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Burial and Cremation
Cremation and burial are both ways of dealing with a deceased body. Traditionally, these events are linked to certain traditions and rites, such as a funeral.
413 Questions
Can family members be forced to pay cremation cost when the will is not settled?
That depends on the circumstances. Who called the funeral home to remove the body? Who made the funeral arrangements? Who signed the contract? If someone went to a funeral home and made arrangements for a funeral then they have usually signed a contract making them responsible for payment. Whoever made the arrangements should pay and try to get other family members to share the cost. If there was no money to pay for a funeral then arrangements for a funeral shouldn't have been made. In many jurisdictions the city or the county pays for the burial of indigent decedents.
Where is cremation in The Bible?
Cremation is not directly addressed in the Bible. Although the common method of disposing of human remains in biblical times was entombment, no specific method is either required or forbidden.
However, the faithful believers in the Scriptures often refer to respect and burial of their bones, as did Joseph. See Genesis 50:25.
What if the family is unable to pay for cremation?
- If the deceased has a Will then the funeral may well have been taken care of financially. For further information you can ask the Funeral Director what you can do to give your deceased loved on a proper burial.
No. many religions believe in it a part of their culture and beliefs. Catholics and Hindu is an example Surely true Roman Catholics don't cremate, since they await the physical resurrection of the body at the Day of Judgement. But catholics will cremate if they need too, for such purposes as plague, disease, or some form of the body being dangerous after death
From the point of view of Islam, cremation is not acceptable. The concept is that Muslims show respect to mankind both living and dead. This is a way to minister to the welfare of people in this world and the world to come. _________________ From a position that is religion-neutral, cremation is neither good nor bad. It is one method of handling the very real and practical need to dispose of the dead. While completely respecting the positions of those who object to cremation on any grounds, it is generally not considered disrespectful by most. It accomplishes in several minutes what nature will accomplish eventually with any dead body-- oxydation. Some people object to cremation not on religious grounds but because of general squeamishness over the thought of their bodies being consumed by fire.
Does Judaism permit cremation?
Cremation is not allowed in Jewish practice. Jews believe that their bodies must be returned to God as they were in life - whole. Obviously, if a person has been maimed in their lifetime, that is how they are in death. But otherwise, Jews must not destroy their bodies.
Furthermore, Jews believe that in the end of days their bodies and souls will be reunited; all the righteous will be resurrected from the dead. By cremating you openly deny this and will be punished by not being part of it.
When cremated is it only your ashes in the fire?
No, they usually burn the whole body, The ashes are a result .
What is rising action of The Cremation of Sam McGee?
The plot of The Cremation of Sam McGee is, he and his friend go some where cold (Canada) for the strike of gold and Sam McGee tells his friend Cap that he was going to die and made Cap promise to cremate him. But after the cremation of Sam McGee his friend Cap was starting to go crazy thinking that Sam came back to life but he was having illusions.
What is the lime green bone fragment found after cremation?
There actually is no lime green bone fragment after cremation. It is actually a grey green substance known as bone fragments.
Why do some Muslims not practice dead cremation?
Praise be to Allaah.
There is no dispute among the scholars that it is makrooh to bury the deceased in a coffin if there is no need for that. If there is a need for that, such as if the ground is wet or there is the fear that he may be dug up by wild animals, then some of the fuqaha' say that it is permissible to bury the deceased in a coffin in that case.
It says in Fataawa al-Lajnah al-Daa'imah (2/312):
Putting the deceased in a coffin was unknown at the time of the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) and the time of the Sahaabah (may Allaah be pleased with them), and the best for the Muslims is to follow their way. Hence it is makrooh to put the deceased in a coffin, whether the ground is hard, soft or wet. If the deceased left instructions that he be placed in a coffin, those instructions should not be carried out. The Shaafa'is said that it is permissible if the ground is soft or wet, but according to them such instructions should not be carried out except in such cases."
Ibn Qudaamah said:
It is not recommended to bury the deceased in a coffin, because there is no report that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) or his companions did that, and it also involves imitating the people of this world. And the earth absorbs his remains better.
It says in al-Insaaf:
It is makrooh to bury the deceased in a coffin, even if the deceased is a woman. This was stated by Imam Ahmad.
Al-Sharbeeni, the Shaafa'i khateeb, said in his book Mughni al-Muhtaaj:
It is makrooh to bury the deceased in a coffin according to scholarly consensus, because it is bid'ah (an innovation), unless the ground is wet or soft, in which case it is not makrooh because that serves a purpose. The deceased's instructions should not be carried out except in this case. Similarly if the deceased has been burned by fire and cannot be carried except in a coffin.
