A bier is a stand on which a corpse, coffin, or casket containing a corpse, is placed to lie in state or to be carried to the grave.

In Christian burial, the bier is often placed in the centre of the nave with candles surrounding it, and remains in place during the funeral.

The bier is a flat frame, traditionally wooden but sometimes of other materials. In antiquity it was often a wooden board on which the dead were placed, covered with a shroud. In modern times, the corpse is rarely carried on the bier without being first placed in a coffin or casket, though the coffin or casket is sometimes kept open.

A bier is often draped with cloth to lend dignity to the funeral service. The modern funeral industry uses a collapsible aluminium bier on wheels, known as a "church truck" to move the coffin to and from the church or funeral home for services.

Biers are generally smaller than the coffin or casket they support for reasons of appearance. As a result, they are not particularly stable, and can tip over unless well centred and undisturbed.

Hermenegildus "Herman" Felix Victor Maria Finkers (born December 9, 1954 in Almelo, Overijssel) is a comedian from the Dutch region of Twente, who is well-known in the Netherlands for his friendly, dry-witted humour and his ambiguous style of storytelling. In his way of telling a story the moral should never be in the way of a good joke or pun. His humor is never at the expense of others, except his brother Wilfried Finkers, who is frequently the target of jokes. Wilfried Finkers co-wrote material and occasionally appeared in his brother's shows. Herman Finkers temporarily stopped performing in 2000, and soon afterwards he was diagnosed with a form of leukemia. He was given an estimate of 10 to 15 years of life left. On August 5, 2006 a Fuchsia was named after him. In 2007 he started playing in theatres again, with a new show called "Na de Pauze" (After the Intermission).

Finkers has a strong love for the Twents dialect. He has translated a number of his shows into Twents Low Saxon, which is his mother tongue. He also wrote and directed two short animation films, which were completely in Twents: Kroamschudd'n in Mariaparochie (which tells the story of the birth of Christ in a Twents setting) and his comic interpretation of William Shakespeare's MacBeth, the former of which is shown annually around christmas on regional television. After his retirement from theatre, Finkers played a role in the first Soap series in Twents: "Van Jonge Leu en Oale Groond" (Of Young People and Old Ground). For his efforts to promote the Twents dialect he received the Johanna van Buuren prize.