Have you ever craved a funeral sandwich? Or better yet, the soup that is handed to you in a mug while your neighbour runs around with a saucepan of tea waiting for someone to accept a cup?

The Irish do funerals well. It’s a cultural phenomenon, if you haven’t experienced it first-hand.

As Catholicism’s rigorous routines slowly disintegrate, I still feel guilt about eating meat on Good Friday. And I still appreciate a good Irish funeral. I am always taken aback when I speak to someone of my age and they let me know they have never been to a funeral, or have attended very few.

“We have been on this earth for so long, what do you mean you haven’t been to an extensive amounts of wakes?”

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There is a strict routine when it comes to Irish funerals. They might look different, depending on the county, but they follow the same pattern. The........

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