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== Laying out the corpse ==
The way of laying out of the corpse while it was still in the house has changed over time. The oldest way was to put it on the bed. Later on, the corpse was placed in a coffin in the death chamber. Sometime later, the coffin was placed in the most important room of the house in the southern Basque Country, while it could be in a specially prepared mortuary area in the hallway of the house in the northern Northern Basque Country (lying within France).
== The coffin. Hilkutxa ==
The custom of burying the body in wooden coffins was already widespread by the turn of the 20th century. They were initially homemade, although they were preferably the work of local carpenters. Subsequently, they have been purchased from funeral homes that offer a wide range of types, qualities and finishes.
== Trolleys and stretchers. Andak eta kolportak ==
Even though historical documents frequently refer to the use of stretchers or trolleys, the answers of the interviewees – in the majority of places surveyed – indicate that the practice had fallen out of use some time ago or that, in any event, it was restricted to special tasks. Some of them had not heard anything about them. In other cases, these are of modern production and have been used to make it easier to take the coffin to the church or cemetery.
== Burning the pallet. Lastaira erre ==
In the early part of the 20th century, it was very common in the Basque Country to burn the pallet of the bed in which someone had died.
The burning of the pallet was a task entrusted to the neighbours. Barandiarán suggests that the burning of objects may be a funeral ritual or offering, a symbol of old sacrifices<ref>José Miguel de BARANDIARAN. ''Estelas funerarias del País Vasco. ''. San Sebastián, 1970, p. 25. </ref>. That ritualised burning had to be performed at the crossroads nearest to the home of the deceased. It was sometimes carried out on the way to the church, ''eleizbidea'', but always near to the house where the death had occurred. When the neighbours set fire to the pallet, they usually said an Our Father or other prayers. In some towns, they sprinkled the bonfire with Holy Water. The ashes that remained were a remainder that someone had died nearby and the passers-by would pray for their soul<ref>Bonifacio Echegaray pointed out that this custom was explained in order for passers-by to know from the ashes that there had been a death nearby and pray for the soul of the deceased, adding, that that was not the fundamental reason, but rather that of eradicating evil spirits. “This is yet another case where superstitious habits are justified by a pious Christian application”. See “” “La vecindad. Relaciones que engendra en el País Vasco” in RIEV, XXIII (1932) p. 25.</ref>.
Some of the current interviewees explained that the pallets were burned for hygiene reasons or to stop contagious diseases spreading. However, the popular belief persisted that the burning destroyed illnesses that could have been the result of a witch’s curse and that would have remained in the remains of the corn husks of the mattress. This practice stopped when bed springs began to be used in the mattresses. In any event, in some locations, particularly in the northern Basque Country, for some time, a handful of straw continued to be burnt before the house of the deceased, when the funeral returned after the service for the funeral refreshments.