Why do we drop flowers onto a casket at the end of a funeral?

I have never known the real reason for the dropping of the flowers onto a casket before it goes under the ground. As well as the reason some people pour alcohol out in rememberance of a deceased friend or family member.

Why do we drop flowers onto a casket at the end of a funeral?
In funeral service history prior to today's modern embalming the reason for flowers being present at a wake and funeral service was for oder control, the flowers were not the same flowers we use today they were specific flowers selected for their aroma / perfume. This has been carried on to today's modern time services flowers are now used as a recognition and the show of support to the grieving family from friends and relatives. Now for your specific question flowers/ boutiners are placed on the casket by the pall bearers as a ceremony or final tribute as they pass by the casket. This would also depend on the funeral directer directing the service whether he is caring and wants to do everything he can to help make this one time life changing event memorable. Others family members place a single flower on the casket because they love them and it is the last thing that can be done at the cemetery and it also ads to the ceremony. Kind of nice huh.
Reply:To show that theyre letting go of the sorrows that the dead left behind
Reply:BECAUSE DEAD PEOPLE CAN'T BRING FLOWERS WITH THEM SO YOU TOSS IT OVER THEIR CASKET!! YOU POUR ALCOHOL BECAUSE THEY CAN'T DRINK IT SO YOU POUR IT OUT FOR THEM %26gt;%26gt;%26gt;YOUR LAST GOODBYE.
Reply:thats a gift from the people they love.
Reply:It's all a big scheme the flower industry has to boost sales. It all started back in 1932 when Otis Q. McMurray, whose flower shop was on the verge of closing in post-depression Rhode Island, came up with a great idea. It was a stupendous, miraculous, ingenious idea! With all of the people dying from poor nutrition, Otis could make money by spreading the rumor that placing flowers on the grave of their recently departed family and friends would bring them good luck in the form of wealth and occupations. And wouldn't you know it, Otis's idea worked! It soon spread to all of the country and soon everyone was placing flowers at the final resting places of their loved ones. And to this day funeral flowers have continued to be a multi-million dollar business.
Reply:i think the flowers has some pagan and buddhist roots... as for the dumping booze, it's just a "sacrifice" lol
Reply:Because they're pretty?
Reply:Its just a gesture of love and affection for the deceased
Reply:Something to take with them in the afterlife
Reply:because in olden days the corpse stunk with decay from no embalming?
Reply:tradition perchance?
Reply:For closure, more than anything else.