Jeon Gyeong-cheol, 64, known as the "Peter Pan dad" for caring for his son with severe autism even while battling terminal liver cancer, recently died, and it became known that the funeral was held without setting up a wake. The deceased was placed in the mortuary of a funeral hall, and only a few, including family, attended the encoffining and the send-off in what is called a "no-wake funeral."
No-wake funerals, which spread during the COVID-19 crisis due to infection concerns, have recently taken root as a funeral format, in line with expense pressures, changes in family structure, and a preference for simpler ceremonies.
Unlike the usual three-day funeral, a no-wake funeral does not set up a wake to receive condolence visitors. The deceased is kept in a funeral hall mortuary for one to two days, and on the day of the send-off, family and close acquaintances gather to observe the washing and encoffining before moving to the crematorium.
◇ No-wake funerals that began during COVID-19 continue to increase
According to Goi Funeral Lab on the 9th, no-wake funerals accounted for 23.2% of the funerals the company handled from January last year to July this year. Although these are statistics from a company with a relatively large number of customized and simple funerals, the funeral industry also says no-wake funerals have been steadily increasing.
An official at a large mutual-aid company said, "No-wake funerals are increasing every year," and noted, "Across the mutual-aid industry last year, we estimate that no-wake funerals accounted for around 10%." An official at the funeral hall of Soonchunhyang University Seoul Hospital also said, "Since COVID-19, more people have been choosing no-wake funerals, and related inquiries keep coming in."
The trigger for the spread of no-wake funerals was the COVID-19 crisis. As social distancing reduced condolence visits, more families experienced holding simple ceremonies among themselves. This approach did not disappear even after COVID-19 ended. That is because it can reduce funeral expenses and ease the burden of maintaining a wake for days and receiving guests.
◇ 20%–27% of the cost of a regular funeral… Growing preference for quiet services
The economic reason is also significant. According to the Korea Funeral Association, in the Seoul metropolitan area, a no-wake funeral typically costs 2 million to 3 million won. It includes a shroud and coffin, encoffining supplies (about 900,000 to 1.3 million won), mortuary use, body washing, funeral director, and hearse (about 1.1 million to 1.6 million won), and other expenses.
A typical three-day funeral is estimated to cost about 10 million to 11 million won on average. That is because additional costs accrue for wake hall rental, altar decorations, and meals for condolence visitors. For a funeral receiving about 150 visitors, the wake hall (an average of 3.6 million won), the altar (about 2 million won), and food expenses (2.5 million won) can total around 8 million won. If the wake space or the number of visitors grows, expenses can rise into the tens of millions of won.
The procedures are also shorter. In a regular funeral, bereaved families keep the wake for two to three days, but in a no-wake funeral, the main steps from encoffining to the departure of the hearse usually conclude within a few hours on the send-off day.
The funeral industry says it is hard to explain the increase in no-wake funerals by expenses alone. As family sizes shrink and younger generations' views on funerals change, demand is growing to quietly say goodbye as a family rather than hold formal condolence visits.
Song Seul-ong, head of Goi Funeral Lab, said, "Recently, many families voluntarily want a quiet funeral, not because of economic circumstances," and added, "People in their 20s and 30s are not familiar with traditional Confucian funeral practices or religious rites, so some do not find much meaning in conventional formats."
Some choose no-wake funerals for practical reasons. Choi Min-ho, secretary-general of the Korea Funeral Association, said, "If the deceased was elderly and did not have many social ties, or if, like a small self-employed person, few condolence visitors are expected, or if children live overseas, families sometimes choose a no-wake funeral."
◇ Limits from lack of mourning space and time… A "three-hour memorial space" draws attention
However, some point out that overly simplified funerals leave bereaved families without enough time and space to grieve and remember the deceased. Many funeral halls do not provide separate waiting or memorial spaces for families who choose no-wake funerals.
An office worker surnamed Lee, 34, who said they attended an acquaintance's no-wake funeral recently, said, "It was regrettable that there was no place for family and close acquaintances to sit together, even briefly before encoffining, to talk about the deceased and comfort each other," and added, "As no-wake funerals increase, funeral halls need to prepare spaces to match."
Targeting this demand, spaces that can be rented for a few hours to commemorate the deceased are also emerging. Hankyoreh Dure Cooperative, which runs the memorial-space service Chaevi in Seoul, rents spaces for three- to eight-hour blocks that can accommodate up to 30 people. It also provides an altar, chrysanthemums for offering, a table for the deceased's belongings, and display of the deceased's photos.
Jeon Seung-uk, a director at Chaevi, said, "In the past, most separate memorial services were for celebrities, but recently, ordinary people also increasingly want to gather only with family and close acquaintances to remember the deceased."