Dying in Switzerland Is Different

What do you do if a loved one dies in England or the US?

Well, just like in Switzerland, your first reaction will probably be profound shock, even if the death had been expected.

However, once the death has been registered, you are likely to turn to a funeral director or funeral home. You can rely on the funeral director to look after all aspects of the funeral for you. This includes appointing a funeral celebrant to conduct the ceremony, if this is the family’s wish.

Things work differently in Switzerland – here, as in so many areas of everyday life. In Switzerland your first port of call will be the civil registry office (Zivilstandsamt in German, l’office de l’état civil in French) at your local authority. Many local authorities have a dedicated Funeral Office (Bestattungsamt).

In many areas, the Funeral Office will arrange everything – transport, cremation, church service, priest or minister, cemetery. Also, in a number of cantons, the local authority funeral office will cover almost all the costs of a simple funeral. In the city of Zug, for instance, most of the expenses for a very simple burial are covered by the city: cremation, burial and a certain amount for transport costs. A common grave (Gemeinschaftsgrab) costs Fr. 800 in Zug. 

Not all cantons do this, however, and the average cost of a funeral in Switzerland is estimated to be between Fr. 4000 and Fr. 8000 (Everlife.ch).

The other thing that Swiss civil registry offices and funeral offices do not do is appoint funeral celebrants, or even, in most cases, recommend them. Neither do funeral directors. A few have lists of funeral celebrants, but it is up to the family to find and hire one if they do not choose to hold their funeral in a Swiss Catholic or Reformed church, or in any other church, such as one of the English Churches in Switzerland.

Why is this? Well, if you look at the way the profession of funeral celebrancy began, things soon become clear. Funeral celebrants began working in Australia as far back as the 1970s, when a demand arose for individualised ceremonies independent of churches. Funeral celebrancy soon spread to other English-speaking countries and training programmes emerged to equip people to fulfill this role. Independent ceremonies are now so strongly established that, in the UK, for instance, there are some areas where 70% of all funerals are conducted by celebrants.

In Switzerland, by contrast, people still overwhelmingly choose funeral services in churches. Figures from 2019 show that 37% of all funerals for over-15-year-olds were held in Roman Catholic churches and 25% in Swiss Reformed churches. So perhaps it’s not surprising that most people in Switzerland haven’t even heard of funeral celebrants – Trauerredner in German, or célébrants in French.

But in fact things have been changing slowly over the past couple of decades, as Swiss increasingly choose more personalised ceremonies, or as people decide to arrange their funerals before they die. In line with this increasing demand, over the past few years, training programmes for funeral celebrants have become established and professional organisations set up. 

So, if the local authority doesn’t recommend celebrants or keep a list, families wanting to use their services can turn to professional celebrant associations like the Schweizer Trauerredner*innen, ACOR (l’Association des celebrant(e)s et officiant(e)s romand(e)s), (SZL) the Berufsverband Schweizerischer ZeremonienleiterInnen or Amanos. These organisations maintain lists of celebrants who are qualified and able to conduct personalised and dignified funeral ceremonies for families.

Dr. Helen Baumer
https://www.baumer-trauerfeiern.ch/