We'll guide you through everything related to death and burial. Together with the bereaved, we address how to go through the farewell process better than is common practice. We also see the funeral as a celebration of life - meaningful, organic and often joyful. We like to tackle deep topics and are not afraid of challenging discussions. We discuss with experts.
OLDER INTERVIEWS, PODCASTS, ARTICLES AND NEWS
-
The crematorium is a depressing factory, says the funeral guide. Advice on how to beat death.
-
The Czechs are the true champions of death denial, says Vojtíšek, founder of the Funeral Guides association.
-
Ecological burial only in the shroud. Composting or water cremation is also possible abroad.
FILIP DITRICH: HOW TO CHANGE CEMETERIES TO MAKE US FEEL GOOD ABOUT THEM?
I'm speechless, come to the cemetery!
And let us know what's wrong with it? ...says Filip Ditrich, former architect of the Prague Cemeteries and a long-time connoisseur and lover of funerals.
Or, what should be there to make you feel good?
To make you start going there? ...adds our colleague Eva Valešová.
Important note: This podcast was recorded when Filip Ditrich was the architect of Prague's cemeteries and Martin Červený was the director of the Cemeteries and Funeral Services of the City of Prague. Today, neither of them works there anymore.
-
When a loved one passes away... How to prepare children sensitively for the funeral?
-
When a loved one passes away... How to prepare children sensitively for the funeral?
-
Balloons, messages in the fire, boating on the water: Funeral rituals don't have to be depressing.
-
Reading about death: what do the Funeral Guides recommend?
It is comforting to read other people's stories after a brush with death. To realize that I'm not the first or last person to have this happen to me, and to not be so alone in the burden. But reading about death helps everyone.
-
Scattering of ashes: what is allowed and what is not?
The scattering of ashes is a beautiful, romantic, spiritual and one might say uplifting way to say goodbye. However, it comes with a lot of fears and prejudices, although there is nothing to fear.
-
A new natural burial ground was created in Prague. It is a meadow full of flowers and is called Meadow of Memories.
In the Meadow of Memories you will be buried in a natural coffin and clothes. Instead of marble, there will be a meadow full of flowers above you.
THE DECEASED IS HARDENED: HOW NOT TO TREAT THE DECEASED
Openly about topics that others in society don't even whisper about.
Tomáš Kotrlý, the head of the Czech funeral industry and a visionary, talks about respect for the dead, comparing them to the sleeping who are 'just not conscious'. His provocative questions invite reflection on common funeral practices.
Are we ready to change our approach?
-
A good memorial service will help the bereaved and give hope
The Czechs have one sad, though unconfirmed record. Up to half of all funerals take place without a ceremony, and if one does take place, it is traditionally an impersonal gathering in a crematorium that functions more like a corpse incinerator.
-
Why do funeral speakers speak so impersonally?
eulogy is the focal point of the funeral. On the surface, it can be beautiful and very dignified - like having the deceased painted. On the inside, however, it can be deeply personal.
-
Where to go in Brno for funeral tourism?
Brno is often visited for exhibitions, concerts or festivals, but a closer look reveals that it is also a paradise for those who like to walk around cemeteries, churches, dungeons... in short, funeral monuments.
ADAM VOKÁČ: A YOUNG UNDERTAKER TURNS OVER A NEW LEAF IN THE FUNERAL BUSINESS - BACK TO NATURE WITH THE LAST TRACE
How to bridge the gap between the traditional crematorium and the return of the deceased to the arms of nature?
Adam and his Last Trace Society are working to change the law to open the way for more gentle burial methods.
Can human remains be an excellent fertilizer? Would you fertilize your garden with them?
-
Grieving during the Christmas holidays will be helped by an invitation to a common table.
We consider Christmas to be a joyous season when we meet our loved ones. We are surrounded by laughter, carols, fairy tales, sweet smells, candles, lights... But what if you have recently lost someone you loved? Or if you have someone like that in your life?
-
A funeral doesn't have to be all black.
The final farewell today doesn't have to be a quick impersonal meeting in the funeral parlor. In addition to the traditional things like a funeral card, music or floral arrangements, you can make it more personal with other little things that will remind you of your loved one.
-
How to make the last goodbye as personal as possible?
The idea that a funeral must necessarily take place in a funeral parlor, with a hired speaker, four songs, and within twenty minutes, has been changing of late.
KLÁRA SVOBODOVÁ: A MOTHER OF THREE WHOSE FIRST BABY DIED BEFORE BIRTH
Klára Svobodová is a Renaissance personality and a mother of three, but: her first daughter Žofka died before birth.
What was it like in the maternity ward? How did the people around her react? How did it affect Clara's partner life? How did she experience other births? How does she talk about Zofka with her other children? And did it help that she wrote the book Pregnant Buddha?
-
Artificial intelligence promises to create a copy of your deceased. Here are 12 reasons not to!
Companies promise us that they will recreate our deceased mom, daughter, brother or dad. We'll write to each other, we'll talk to each other, we'll see each other on video, and we may even meet in virtual reality. We Funeral Guides call this the "digital ghost".
-
7 most embarrassing sentences you will hear at Czech funerals - how not to write eulogy.
Looking for sample eulogies on the internet? You will certainly find a lot of clichés and empty phrases in them, especially at the beginning. In a case where the speaker knows almost nothing about the deceased, it is no wonder - he or she has to say something.
-
The pre-burial will help us say goodbye. A celebration of life and a reconciliation with death.
