Is a Portages funeral guide the same thing as a funeral director? Absolutely not - and really, that's the whole point! A funeral director (also known as a mortician or undertaker) is an individual, licensed by the state to provide death care services after death. The cornerstone of these services is chemical embalming.

A funeral director is a licensed practioner of "mortuary services."

A home funeral guide works in a tradition that predates the advent of the modern funeral industry, when the women in the family and community cared for their own after death. This is why a home funeral guide is also called a "death midwife" or a "death dula."

A home funeral guide is an inheritor and advocate of the traditional folk wisdom surrounding home death care.

Sadly, however, this is not an unbroken tradition; 100 years of industry management have left most people without the skills and resources for a home funeral. Furthermore, state laws may place restrictions on the practice. For instance, in Minnesota, a funeral guide can only provide paid services prior to, and not after, a death has occured.