Burial, Cremation or Entombment?

[zeb1094]

Burn me to a crisp and then take my ashes and spread them where ever. Baring that, keep them in the urn and place me on the mantel so I can watch over the place.

I have the urn.

 

[entitled]

Yeah, there's a whole thing about burning people for free. Industry protectionism, that's what it is!

I wonder if you'd be able to do it in Iceland?

Probably, but how many friends would want to go to Iceland to watch somebody burn?

 

[Guest]

Probably, but how many friends would want to go to Iceland to watch somebody burn?

I dunno, Iceland can be a pretty partying place (I've never been but I have a friend who was born and raised there).

 

[oggbashan]

Green Burial

My wife's parents wanted green burials. They felt that using their discarded bodies to fertilise a tree was a good idea, once any useful organs had been removed.

Adjacent to their village's cemetery a field has been set aside for green burials.

The body is put into a cardboard coffin (You can't tell that it is cardboard, the outer is woodgrained and the fittings are papier maché painted gold) and buried as normal with whatever graveside service you want.

After burial, the grave site is NOT marked except by a tree from a choice of native species. My father and mother-in-law bought adjacent plots so that they could share a larger tree instead of two smaller ones. A temporary plot number or a softwood cross is placed until the tree is established.

The grave returns to the normal state of the field with the tree growing from it. Once the field is full in about twenty years' time, the field will be part of the neighbouring wood and indistinguishable from it except that there will be a sign on the gate leading to the wood listing the people buried there. That will be their only memorial, except for a new part of the wood.

If you want to visit their grave, you will be able to walk through the wood. if you have been visiting regularly you might be able to identify 'their' tree but if not it will just be one of the many trees.

My parents preferred cremation with a random scattering of their ashes in the vicinity of the crematorium. Neither of them considered that their bodies were worth preservation or burial, just discarded husks for which they had no further use. If they, or my in-laws live on, it is in the memories of the people who knew them, and their relations. Within a generation or two those memories will fade - and that is the way they want it to be.

Even in death, my in-laws planted another tree, one of many they planted in their lifetimes. I can remember them by looking at ANY tree, anywhere.

Og

 

[LadyJeanne]

Don't care. All the options are for the living, really, not the dead.

 

[Guest]

True, funerals are for the living.

I guess I've never gotten over my mom's funeral. I am convinced it was exactly what she would NOT have wanted, but she'd made no wishes known, nor did she leave a will. It certainly wasn't what I wanted. It was all about my stepfather, and it was ridiculus. I resented it hugely, in part for her.

My husband and I have agreed on our wishes, and we know those of anyone for whom we are responsible (his mother, now). There's a certain sense of relief in knowing ahead of time, in having one less set of decisions to worry over when you have to make them.

 

[Aurora Black]

My preference isn't on there, either. i want to be on the top of a huge friggin bonfire, surrounded by drunken revelry and debauchery.

It's great having a barbarian outlook on life sometimes. Especially when it comes to death.

I lumped everything fire related under "Cremation."

 

[Aurora Black]

My wife's parents wanted green burials. They felt that using their discarded bodies to fertilise a tree was a good idea, once any useful organs had been removed.

Adjacent to their village's cemetery a field has been set aside for green burials.

The body is put into a cardboard coffin (You can't tell that it is cardboard, the outer is woodgrained and the fittings are papier maché painted gold) and buried as normal with whatever graveside service you want.

After burial, the grave site is NOT marked except by a tree from a choice of native species. My father and mother-in-law bought adjacent plots so that they could share a larger tree instead of two smaller ones. A temporary plot number or a softwood cross is placed until the tree is established.

The grave returns to the normal state of the field with the tree growing from it. Once the field is full in about twenty years' time, the field will be part of the neighbouring wood and indistinguishable from it except that there will be a sign on the gate leading to the wood listing the people buried there. That will be their only memorial, except for a new part of the wood.

If you want to visit their grave, you will be able to walk through the wood. if you have been visiting regularly you might be able to identify 'their' tree but if not it will just be one of the many trees.

My parents preferred cremation with a random scattering of their ashes in the vicinity of the crematorium. Neither of them considered that their bodies were worth preservation or burial, just discarded husks for which they had no further use. If they, or my in-laws live on, it is in the memories of the people who knew them, and their relations. Within a generation or two those memories will fade - and that is the way they want it to be.

Even in death, my in-laws planted another tree, one of many they planted in their lifetimes. I can remember them by looking at ANY tree, anywhere.

Og

That's a lovely idea, Og. I hope that it will be put into widespread effect in the near future.

 

[HappyLlama]

No option for a knacker's yard?

 

[HappyLlama]

My preference isn't on there, either. i want to be on the top of a huge friggin bonfire, surrounded by drunken revelry and debauchery.

This can be arranged for a small fee.

 

[SEVERUSMAX]

I just like the idea of cremation in the Roman manner, upon a funeral pyre. Nice and Caesarian.

 

[artisticbiguy]

My preference isn't on there, either. i want to be on the top of a huge friggin bonfire, surrounded by drunken revelry and debauchery.

It's great having a barbarian outlook on life sometimes. Especially when it comes to death.

that's just very specific ceremony around "cremation". so you want to be cremated amongst revelry

 

[Guest]

.....

 

[SEVERUSMAX]

I'm disappointed.

No option for the Viking funeral?

Seriously, fill a small boat with dry wood, place my fat old carcass on it and shove it out on a large calm body of water. Have an archer, preferably a lovely young maiden(if you can find one) fire a flaming arrow into the boat. Everyone drinks a toast and goes home.

Oooh, another nice option.

 

[Aurora Black]

I'm disappointed.

No option for the Viking funeral?

Seriously, fill a small boat with dry wood, place my fat old carcass on it and shove it out on a large calm body of water. Have an archer, preferably a lovely young maiden(if you can find one) fire a flaming arrow into the boat. Everyone drinks a toast and goes home.

Key words: Flaming arrow.

 

[Guest]

.....

 

[Aurora Black]

Excuse me?

You mentioned a flaming arrow, therefore (as far as I'm concerned) it still fits under Cremation. This is what I get for thinking that there are only 3 ways to dispose of a body.

 

[Guest]

You mentioned a flaming arrow, therefore (as far as I'm concerned) it still fits under Cremation. This is what I get for thinking that there are only 3 ways to dispose of a body.

Details, details. Ya burn, ya rot (quickly or slowly), or you get frozen. Maybe freezedried.

 

[Aurora Black]

Details, details. Ya burn, ya rot (quickly or slowly), or you get frozen. Maybe freezedried.

Damn it, I forgot about Cryopreservation! Shit, I'm off to sob into my pillow now...

 

[Guest]

Damn it, I forgot about Cryopreservation! Shit, I'm off to sob into my pillow now...

Comes under Entombment Just in expectation of a slightly different kind of ressurection (or freezerburn).

 

[Aurora Black]

Comes under Entombment Just in expectation of a slightly different kind of ressurection (or freezerburn).

Whew! That's a relief. I can sleep soundly now. Night, folks.

 

[Tom Collins]

I prefer cremation. Everything else is unsanitary, takes up space or both.

 

[oggbashan]

A fourth way:

There are the Towers of Silence where the body is exposed to the air for carrion birds to pick apart.

Og

 

[Lord DragonsWing]

I favor cremation myself. My family knows when I go to spread my ashes in the wind of the mountains. My last, eternal hike.

 

[Guest]