Funerals

New migrants are often startled by the informality of some New Zealand funerals. Personalised funerals designed in line with family wishes, and which follow no particular liturgy, have become increasingly popular. Solemnity and grieving is often combined with 'celebrating the life' of the deceased, and lighter moments are now a feature of most funerals. Formal dress is not obligatory and semi-formal dress increasingly common. An important exception to this pattern is the tangi, the traditional Māori funeral. These are solemn rituals, at which marae protocol is strictly observed.