Editing Burial (section)

===Inclusion of clothing and personal effects===
The body may be dressed in fancy and/or ceremonial clothes. Personal objects of the deceased, such as a favorite piece of jewelry or photograph, may be included with the body. This practice, also known as the inclusion of [[grave goods]], serves several purposes:
* In [[funeral]] services, the body is often put on display. Many cultures feel that the deceased should be presented looking his or her finest. Others dress the deceased in [[burial shroud]]s, which range from very simple to elaborate depending on the culture.
* The inclusion of ceremonial garb and sacred objects is sometimes viewed as necessary for reaching the [[afterlife]].
* The inclusion of personal effects may be motivated by the beliefs that in the afterlife people will wish to have with them what was important to them on earth. Alternatively, in some cultures, it is felt that, when a person dies, their possessions (and sometimes people connected to them such as [[Widow burning|wives]]) should go with them out of loyalty or ownership.
* Although not generally a motivation for the inclusion of grave goods with a corpse, it is worth considering that future [[archaeologists]] may find the remains (compare [[time capsule]]). [[Artifact (archaeology)|Artifacts]] such as clothing and objects provide insight into how the individual lived. This provides a form of [[immortality]] for the deceased.  In general, however, clothing buried with a body decays more rapidly than the same buried alone.<ref>{{Cite magazine|title = Corpse Couture|last = O'Connor|first = Kim|date = October 2013|magazine = Wired|type = paper|page = 50}}</ref>