(Transcript from World News Radio)
Dying is one thing we all have in common, but the way say goodbye may depend on our culture.
Some migrant groups in Australia are finding it difficult - if not impossible - to follow all the traditions to mark the occasion.
Brianna Roberts reports.
(Sound effects of wailing)
This is the sound of a funeral held in the Hmong tradition.
The Hmong people are from mountainous parts of China, Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand.
Funerals typically run for 10 days, and include music, drumming, and communal wailing.
In a Hmong community, that's accepted practice.
But in Australia, Hmong people have found their neighbours calling police to complain about the noise.
One Hmong man living in Australia, Gary Yia Lee, says wailing is an important part of honouring the dead.
"It is very important for us. The wailing represents the open expression of your grief, so you don't keep your grief inside."
Gary Yia Lee says some while Hmong funeral traditions are difficult to observe in Australia, others must be abandoned altogether.
"Lee: In the village, you take a gun outside and fire three times to let everyone know there is a death in that house so they can come. Reporter: Do you do that here? Lee: No, we don't have even a gun."
Hmong people are not the only ones who find it difficult to carry out traditional funerals in Australia.
Muslims prefer to bury their deceased on the day they die.
However, autopsies and the logistics of the Australian funeral system can prevent this.
Muslim funeral director Ahmad Kamaleddine says it's important for people to plan their funerals while they're still alive.
"Knowing that in my religion we often encourage or speak about death so when my father passed away I knew exactly what I needed to do, and what it is I need to grieve and how my family proceed."
The Australian Funeral Directors Association says its members try to accommodate traditions from different cultures.
Spokesman Warwick Hansen says there are many differences that need to be taken into account.
"Particularly with the Maori culture and they have very strong cultural beliefs but they may vary between different parts of New Zealand so you need to get a very clear indication from the tribal elders and the religious leaders involved to see that everything is organised."
And while some funerals are based on religion or culture, for others it's an expression of personal preference.
Craig Hull runs a business called 'Ashes to Ashes', quite literally sending people off with a bang.
He converts people's ashes into fireworks and puts on a show.
"Instead of scattering their ashes, I've scattered a lot of friends' ashes in rivers and oceans, looking down to the earth, this way you're looking up to the heavens."
An Insight program on funerals, The Grand Finale, will be on SBS One on Tuesday at 8.30 pm, repeated at 1 pm on Wednesday
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