France Life Stages: Death
Funerals Important
Even though most French people consider themselves only nominally religious, their view of death primarily stems from Catholic theology. However, many rural French people, especially old women, hold a fatalistic attitude toward death.
Funerals have an important place in French culture, and in the rural areas, the entire community participates in them. Cemeteries and graves hold great symbolic value as the repository of the memory of the deceased. Despite their passive attitude toward religion, most French hold funerals in churches, complete with a religious ceremony. They also commemorate death anniversaries with a church service and a visit to the grave of the deceased.
Traditional Views
The French can be said to base their views of the afterlife on the Christian/Catholic tradition of a heaven and hell, in which the souls of the dead either enjoy eternal bliss or face eternal damnation, according to their faith in Christ and their behavior during life. Some French also believe in purgatory, where souls are purified by temporary suffering before finally entering paradise.
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