Hi Ian The comment below from your post is very interesting, because some iwi Maori (Maori 'tribes') do (or did) that here in Aotearoa New Zealand - the coffin is passed out through the window of the meeting house on the marae where the tangihanga ('funeral wake') has been taking place, when the deceased is being taken to the burial place. There is a specific Maori belief system that underlies this, to do with the door being 'worldly' and safe, whereas the window side of the house (and hence the window) is tapu (usually translated as being 'sacred', though there is no easy way of translating that into English and I am not competent to do so). Do you know what the beliefs are that lead to the coffin being passed out through the window in South Wales? I wondered whether missionaries brought the practice here, but that would seem doubtful given some of the factors around where the practice takes place here, and who the missionaries were who gained dominance in those places. John -----Original Message----- From: monmouthshire-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:monmouthshire-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of ian.york@ntlworld.com Sent: Thursday, 3 May 2007 7:03 a.m. To: MONMOUTHSHIRE@rootsweb.com Subject: [MON] Burial Traditions (snip) On the day of the funeral thecoffin was passed out through the front room window into the waiting hearse. (snip)