Spanish funerals - anyone know anything?

[FuneralHelp]

Name change.

My Spanish/Catalan FiL is terminally ill and may not make it to Christmas (and if he does, is unlikely to last long after that).

I’m trying to think about logistics for the funeral, because I would of course like to attend with DH but we would not want to take our children so I will have to sort probably 3 days/2 nights of care for them.

My main question is around timing: I understand in Spain funerals usually take place very quickly after a death, often only 2 days later. Is this always the case or (given DH would be involved in organising it) could there be a longer period to allow us to make arrangements? Here it’s quite common for a funeral to take place a fortnight or more after a death but I don’t think it’s the done thing in Spain.

If it has to be two days later I’m just not sure I’ll be able to go.

I don’t want to ask DH about this at the moment for obvious reasons. Thanks

My understanding is that the funeral is usually held within two days of the person's death, but can be delayed to allow family and friends to get to the funeral location. So it's custom, not a legal requirement. It's very similar in Ireland.

You can ask the funeral service to delay on the basis of people coming from aboad. It's not uncommon.

Thanks, yes it can’t be uncommon you’re right. But I know another two day funeral was held in the family, meaning relatives from the US weren’t able to come. So keen to check there is some flexibility.

Op. I have Spanish family so have been to quite a few over the years. I've never known one to be held later than 2 days after death, regardless of family living overseas or extenuating circumstances or such. It's a really ingrained custom. Arrangements are usually sorted and burial plots reserved well in advance of death so that when the inevitable happens it is all very standard procedure. The body is usually prepped very quickly after death and preserved in open casket in the chapel of rest where the burial/ cremation will take place. There are likely to be several chapels in the same building so several families coming and going. The body remains there the whole of the day after death and family, friends, work colleagues etc. visit all through the day to pay their respects. Some will stay the whole day. Children attend too and there's lots of chat/ conversations - they seem to have a much more open, pragmatic view of death. The funeral service usually follows a very prescriptive religious format with minimal, if any variation. Traditional dark dress. No speeches from family or such. It's quite short. Someone usually sorts service sheets & flowers - same day turnaround as they are used to it. They also produce little in memorandum cards with a photo and more personal info to hand out to everyone. These are kept and cherished. There is often a more personal memorial/ family social with food at a later date. Hope this helps.

My Spanish friends father died and had to leave work to fly there or he would have missed it. They do it next day a lot of times. Luckily we are by Gatwick