Rituals by Religion

Information comes from the strangest places. This florist's site  has an abbreviated listing of religions and their corresponding requirements surrounding funeral rituals.

For instance, in the "a funeral in Bali" section, there is a generous amount of detail given about such things as direction of the feet (they should go southward) and cremation ceremonies, needing a river, and more:

 "...The body then may be adorned with jewels, and placed lying on a stretcher, with the head pointing towards the south, which is the direction of the dead. Sometimes the body may be kept in a sitting position too. The stretcher is adorned with different flowers including roses, jasmine, and marigolds, and the body is almost covered with the flowers. Thereafter, the close relatives of the deceased person carry the stretcher on their shoulders to the cremation ground. If it is located at a distance, the stretcher is placed on a cart pulled by animals like bullocks. Nowadays vehicles are also used.

The cremation ground is called Shmashana (in Sanskrit), and traditionally it is located near a river, if not on the river bank itself. There, a pyre is prepared, on which the corpse is laid with its feet facing southwards, so that it can walk in this direction, as this is the direction of the dead."  

source:  http://www.myfloristsympathy.com/Funeral-Traditions-by-Religion.htm