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57-677: A Kingdom Hall is a place of worship used by Jehovah's Witnesses . The term was first suggested in 1935 by Joseph Franklin Rutherford , then president of the Watch Tower Society , for a building in Hawaii . Rutherford's reasoning was that these buildings would be used for "preaching the good news of the Kingdom". Jehovah's Witnesses use Kingdom Halls for the majority of their worship and Bible instruction. Witnesses prefer

114-486: A United States federal regulation , 16 CFR Part 453 (known as the Funeral Rule ), if a family provides a casket they purchased elsewhere (for example from a United States retail warehouse store, as illustrated here), the establishment is required to accept the casket and use it in the services. If the casket is delivered direct to the funeral home from the manufacturer or store, they are required to accept delivery of

171-412: A deceased person, it can also be called a pall , a term that also refers to the cloth used to cover the coffin while those who carry a casket are the pallbearers . Coffins are traditionally made with six sides plus the top (lid) and bottom, tapered around the shoulders, or rectangular with four sides. Another form of four-sided coffin is trapezoidal (also known as the "wedge" form) and is considered

228-595: A house of worship . Temples , churches , mosques , and synagogues are examples of structures created for worship. A monastery may serve both to house those belonging to religious orders and as a place of worship for visitors. Natural or topographical features may also serve as places of worship, and are considered holy or sacrosanct in some religions; the rituals associated with the Ganges river are an example in Hinduism . Under international humanitarian law and

285-430: A pauper's funeral was paid for by the parish, the coffin might have been made of the cheapest, thinnest possible pine . At the other extreme, a coffin bought privately by a wealthy individual might have used yew or mahogany with a fine lining, plated fittings and brass decorations, topped with a decorated velvet drape. In modern times coffins are almost always mass-produced. Some manufacturers do not sell directly to

342-491: A putrefied liquefaction of the body, and all putrefied tissue remains inside the container, only to be exposed in the event of an exhumation. A container that allows air to pass in and out, such as a simple wooden box, allows for clean skeletonization . However the situation will vary according to soil or air conditions, and climate. Coffins are made of many materials, including steel, various types of wood, and other materials such as fiberglass or recycled kraft paper . There

399-406: A Kingdom Hall if the body of elders considers that "the deceased had a clean reputation and was a member of the congregation or the minor child of a member". The family of the deceased may ask any respected male member of the congregation to conduct the service, which involves a simple Bible-based discourse. Depending on family preference and local custom, a Kingdom Hall funeral may or may not have

456-400: A coffin made of wood or other materials like particle board or low-density fibreboard. Others will rent a regular casket for the duration of the services. These caskets have a removable bed and liner which is replaced after each use. There are also rental caskets with an outer shell that looks like a traditional coffin and a cardboard box that fits inside the shell. At the end of the services

513-475: A more defined organizational structure. In 1983, an arrangement was instituted whereby loans from the Watch Tower Society financed Kingdom Halls. In addition to contribution boxes for local congregation expenses and "the worldwide work", each congregation had a contribution box specifically for voluntary donations toward Kingdom-Hall construction. The Watch Tower Society pooled these donations into

570-472: A number of standard designs for construction that can be built in just a few days. The act of constructing a Kingdom Hall in this manner after the initial foundations are laid is called a quick-build . A Kingdom Hall or Assembly Hall may originate from the renovation of an existing structure, such as a theater or non-Witness house of worship . In areas of repeated or reputed vandalism, particularly in cities, some Kingdom Halls are built without windows to reduce

627-471: A tradition that already existed in Accra where the kings were using figurative palanquins in the forms of their family symbol. And as those chiefs who were using figurative palanquins had to be buried in a coffin looking like their palanquin, their families used figurative coffins which were formerly nothing else than the copies of the design palanquins. Today figurative coffins are of course no more reserved for

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684-472: A variant of the six-sided hexagonal kind of coffin. Continental Europe at one time favoured the rectangular coffin or casket, although variations exist in size and shape. The rectangular form, and also the trapezoidal form, is still regularly used in Germany, Austria, Hungary and other parts of Eastern and Central Europe, with the lid sometimes made to slope gently from the head down towards the foot. Coffins in