Let's say goodbye while we still have the strength. Let's reconcile with ourselves, death, in the family and among friends and colleagues. A new pre-funeral concept will help us leave with a clear mind.
REFLEX, SPACE X: THE CLASSIC FUNERAL IS HAUNTING PEOPLE. WE CAN GET THE ASHES INTO SPACE.
Almost everyone has been to a funeral. It usually looks similar - a funeral parlour or crematorium, flowers and a speech. The situation is often impersonal and hectic. But a funeral doesn't have to be like that, and the possibilities of what a final farewell can look like are almost limitless. Funeral guide Oleg Vojtisek explains why it is important to experience and process death and funerals correctly.
CZECH RADIO, GOOD ADVICE: WE CAN DEFEAT DEATH BY ACCEPTING IT, SAYS OLEG VOJTÍŠEK
"Death is a very difficult topic in our society. Funeral guides, however, present the last things of a person a little differently. They say, 'People deserve a good funeral. A good funeral service. A good send-off. One that will help the bereaved, while celebrating the deceased."
Most of us don't even realize that the ceremony of saying goodbye to a loved one may have nothing to do with the funeral as most of us know it. It doesn't even have to take place in a funeral parlor or cemetery.
There are plenty of options. Perhaps at the confluence of rivers, on a hill, in a villa, in a gallery, or even on a football field. In short, last rites can be very personal and revolve around the deceased. Depending on what he loved, what he hated, what he was like, what he did, where he went.
DATA TALK #77: OLEG VOJTÍŠEK (FUNERAL GUIDES)
In the next Data Talk, you will hear from Oleg Vojtíšek, AI Product Owner at TV Nova, but also co-founder of Funeral Guides. Oleg has had an impressive career in data, from his beginnings in telecommunications to fintech services at Alza to machine learning at TV Nova, but the most pivotal part of the talk is dedicated to a taboo in our society - death.
We will discuss the topic of death and dying through the Funeral Guide from a startup perspective, through urban and humanistic notes. We graduate the podcast to the connection between death and AI. How does AI "disrupt" death? And do we have a Black Mirror themed episode on dying and grieving on the way to every family, or is there a reason to be techno-optimistic even in an area as intimate as death? Give this episode a watch, it's worth it!
-
How to talk to children about death? What about children at a funeral?
Let's stop protecting children from death because we are afraid of it ourselves. Let's forget the notion that "what children don't know won't hurt them". The reality is that what children don't know, they make up.
-
And you don't eat at funerals? A Czech funeral guide explores funerals in Indonesia.
In the Czech Republic we are afraid of funerals. But in Indonesia, people look forward to them. They eat, drink and chat together for days. But first they kill the buffalo and the horses. And the meat is cut up and distributed to the guests.
-
When is the best time for a funeral?
How about doing the ceremony in the afternoon, evening, Sunday? Normally, funerals are held in the morning, mid-morning, and at the latest in the early afternoon on weekdays. They last less than half an hour and not always do the family and the bereaved have enough time...
CZECH RADIO TWO: GUEST: OLEG VOJTÍŠEK, FUNERAL GUIDE
What can we do when we haven't had time to say goodbye to a loved one properly? Should there be children at the funeral? And can we prepare for death in advance? Hosted by Barbora Chuecos.
FUNERAL GUIDE: THE CEREMONY CAN BE BEAUTIFUL AND JOYFUL AND CHILDREN BELONG THERE
Funerals are about reconciliation. Children perceive it as we teach them. It's best to talk to them about funerals. The more open and technical, the better. It's good to take them there and it can even be beneficial if we involve them in the preparations," says funeral guide Oleg Vojtisek.
In his opinion, the current Czech funeral is dignified, but it does not help the deceased much. He thinks funerals have many more functions. For example, to finish things we didn't finish before. He talks about other functions and possibilities of funerals in the podcast. There he tells you, among other things, how important a Lego set, for example, can play an important role in them for children.
Vlček Family Foundation Podcast: Oleg Vojtíšek with Mirek Čepický
-
A person's last things: what to do with the ashes of the deceased?
The loss of a loved one is always a painful ordeal in life. That's why it's good to know how to deal with some purely practical matters - like what to do with the ashes when the funeral is over.
-
Death is still a taboo in the Czech Republic. People don't know how to say goodbye to their loved ones.
Almost two-thirds of Czechs have no idea what their funeral should look like. Only a quarter of them know what kind of last farewell their parents will want. The displacement of the topic of death is confirmed by recent research.
-
How to choose a funeral service?
Even when preparing the last farewell, you need to choose well. But how, when one is numb with grief and does not know what to look out for?
CZECH RADIO PLUS, PETER VIZINA'S CALLS: THE CZECHS ARE THE TRUE CHAMPIONS OF DEATH DENIAL
"I don't care what kind of funeral I'll have. The farewell is primarily for the bereaved. Of course, according to the Civil Code, we are supposed to do the funeral exactly according to the deceased's instructions and to follow his will as much as possible. But I say that the funeral is mainly to help the bereaved to say goodbye, take a breath and move on," Vojtíšek explains.
Why the Guide was founded, he explains pragmatically: years ago Vojtíšek saw a ceremony in Berlin, which he said was fantastic and in a church.
"The sacred and the profane were connected. People who were in a church for the first time, maybe even for the first time at a funeral, were connected," he recalls.
"But the ceremony worked very well: at the beginning people were concentrated, in the middle they were really crying, even the big guys, and by the end they were laughing and kind of singing. I hadn't seen anything like that in Eastern Europe before.