pyre

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Email
(pīr) pronunciation
n.
  1. A heap of combustibles for burning a corpse as a funeral rite.
  2. A pile of combustibles.

[Latin pyra, from Greek purā, from pūr, fire.]


Top
pronunciation

IN BRIEF: A heap of combustibles arranged for burning a dead body.

pronunciation Having a funeral pyre was an important custom of many cultures of the world.

LearnThatWord.com is a free vocabulary and spelling program where you only pay for results!

Random House Word Menu:

categories related to 'pyre'

Top
Random House Word Menu by Stephen Glazier
For a list of words related to pyre, see:

  See crossword solutions for the clue Pyre.
An Ubud cremation ceremony in 2005

A pyre (Greek: πυρά, pyrá, from πυρ, pýr, fire), also known as a funeral pyre, is a structure, usually made of wood, for burning a body as part of a funeral rite or execution. As a form of cremation, a body is placed upon the pyre, which is then set on fire.

Contents

Uses

Religious

The funeral pyre of Chan Kusalo (the Buddhist high monk of Northern Thailand) at Wat Chedi Luang, Chiang Mai, Thailand

Traditionally, pyres are used for the cremation of the deceased in the Hindu and Sikh religions, a practice which dates back several thousands of years.[1] Funeral pyres were also used in Viking culture, typically on floating boats, as well as by the Romans.[2]

Secular

Pyres and bonfires are used in celebrations and remembrance in services. Examples of these are Guy Fawkes Night in the United Kingdom and some Commonwealth countries, where the 'Guy', either seen as an effigy of Guy Fawkes or the Pope, is burned.

Funeral pyres were used by the Nazis to cremate the bodies of 1,500,000+ Jews in Belzec, Sobibor and Treblinka extermination camps, as opposed to the crematoriums used in other camps. Pyres have also been used to dispose of large quantities of livestock in agriculture, particularly those infected with disease.[2]

Western world and legality

Whilst funeral pyres are still used in several cultures, they are very uncommon and even illegal in some cultures, particularly in the Western World.[2] Despite cremation being commonplace, open air cremations in the United Kingdom were thought to be unlawful under the Cremation Act 1902 – although in recent years, some have taken place amongst immigrant communities.[2] In February, 2010, a court of appeals in the United Kingdom ruled that a cremation on an open pyre would be legal inside of a building with an open roof, well away from roads and homes.[3] In the US, a group in Crestone, Colorado has done the research, obtained the necessary legal permissions and created a permanent cement pyre structure to perform around 12 “open-air cremations” a year.[4]

See also

References

  1. ^ Norfolk, Andrew (13 July 2006). "'Illegal' funeral pyre burnt in secret". The Times (London). http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article1072759.ece. Retrieved 19 January 2011. 
  2. ^ a b c d Fernando, Shehani (14 July 2006). "The question: Why are funeral pyres illegal?". The Guardian (UK). http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,1820024,00.html. Retrieved 19 January 2011. 
  3. ^ Taylor, Matthew (10 February 2010). "Hindu man wins court battle for open-air cremation pyre". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/feb/10/hindu-cremation-pyre-appeal. 
  4. ^ Moreno, Ivan (31 January 2011). "Funeral Pyres An Option In Crestone". CBS Denver (Denver). http://denver.cbslocal.com/2011/01/31/funeral-pyres-an-option-in-crestone/. Retrieved 4 May 2011. 

External links


Top

Dansk (Danish)
n. - ligbål

Nederlands (Dutch)
brandstapel

Français (French)
n. - bûcher funéraire

Deutsch (German)
n. - Scheiterhaufen

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - πυρά (καύσεως νεκρών)

Italiano (Italian)
pira

Português (Portuguese)
n. - pira (f)

Русский (Russian)
погребальный костер

Español (Spanish)
n. - pira, hoguera

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - (lik)bål

中文(简体)(Chinese (Simplified))
火葬用的柴堆

中文(繁體)(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 火葬用的柴堆

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 화장요 장작[더미]

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 積みまき

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) محرقه, كومه من الحطب لحرق الجثث‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮מדורה, בעיקר לשריפה טקסית של מת‬


Post a question - any question - to the WikiAnswers community:

Copyrights:

Mentioned in

Dido (in Roman mythology)