741-549: Is a place of worship for followers of Islam . There are strict and detailed requirements in Sunni jurisprudence (fiqh) for a place of worship to be considered a masjid, with places that do not meet these requirements regarded as musallas. There are stringent restrictions on the uses of the area formally demarcated as the mosque (which is often a small portion of the larger complex), and, in the Islamic Sharia law, after an area

798-1010: Is an entertainment venue . Congregations typically meet in their Kingdom Halls two days each week for worship. Meetings usually open and close with song and prayer . Meetings held in the Kingdom Hall include Bible readings and public talks on matters such as the Bible, family life, Christian qualities and prophecy . There are discussions of specially prepared study articles in The Watchtower magazine and other publications of Jehovah's Witnesses. Witnesses usually meet in Kingdom Halls for preparation and prayer before engaging in their door-to-door ministry . Kingdom Halls may also be used to teach sign language or other language classes. Kingdom Halls are also used for sessions especially developed for particular areas of service, such as

855-481: Is commonly drawn between "coffins" and "caskets", using "coffin" to refer to a tapered hexagonal or octagonal (also considered to be anthropoidal in shape) box and "casket" to refer to a rectangular box, often with a split lid used for viewing the deceased as seen in the picture. Receptacles for cremated and cremulated human ashes (sometimes called cremains) are called urns . First attested in English in 1380,

912-902: Is emerging interest in eco-friendly coffins made of purely natural materials such as bamboo , X-Board , willow or banana leaf. In the latter part of the 19th century and the early part of the 20th century in the United States, glass coffins were widely sold by travelling salesmen, who also would try to sell stock of the companies making the coffins. Custom coffins are occasionally created and some companies also make set ranges with non-traditional designs. These include printing or painting of peaceful tropical scenes, sea-shells, sunsets, cherubim, and patriotic flags. Some manufacturers have designed them to look like gym carry bags, guitar cases, cigar humidors, and even yellow dumpster bins. Other coffins are left deliberately blank so that friends and family can inscribe final wishes and thoughts upon them to

969-590: Is formally designated as a mosque, it remains so until the Last Day. Many mosques have elaborate domes, minarets, and prayer halls, in varying styles of architecture. Mosques originated on the Arabian Peninsula, but are now found in all inhabited continents. The mosque serves as a place where Muslims can come together for salat (صلاة ṣalāt, meaning "prayer") as well as a center for information, education, social welfare, and dispute settlement. The imam leads

1026-402: Is more than one auditorium, each auditorium or the entire structure may be referred to as "a Kingdom Hall". Larger Assembly Halls or Convention Centers of Jehovah's Witnesses , or any rented arena or stadium used for larger gatherings of Jehovah's Witnesses are regarded 'as a large Kingdom Hall'. Undignified behavior is considered inappropriate during their religious events, even if the facility

1083-643: Is packed with dried grasses. Sometimes coffins are constructed to permanently display the corpse, as in the case of the glass-covered coffin of the Haraldskær Woman on display in the Church of Saint Nicolai in Vejle , Denmark or the glass-coffins of Vladimir Lenin and Mao Zedong , which are in Red Square , Moscow and Tiananmen Square , Beijing , respectively. When a coffin is used to transport

1140-483: Is prominently displayed inside each Kingdom Hall. This text can be displayed in several languages if the Hall is used by foreign-language congregations. A Kingdom Hall typically has a library , contribution boxes, and a literature counter, where publications are displayed, stored and dispensed. Some Kingdom Halls have multiple auditoriums to allow more than one congregation to conduct meetings simultaneously. Where there

1197-414: Is selected to be part of the operating committee. Kingdom Hall maintenance costs are covered by donations to a local fund. Place of worship A place of worship is a specially designed structure or space where individuals or a group of people such as a congregation come to perform acts of devotion, veneration, or religious study. A building constructed or used for this purpose is sometimes called

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1254-632: The Geneva Conventions , religious buildings are offered special protection, similar to the protection guaranteed hospitals displaying the Red Cross or Red Crescent . These international laws of war bar firing upon or from a religious building. Religious architecture expresses the religious beliefs, aesthetic choices, and economic and technological capacity of those who create or adapt it, and thus places of worship show great variety depending on time and place. The word church derives from

