1. HOW ARE THE SEVEN DAYS CALCULATED? The seven days of mourning begin when the burial has ended. Therefore, the day of the burial is considered as the first of the seven days even though a whole day of 24 hours did not pass, provided the burial was completed before sunset, Likewise, the seventh day will conclude during the morning of that day, after the Tefila of Shacharit. For example: if a person died on a Monday night or Tuesday morning and was buried on Tuesday, as long as the burial finished Tuesday before sunset, Tuesday would count as the first day. And the coming Monday will be considered the seventh day. In this case, the Seventh Day mourning period will be concluded Monday morning, after the Tefila, prayers, of Shacharit.
2. THE EVE OF THE SEVENTH DAY: The Sephardic tradition is to have a session of Tora studying and Tora sermons on the last evening of the Seven Days of mourning (in our community, this is called the “haft”). This session is followed by a Seuda or meal. Originally, this Seuda was served as an act of Chesed and Tsedaqa to feed the poor and the needy in memory (leiluy nishmat) or a loved one that passed away.
3. THE MORNING OF THE SEVENTH DAY: Once the mourning is concluded, after the prayers of Shacharit, it is customary to visit the cemetery to do an informal memorial (Patach Eliyahu) the recitation of Kaddish (only if ten men are present) and the Hashkaba.
4. RETURNING FROM THE CEMETERY: Upon returning from the cemetery, the mourners remove their mourning torn cloths. From that moment the mourners can wash, bathe, wear leather shoes, change his clothes, go to work, study Tora, etc.
For the laws of the 30 days, see here
