It is not a religious thing? It is a cultural thing. I am Norse, or from Denmark-Norway as you would know it, and often it was too cold, and the ground too hard, to bury our loved ones that had passed, so we would build elaborate long boats for the dead, set it to drift beyond the sheets of ice, and set it on fire.
I will be praying to my gods, of course, for their safe travels, but I would not begrudge you if you wished to do the same to your God. Or if you simply wished to stand silent.