In Mexico funerals are usually the day after a person dies, thus avoiding embalming, etc. The hard part is for relatives to arrive on time from a distance (as in my husband's case and my son living abroad). Christians often say things like "He's in a better place now." In the indigenous town my in-laws were from (where my husband never lived), we went to a funeral and his aunt's body was placed on a bed of wet sand from the river, probably to counter the heat there. Then she was placed in a coffin, ideally with "all her clothes" as is the custom, but they chose some to include in her case. The community chips in to feed all those who join the family, and pay for the band that plays at the home and on the walk to the church.