Pallbearer
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A pallbearer is a funeral paranymph, helping when the casket of a deceased person is carried away from a religious service or viewing to their final resting place, or to and from the hearse which does so.
A pall is the heavy cloth that is draped over a coffin; by metonymy the term pallbearer is used to signify someone who bears the coffin which the pall covers.
Some traditions distinguish between these two roles, with pallbearer being a ceremonial position, just carrying a tip of the pall or a cord atached to it, while casketbearers do the actual heavy lifting and carrying. There may otherwise be only pallbearers in the literal sense while the casket is on an animal or on an animal-drawn or motorized vehicle.
Pallbearers were usually associated in an intimate manner (such as brother, uncle, son, father, or husband - pallbearers are not always male, but male pallbearers are the most common) with the deceased before their death, though this is not always the case.
Popular culture references
In the professional wrestling company World Wrestling Entertainment, there is a manager named Paul Bearer who is known for having managed The Undertaker.
- The Pallbearer is a 1996 comical motion picture
- "The Pall Bearer's Revue" was a 1992 British comical [TV-Series]
Pallbearers are further mentioned or feature in fiction and music:
- Saint James' Infirmary
- (1979))
- the Alfred Hitchcock movie Downhill (film)
- the At The Drive-In song 'Ticklish'
Sources and references
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