1311-781: The Greater Accra Region . These colourful objects, which are not only coffins, but considered real works of art, were shown for the first time to a wider Western public in the exhibition Les Magiciens de la terre at the Musée National d’Art Moderne in Paris in 1989. The seven coffins shown in Paris were done by Seth Kane Kwei (1922–1992) and by his former assistant Paa Joe (b. 1947). Since then coffins of Kane Kweis successors Paa Joe , Daniel Mensah , Kudjoe Affutu or Eric Adjetey Anang and others have been displayed in many international art museums and galleries around

1368-590: The Hebrew Beyt ha-Knesset (Hebrew בית הכנסת) meaning house of assembly. Coffin Coffins are sometimes referred to as caskets , particularly in American English. Any box in which the dead are buried is a coffin, and while a casket was originally regarded as a box for jewelry , use of the word "casket" in this sense began as a euphemism introduced by the undertaker 's trade. A distinction

1425-552: The Pioneer Service School for full-time preachers, and the Kingdom Ministry School for elders and ministerial servants. In areas where the literacy rate is low, congregations may arrange to use Kingdom Halls to conduct literacy classes, which non-Witnesses may also attend. Kingdom Halls may be used for wedding ceremonies of Witness-baptized couples. A couple sends a request in writing to

1482-643: The Society Kingdom Hall Fund for financing the construction of Kingdom Halls worldwide, particularly in developing nations. When a congregation received local approval to build a new Kingdom Hall, that congregation could apply for a loan from the Society Kingdom Hall Fund. The congregation repaid the loan to the Watch Tower Society, in addition to its continued contributions to the Kingdom Hall Fund. Interest

1539-527: The casketed deceased present. Disaster relief efforts of Jehovah's Witnesses are typically channeled through permanent local Disaster Relief Committees under the various branch offices, and are staged at Kingdom Halls and Assembly Halls as close as practical to the disaster area. The construction crews of Kingdom Halls and larger Assembly Halls consist of volunteering Jehovah's Witnesses, sometimes from other countries, who have been pre-approved for work on construction sites . Witnesses in many countries use

1596-450: The 19th century. The handles and other ornaments (such as doves, stipple crosses, crucifix , symbols etc.) that go on the outside of a coffin are called fittings (sometimes called 'coffin furniture' – not to be confused with furniture that is coffin shaped) while organizing the inside of the coffin with fabric of some kind is known as "trimming the coffin". Cultures that practice burial have widely different styles of coffins. In Judaism ,

1653-541: The Greek ekklesia , meaning the called-out ones . Its original meaning is to refer to the body of believers, or the body of Christ. The word church is used to refer to a Christian place of worship by some Christian denominations , including Anglicans and Catholics . Other Christian denominations , including the Religious Society of Friends , Mennonites , Christadelphians , and some unitarians , object to

1710-523: The UK are mainly similar to the hexagonal design, but with one-piece sides, curved at the shoulder instead of having a join. In Medieval Japan, round coffins were used, which resembled barrels in shape and were usually made by coopers . In the case of a death at sea, there have been instances where trunks have been pressed into use as coffins. Coffins usually have handles on the side so they will be easier to carry. They may incorporate features that claim to protect

1767-420: The amount is "based on a monthly per-publisher amount suggested by the branch office" and reviewed by local congregation elders. Routine maintenance of Kingdom Halls is performed by the members of the congregations that use them, typically according to a scheduled checklist. The "Kingdom Hall operating committee" oversees maintenance of the building. At least one elder or ministerial servant from each congregation

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1824-409: The body or for public health reasons. For example, some may offer a protective casket that uses a gasket to seal the casket shut after it is closed for the final time. In England, it has long been law that a coffin for interment above ground should be sealed; this was traditionally implemented as a wooden outer coffin around a lead lining, around a third inner shell. After some decades have passed,

1881-438: The branch office finances new Kingdom Halls. The stated purpose was so that funding from more affluent areas could supplement funding from areas without the resources for a new hall. The monthly amount was initially based on "a confidential survey of all publishers" indicating how much they could commit each month, with a recommendation that the amount be " at least the same amount as the current monthly loan repayment". As of 2020,

1938-604: The coffin must be plain, made of wood and contain no metal parts or adornments. These coffins use wooden pegs instead of nails. All Jews are buried in the same plain cloth shroud from shoulder to knees, regardless of status in life, gender or age. In China , coffins made from the scented, decay-resistant wood of cypress , sugi , thuja and incense-cedar are in high demand. Certain Aboriginal Australian groups use intricately decorated tree-bark cylinders sewn with fibre and sealed with adhesive as coffins. The cylinder

