Korean funerals

Korean beliefs about death

Filial piety runs through Korean practice, expressed through ancestral rites that honour the dead on death anniversaries and at the major holidays. These rites are observed across religious lines – by Buddhist, Protestant and Catholic families alike – though many Protestant families hold a memorial service instead, with hymns, prayer and Bible reading followed by a shared meal.

Korean funeral ceremonies

In Korea, the traditional pattern is a three-day funeral held at a dedicated hospital funeral hall, with burial or cremation on the third day. In the UK this has to be arranged differently – across a chapel of rest, a hired venue and a crematorium or cemetery slot, since UK hospitals and mortuaries don't have the space to host visitors over several days – but the same three-day rhythm can still be honoured. If a Buddhist family chooses to, a longer sequence follows: seven services over seven weeks, the last on the forty-ninth day, regarded as the point of final farewell.

Korean funeral etiquette is formal, and the family will guide you. Here's what to expect:

• Jesa (제사 / 祭祀): The ancestral rite. The central expression of filial piety, performed on death anniversaries.
• Cherye: The ancestral rites performed to honour the dead on death anniversaries and at the major holidays.
• Hyo (孝): Filial piety. The value the ancestral rites express.
• Sasipgujae (사싹구재 / 四十九齋): The Buddhist forty-nine-day rite: seven services over seven weeks.
• Chu-do-ye-bae (追悼禮拜): The Protestant memorial service held in place of jesa, with hymns, prayer and Bible reading.
• Yeong-sin (迎神): Welcoming the ancestors. The opening stage of the ancestral rite.
• Jin-chan (進饌): Offering food to the ancestors during the rite.
• Heon-jag (獻酌): Raising drink to the ancestors during the rite.
• Seollal: Lunar new year, one of the two great holidays at which ancestral rites are held.
• Chuseok: The autumn harvest holiday, held to honour ancestors and one of the most important in Korea.
• Hanbok: Traditional Korean dress, still worn at funerals and family occasions.

The cost of a Korean funeral in the UK depends on the funeral director, the crematorium or cemetery, and what your family chooses to include. Keeping to a three-day pattern usually means holding the body for longer and booking a venue as well as a crematorium slot, so it is worth discussing at the outset. Where a temple or church leads the rites, their own arrangements are separate from our charges. Your local Dignity funeral director can talk you through everything that is included, and the costs.

At Dignity, we’re here to support families of every culture. We can arrange Chinese, Japanese, Irish, Spanish, African, Nigerian, Caribbean and Jamaican funerals, and funerals for people of every faith and none. Contact your local funeral director to talk about what your family needs.