Fantasy coffins to dressing up the dead: Nothing funereal about these funerals

For most people around the world, funerals are sombre events when they have to let go of their loved ones. Some cremate the body, while others bury it in the hope that the departed soul will be at peace.

However, there are some cultures around the globe, where people do not believe in just saying a conventional goodbye.

In China, families call strippers to funerals to attract more people. They believe attracting a large crowd honours the deceased and brings them good fortune.

"Chinese rural households are more inclined to show off their disposable incomes by paying out several times their annual income for actors, singers, comedians, and - most recently, strippers - to comfort the bereaved and entertain the mourners", a report in Global Times, China's communist party publication, noted.

However, authorities in China have recently announced a crackdown on the use of strippers, saying the practice is "corrupting the social atmosphere" of the country. The Chinese Ministry of Culture said last week that they will no longer accept these "obscene, pornographic, and vulgar performances".

A hotline number across 19 cities in Henan, Jiangsu and Hebei provinces has been set up to curb the practice. The ministry has offered cash incentives to callers who inform authorities of a break in the ban.

Only time will tell if this initiative of the Chinese authorities will get them the desired results. Meanwhile, IBTimes UK has listed out five other uncommon funeral customs around the world.

Turning the dead into colourful beads: People in South Korea believe in keeping alive their dead ones. While some people around the world, cremate the dead and immerse the ashes in a river, South Koreans compress the remains of their dead into colourful gem-like beads after cremation and display them at their homes.

Hanging coffins: We have mostly heard of people burying coffins deep in the ground inside a cemetery, but for the Igorot tribe of Mountain Province in northern Philippines burying their dear ones is a strict no-no. Instead, they hang the coffins to a mountain cliff.

The tribe believes that doing so will bring them closer to their ancestral spirits. Some think the water inside the ground would eventually seep into the soil and the body would rot.

Besides the Filipino tribe, a Chinese ethnic group called the Bo people, also believe in hanging the coffins of their dead. They believe that hanging the coffins prevents the deceased ones from being taken by beasts and the act would also bless their soul.

Dressing up the dead: The Tinguian people of the Philippines like to dress up their dear ones in their best clothes after death.

They also place them in chairs and set lit cigarettes between their lips. The dead are treated as if they are alive. For how long after death this goes on is not known.

Mass cremation: Most of us know about mass weddings, but mass cremations are definitely not common, unless there has been a disaster with several people dying together. In Bali, however, it is a custom to cremate a number of dead together with great pomp and show.

Cremations in Bali are special affairs, where some people dig out the remains of dead ones who have been buried temporarily and leave them exposed until the event goes on.

Fantasy coffins: It is safe to say that Ghana has the most interesting funeral custom, where the dead are buried in style.

They believe the deceased will continue with his or her profession in life after death, so they give them a fancy burial in a personalised coffin that represents the work they did while alive. It is their belief that by doing so the deceased will remember where they come from and what they have left behind.