> Spending many thousands of dollars to "embalm" a person and then thousands more on a big fancy wood casket.

Is that general western thing or rather "there is small western subculture that does it while the rest of the west does NOT do it"? The funeral I was involved in did not involved "thousands of dollars" equivalent of casket or embalming.

I have lately noticed a lot of claims about what "west" does that seem to be very specific to just parts of America.