1995-527: The coffin, as determined by the number of timber frames in its composition, also emphasized the level of nobility , as mentioned in the Classic of Rites , Xunzi and Zhuangzi . Examples of this have been found in several Neolithic sites: the double coffin, the earliest of which was found in the Liangzhu culture (3400–2250 BC) site at Puanqiao, Zhejiang, consists of an outer and an inner coffin, while

2052-429: The coffin. However, no coffin, regardless of its construction material ( e.g. , metal rather than wood), whether or not it is sealed, and whether or not the deceased was embalmed beforehand, will perfectly preserve the body. In some cases, a sealed coffin may actually speed up rather than slow down the process of decomposition. An airtight coffin, for example, fosters decomposition by anaerobic bacteria , which results in

2109-573: The congregation in prayer. Derasar is a word used for a Jain temple in Gujarat and southern Rajasthan. Basadi is a Jain shrine or temple in Karnataka There are some guidelines to follow when one is visiting a Jain temple: Some Jewish congregations use the Yiddish term 'shul' (from the same ancient Greek source as the English word "school") to describe their place of worship, or

2166-578: The congregation's " service committee ", which assesses whether the couple is "in good standing, living in harmony with Bible principles and Jehovah’s righteous standards" and that they approve of the members of the couple's wedding party , the groomsmen and bridesmaids . Jehovah's Witnesses attach no special significance to a Kingdom Hall wedding over a secular service. Witness couples may choose to be married elsewhere for personal or practical reasons. Kingdom Halls are not used for wedding receptions or other social events. Funeral services may be held in

2223-513: The deceased. In Taiwan , coffins made of crushed oyster shells were used in the 18th and 19th centuries. In the 1990s, the rock group Kiss released a customized Kiss Kasket , which featured their trademark makeup designs and KISS logo and could also be used as a cooler. Pantera guitarist Dimebag Darrell was buried in one. Design coffins in Ghana , also called Fantasy coffins or figurative coffins, are only made by specialized carpenters in

2280-406: The efforts of those involved so as to provide attractive and functional facilities that are financially viable. RBCs cooperated with local congregations of Jehovah's Witnesses seeking to build or renovate a place of worship, under the direction of the local branch office. Committees helped in assessing the suitability of a possible construction-site, purchasing the land and materials and coordinating

2337-403: The efforts of volunteers from the wider area. Members of a Regional Building Committee worked voluntarily and received no remuneration for their work. On Saturday, January 31, 2015, in a special meeting with all elders in the United States via live video-feed, it was announced that Regional Building Committees would be replaced by Local Design/Construction Department of the branch office, but with

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2394-475: The figurative palanquins which had existed already a long time. With the resurgence of cremation in the Western world , manufacturers have begun providing options for those who choose cremation. For a direct cremation a cardboard box is sometimes used. Those who wish to have a funeral visitation (sometimes called a viewing ) or traditional funeral service will use a coffin of some sort. Some choose to use

2451-560: The ideas and beliefs of Hinduism . The symbolism and structure of a Hindu temple are rooted in Vedic traditions, deploying circles and squares. A temple incorporates all elements of Hindu cosmos—presenting the good, the evil and the human, as well as the elements of Hindu sense of cyclic time and the essence of life—symbolically presenting dharma , kama , artha , moksa , and karma . A mosque ( Arabic : مسجد , romanized :  masjid ), literally meaning "place of prostration",

2508-461: The individual cemetery . In parts of Sumatra , Indonesia , ancestors are revered and bodies were often kept in coffins kept alongside the longhouses until a ritual burial could be performed. The dead are also disinterred for rituals. Mass burials are also practiced. In northern Sulawesi , some dead were kept in above ground sarcophagi called waruga until the practice was banned by the Dutch in

2565-480: The inner box is removed and the deceased is cremated inside this box. Traditionally, in the Western world, a coffin was made, when required, by the village carpenter , who would frequently manage the whole funeral . The design and workmanship would reflect the skills of that individual carpenter, with the materials and brasses being the materials that were available to the carpenter at the time. In past centuries, if

2622-417: The lead may ripple and tear. In the United States, numerous cemeteries require a vault of some kind in order to bury the deceased. A burial vault serves as an outer enclosure for buried remains and the coffin serves as an inner enclosure. The primary purpose of the vault is to prevent collapse of the coffin due to the weight of the soil above. Some manufacturers offer a warranty on the structural integrity of

