms downstairs, pantry, and outhouse usually reserved the better of the two rooms as the parlour for laying out dead.

Say a little prayer for them next time you're in a knocked through open plan brick house with a breakfast bar. This is what was there.

Your post said it’s extremely rare for the body to be at home in the UK, the other poster @HaudYerWheeshtYaWeeBellend was saying it’s not rare in Scotland which is part of the UK, I’m in NI where it’s not rare either. All of my deceased relatives and most friends have had the body at home. The practice of going to the church the night before has existed alongside this for as long as I can remember but in my family we have always kept the body at home and left for the funeral mass. When people are brought to the church the evening before it can be used as an opportunity for those who couldn’t attend the funeral to come and show their respects, there would often be dozens of family friends.

In the living room?!?! That’s creepy as f! Omg. How awful. You’re right that is incredibly disrespectful. I’d be opting out of that…..

Amiens Cathedral
A basilica in Rome
Residenz Museum of Munich
Ummayad Mosque Damascas ( another Mosque as well but I can’t find it now)
Ruins of a Medieval monastery of St John the Baptist in Bulgaria

Doesn't a selfie mean that you have yourself in the foreground? So standing in front of the coffin? Seems disrespectful to me.

Here’s an article

I think I read there are ? five heads but I’m struggling to find the fifth 🥴

I’ll have a Google 😁

St John the Baptist is the only person in history who was able to regrow his head. A true miracle. I knew there was one mosque and 2 churches claiming they have his head but if there's a second mosque, that makes 4 heads.

Relics are revered in other religions too.
Muslims have two heads of John the Baptist in Two mosques in Damascas .

That's sweet. Did she at least recognise the business opportunity and sell off little bits for a fortune?

The article doesn't mention that massive demand for relics in the middle ages led to loads of fake relics being passed off as the real thing. A church with a relic stood to make a lot of money from pilgrims so it was definitely advantageous to have one.

Sweetly, he took it home for his wife

There was a massive business in relics back in the day. You could make a fortune from it. There are apparently 3 official authentic heads of St. John the Baptist...

The guy with the cloth presumably spotted a business opportunity and grabbed it.

It’s interesting how much variety there is in death and funerals. So much of life has become the same everywhere. Death seems to have kept more cultural/religious/local variety.

In Ireland Catholic traditions vary a lot as well, eg open coffins and remains in home for wakes not very common in Dublin but common in the country (in my experience). There’s a new crematorium opened (or opening?) in north Dublin and cremation seems to becoming more popular.

Just a part of An article on this subject of relics

I bet there were people with sketch pads or other pre-digital tech in previous centuries who would later on illustrate pamphlets or sell portraits taken from public events such as funerals and executions.

When St Thomas was martyred at Canterbury someone soaked cloth in his blood and took it home and added water to get a relic. Now that is taking embodiment seriously.

I look forward to pushing up daisies one day.

Well spotted. Yes, I did.

It is not an Irish cultural thing.

Not everybody has to confirm to white UK (non Catholic) rules over death. You’re not the only culture or arbiter of taste. Tough if it offends you.

Did you miss the word Not out ?

It does seem a bit gross and creepy. I've been at ' open coffin' wakes. Nobody would dream of taking photo of the deceased however. Maybe more of a thing for the bereaved in eg the USA though?

TI'm Irish and have never encountered a photo of a corpse in a coffin or ever heard of anyone having one on display so it's definitely a standard Irish cultural thing.