Wake is the custom of watching over a dead person before burial. Some form of the custom has been practiced in all parts of the world. But the practice is no longer used as widely in Western society as in earlier times. In the traditional wake, family and friends gathered at the dead person’s home. The custom probably began because of a concern over occasional errors made in the determination of death. It is also likely that some early people believed that the presence of the living would ward off the evil spirits that might possess a body prior to disposal.
