LEGO Funeral: through play to understanding death of a loved one

Children are sometimes unable to grasp the very notion of death, so they may be slightly more affected by the process of losing a loved one, as death is a rather awkward topic even for an adult. However, their curious and non-judgmental minds, unaffected by the stigma we as a society have built around this issue, allow things like death, grief, funerals, cremation and the like to be spoken about openly and honestly, and so they better prepare for events later in life.

Dr. Florian Keusch from Bestattungsmuseum oz. of the Funeral Museum in Vienna, has decided to help its younger visitors better understand difficult issues by introducing LEGO kits based on dark funeral rites.

“We have teamed up with the Wiener Landesverband für Psychotherapie (Vienna Association of Psychotherapists) to make new products from LEGO components useful for the treatment of children and parents with children suffering from loss. With these products, we can describe the process to them, and it is easier for children to process their grief at the loss. "

 

Image credit: bestattungsmuseum

"The first LEGO cube product was launched in 2016," said a museum spokesman, Dr. Florian Keusch. “First there was the historic tram that brought the bodies to Vienna’s central cemetery and was used in Vienna during the First and Second World Wars. This tram was initially for collectors, but then we made another truck and a historic hearse.

 

Image credit: bestattungsmuseum

The cemetery, one of the largest in the world with more than 330,000 graves and tombs spread over 590 acres, houses the graves of many famous names such as Beethoven and Strauss. Despite the quiet respect for the dead in their beautiful environment, they are also very focused on the well-being of the living.

“In 2018, my team and I were thinking about new LEGO toys. We had some questions from grieving clients, such as, "Can I take our children with me to our grandfather's funeral?" Or "my child is grieving, what can I do?" and so on. "Keusch explained." So we thought about how we could use educational toys to help children overcome grief. We developed crematoria, an excavator cemetery, a mourning family with a female and male corpse, a LEGO skeleton figurine and a historic hearse. "

 

Image credit: bestattungsmuseum

“We have teamed up with the Wiener Landesverband für Psychotherapie (Vienna Association of Psychotherapists) to make new products from LEGO components useful for the treatment of children and parents with children suffering from loss. With these products, we can describe the process to them, and it is easier for children to process their grief at the loss. " News of (slightly morbid) sets of LEGO bricks has attracted worldwide attention. Dr. Keusch described it as extremely positive. “0.00001 percent of people were horrified, of course, because they only read the title‘ LEGO Crematorium ’and didn’t understand the true purpose of these products,” he said.

 

Image credit: bestattungsmuseum

"LEGO kits were made by an Austrian company - we created the design together with them, they made the packaging, the user manual and packed them in a box. Unfortunately, this is not an official LEGO product, so we call it, for example, "a crematorium made of LEGO components."

There are now ten kits available, ranging in price from 30 to 130 euros. You can choose from a cemetery with tombstones, tombs, excavators and cemetery staff; they also have a crematorium into which a casket can be inserted. To make the whole thing even more realistic, in addition, a grieving family can be purchased, which includes a father, mother, child, deceased and also a skeleton.

 

Image credit: bestattungsmuseum

In the comments, you can tell us how you and your children faced the loss of a loved one and whether you might also buy such a kit?