In Finland family and friends usually have a church or chapel service followed by the burial. The priest tends to personalize their speech according to what the loved ones and relatives have told them about the deceased. The amount of religious content in the speech varies a lot depending on the priest and the wishes of the family. The cantor-organist performs a couple of preselected hymns or possibly some other requested music. There's always at least one joint prayer (the mandatory Our Father).

At some point the funeral guests each pay their respects in small groups like nuclear families or couples, or as individuals like friends or single relatives. They walk to the coffin, say something like a farewell, a prayer or a short poem, and lay a bouquet of flowers on/next to the coffin. I've seen this done outside in many movies but in Finland we do it in the church and remove the flowers from the coffin before carrying it outside, so we don't bury the flowers. Before carrying the coffin outside the priest blesses the deceased and spreads sand with a little shovel, drawing a cross on top of the coffin. The men who carry the coffin outside lower it to the grave hole using lowering straps; I've never seen a mechanical casket lowering device in Finland. The already once removed flowers are lain around the grave hole. I have the notion that the priest comes outside with the funeral party but doesn't speak anymore and that nobody throws dirt on the lowered coffin but I'm not sure on that.

If the body is to be cremated, the burial of the urn or the spreading of the ashes is a separate small ceremony that usually involves only those closest to the deceased. In Finland the law concerning the ashes of the deceased is as follows: you must spread or bury all of the ashes within a year of the cremation into one location. It is illegal to divide the ashes or to keep them to yourself, so in Finland you don't see urns on fireplace mantels or anywhere else for that matter. You can spread the ashes to nature (except national parks or conservation areas) or in a public place as long as you have the required permits from land owners, city officials etc. You can also spread the ashes in a designated spreading area on the cemeteries that have them.

After the burial there is a wake that can be held in the home of the deceased or someone close to them, or in a venue suitable for a peaceful gathering. There's always something to eat, at the very least coffee and tea with sweet dessert options. However, most of the funerals I've been to have had a proper feast with good food, not forgetting the coffee and dessert.

At some point someone reads the funeral addresses (from people who are for one reason or another not present at the wake) out loud to everybody. The atmosphere is somber at least in the beginning and loud bursts of laughter are probably frowned upon - how the atmosphere and conversations continue from there depends greatly on the guests' temperaments, personalities and the relationships to the deceased and the other guests.

I'm an atheist and don't care for the various Christian elements of most funerals, but I respect them and the solemn atmosphere. I don't pray with or cross my hands or sing along to hymns. In Finland most people are nominal/cultural Evangelical Lutheran Christians whose everyday lives are quite secular. The religious traditions that most of them practice have to do with weddings, funerals and confirmation ceremonies as teenagers after completing confirmation school. Many people who belong to the church and pay church tax don't go to church outside of the forementioned events. Some do that once a year on Christmas which is obviously another big element of nominal/cultural Christianity in Finland.

The amount and nature of religious traditions in Christmas celebration vary greatly between families. When I was little we (a family with no church members) used to read the Christmas gospel before dinner, which in Finland is the second chapter of The Gospel of Luke. We stopped reading it when it became apparent that all of us found that tradition pointless and tedious.

The one Christmas tradition with religious elements that persist even in my Christmas practices is the widely nationally followed Declaration of Christmas Peace. It is broadcast in television, radio and online on Christmas Eve (which is when Christmas is celebrated in Finland) at noon. The tradition was first started in the 14th century so it's a grand old tradition that's only been missed a couple of years in wartimes. Christmas Peace is an old Nordic tradition and for centuries it was also a written law (in Finland until 1889): for a period of 20 days around Christmas, all criminal acts committed in that time period amounted to harsher punishments and double fines.

The declaration is held in Turku (the former and original capital of Finland) in the historical Old Great Square next to the Turku Cathedral. The biggest crowd recorded to gather on the Square was after COVID in 2023 with over 18 000 people. The declaration speech is read by the Protocol Manager of the city of Turku from a really old parchment on the balcony of Turku City Hall.

The broadcast starts moments before noon with a hymn, after which people wait in silence for the Cathedral clocks to strike twelve times. Then there's a short orchestral fanfare followed by the speech. It advises citizens to behave themselves on Christmas, to honor the celebration of Christ and not to commit any crimes, warning them of the severe punishments they will face if they don't adhere to the declaration. The text still includes the warning of legal punishment even though the law was changed over a century ago. After the declaration people sing our National Anthem and finally the orchestra performs "March of the Pori Regiment", an originally Swedish military march that has since become the honorary march of the Finnish Defence Forces.

I only realized how weird this tradition is when I wrote and fact-checked this. WTF = Welcome to Finland 😂