“How Is a Person Honored when They’re Shut Inside a Sack?”: The Experiences of Grief and Funerary Practices in Greece During the COVID-19 Pandemic

The purpose of this research is to explore how bereaved adults in Greece experienced pandemic-related disruptions to funerary bodily care and rituals, and how these impediments shaped their mourning. Thirteen adults who lost a loved one between May 2020 and June 2021 participated in semi-structured interviews, and the data were subjected to Reflexive Thematic Analysis (RTA). The participants described their experiences of health restrictions, their psycho-emotional reactions to the loss, underscoring aggravating and protective factors during mourning. The prohibition of taking care of the deceased person’s body was experienced by some as a rupture, contributing to a sense of unfinished business, and highlighting the crucial importance of the body in honoring the dead. Nevertheless, some participants described private, relational, and spiritual efforts to honor their dead and restore meaning. These findings are discussed as a culturally positioned account of ritual disruptions within the Greek cultural context, having implications for grief support and public-health responses in cases of sanitary crises.