The father of redditor gooddrunky died. Her brother, uncle and friends came together to build him a casket in 2 days. She writes in response to comments:
Thank you all for your kind words and wishes. I'm sharing this because my dad spent his life building a family, and I feel like this project was a true testimony to the success of his life's work. I'm so grateful for all of your support and positivity.
Another redditor named Ken_Thomas describes a similar, touching tradition:
In the little town where I grew up, there used to be a tradition that when someone died, their male friends and relatives would go to the community cemetery the day before the funeral and dig the grave.
This was a little rural mountain community in the 70's and 80's, and looking back on it I'm not sure if this was a throwback to some old burial ritual, or if it was just to save money because everybody was dirt poor.
But anyway, I always liked it. There would always be a dozen or more people around, we'd take turns digging, laughing and telling stories - mostly about the person who died. Old men would show up and pass flasks around, and I probably got my first taste of moonshine leaning on a shovel at the bottom of somebody's grave. I guess the whole thing was really just a nice way to remember a person, and the stories alone made it worth the work.
I really hate the fact that no one does that sort of thing anymore. Seeing the smiles on the faces of some of the people building that casket made me think that maybe that spirit isn't entirely gone.
More Pictures and Discussion Thread -via Hack A Day