2679-430: The public, and only work with funeral homes. In that case, the funeral director usually sells the casket to a family for a deceased person as part of the funeral services offered, and the price of the casket is included in the total bill for services rendered. Some funeral homes have small showrooms to present families with the available caskets that could be used for a deceased family member. In many modern funeral homes

2736-503: The risk of property damage. In 2015, it was announced to elders in the United States that new Kingdom Halls worldwide would use standardized designs and materials, suited to local circumstances. Jehovah's Witnesses' branch offices formerly appointed local Regional Building Committees (RBC) to oversee the construction and maintenance of their places of worship. Such committees - which usually consisted of five to seven persons, often with experience in construction trades - aimed to coordinate

2793-413: The showroom will consist of sample pieces that show only the end pieces of each type of coffin that can be used. They also include samples of the lining and other materials. This allows funeral homes to showcase a larger number of coffin styles without the need for a larger showroom. Other types may be available from a catalogue, including decorative paint effects or printed photographs or patterns. Under

2850-459: The term "Kingdom Hall" over " church ", noting that the term often translated "church" in the Bible refers to the congregation of people rather than a structure. Kingdom Halls are typically modest, functional structures with practicality in mind. As Witnesses do not use religious symbols , such are not displayed on or in Kingdom Halls. An annual yeartext, or "theme scripture ", which is the same for all congregations of Jehovah's Witnesses worldwide,

2907-433: The traditional Ga and their kings, many families who use figurative coffins are indeed Christians. For them design coffins have no longer a spiritual function, their appeal is more aesthetic, aimed at surprising mourners with strikingly innovative forms like automobiles or aeroplanes, fish or pigs, onions or tomatoes. So the figurative coffins, rather than constituting a new art form as it was long believed, were developed from

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2964-593: The triple coffin, with its earliest finds from the Longshan culture (3000–2000 BC) sites at Xizhufeng and Yinjiacheng in Shandong, consists of two outer coffins and one inner. A coffin may be buried in the ground directly, placed in a burial vault or cremated. Alternatively it may be entombed above ground in a mausoleum , a chapel , a church , or in a loculus within catacombs . Some countries practice one form almost exclusively, whereas in others it may depend on

3021-447: The use of the word "church" to refer to a building, as they argue that this word should be reserved for the body of believers who worship there. Instead, these groups use words such as "Hall" to identify their places of worship or any building in use by them for the purpose of assembly. A Hindu temple is a symbolic house, seat and body of god. It is a structure designed to bring human beings and gods together, using symbolism to express

3078-657: The word coffin derives from the Old French cofin , from Latin cophinus , which means basket , which is the latinisation of the Greek κόφινος ( kophinos ), basket . The earliest attested form of the word is the Mycenaean Greek ko-pi-na , written in Linear B syllabic script. The modern French form, couffin , means cradle . The earliest evidence of wooden coffin remains, dated at 5000 BC,

3135-541: The world. The design coffins of the Ga have long been celebrated in the Western art world as the invention of a single, autonomous artist, the coffin maker Kane Kwei (1924–1992) of Teshie . But as Regula Tschumi shows with her recent research this assumption was false. Design coffins have existed already before Kane Kwei and other Ga carpenters like Ataa Oko (1919–2012) from La have built their first figurative coffins around 1950. Kane Kwei and Ataa Oko had only continued

3192-470: Was charged on the loans until September 2008. The way Kingdom Halls are funded changed significantly in 2014. The provision of Kingdom Hall loans from the Society ceased, as did the separate Society Kingdom Hall Fund . Instead, all congregations were directed to contribute an ongoing amount to the branch office each month, in addition to donations for other purposes, into a single World Wide Work fund, and

3249-526: Was found in the Tomb 4 at Beishouling, Shaanxi . Clear evidence of a rectangular wooden coffin was found in Tomb 152 in an early Banpo site. The Banpo coffin belongs to a four-year-old girl; it measures 1.4 m (4.6 ft) by 0.55 m (1.8 ft) and 3–9 cm thick. As many as 10 wooden coffins have been found at the Dawenkou culture (4100–2600 BC) site at Chengzi, Shandong . The thickness of

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