I
n al-Mawsoo'ah al-Fiqhiyyah it says:
It is makrooh to bury the deceased in a coffin according to scholarly consensus because it is bid'ah, and his instructions to that effect should not be carried out. But it is not makrooh if that serves a purpose, such as if the deceased is burned and it is necessary to bury him in a coffin.
And Allaah knows best.
Islam Q&A
http://islamqa.com/en/ref/34511/
What is an underground gallery for burial called?
Catacombs are underground galleries used for burials.
How are bodies prepared for cremation?
There is no particular way in which bodies need to be prepared. However, the cremator cannot burn everything, and can be damaged by certain articles.
Pacemakers must be removed. Shoes, belts and anything else which does not readily burn should not be in the coffin. Any metal found in the remains is taken away and disposed of, large bones/teeth which have not been completely burned are ground in with the ashes and the whole is rendered into a course granular substance.
Does the Roman Catholic Church allow cremation?
There are no cremation rites. If a cremation takes place before the funeral mass takes place, the ashes of the individual may be present at the church for the mass. The Church much prefers that a funeral be held before cremation.
Really very little chance of any body knowing. But cremation needs plenty of heat by way of burning of wood or coal and now of course electricity. Surely it could not be at ANTARCITA or any coldest area of snow bound area or desert where nothing grows.
Why are two signatures required for cremation?
That might depend upon the laws of the state or other location where the cremation is to occur. In North Carolina, only my niece's signature was required for my brother's cremation.
What to do with human ashes once cremated?
Cremated ashes can be put thrown or placed virtually anywhere (They are now also being sent to outer space) depending on the wishes of the cremated person or the person that has the ashes.
Alternately:
The ashes can be:
- Kept in an urn by the next of kin (a ready source for humorous accidents)
- Scattered at a favourite place (not as pleasant as it is on TV or movies as corpse dust gets blown into your eyes and mouth)
- Tossed out with the trash
- Left with the crematorium - it's their problem
It is often stated that the ashes of cremated civil servants are put into hourglasses so the government can finally get some work out of them.
Can a Jehovah's Witness attend a cremation?
Jehovah's Witnesses have no objection to cremation. In fact, many fellow witnesses I have known, were cremated when they died. If a witness declines to attend a non-Jehovah's Witness funeral for someone who is cremated, it will likely be due to whatever other religious ceremonies that are likely going to be taking place.
Answer 2: The Scriptures do not present any basic objection to the practice of cremation. What might influence whether one of Jehovah's Witnesses attends or not is the way the local community views funeral customs. Those who abide by Bible principles would certainly not want to do anything that would cause unnecessary offense to their neighbors. Jehovah's Witness would would not engage in a practice that might seem to indicate belief in false religious teachings, such as the immortality of the soul. Awake 3/09 p. 10-11
A Crematorium may seem like a place of horror and death but actually it is a really interesting place. I have been brought up with death and have learned to respect it, I consider myself to be very lucky in this respect because incidentally my uncle was a funeral director but he now works as a crematorium manager. Anyway, the deceased body is brought into the crematorium by people called bearers and placed on a plynth with rollers on it called a catafalque, this usually has curtains around it and depending upon religious beliefs the coffin lid may or it may not be open for the friends and relatives to observe the body before it is cremated.
After the religious official has said a prayer and the family's arrangements are done the official presses a button and either the curtains closes or the body is moved by conveyor belt into position for cremation. The crematorium staff will open two wooden hatches and the coffin will be pulled along sets of rollers. Then a special battery powered or manual 'charge trolley' will collect the coffin, this usually is either hydraulic or it had scissor action lifts on it but these aren't as common in the better funded crematoriums however they still use these in case of an overflow.
The cremator, the furnace in which the cremation actually takes place, is heated up to 1000 degrees celcius and the coffin is pushed in where in 90 minutes time the cremation is complete. Remains will contain nails and calcium deposits, bones, prosthetic implants. The wood ignites first and then the organic materials burn away. The body sometimes sits up due to the heat reacting with the structure of the body.
The cremated remains are then left to cool in a fan assisted box before they are crushed by a cremulator which has lead balls in it.
The remains are then put into an ashes transfer cabinet and put into a plastic or family selected urn. The ashes are scattered by the crematorium staff if requested or if there are no next of kin. The family may opt to receive the ashes.
Extra Info:
For the Greens in the crowd, the energy use by a crematorium may seem to be wasteful, but is offset by reducing the amount of land needed to be dedicated to burial vaults. Some locations have been taking steps to recover the heat for more useful purposes (See link) .
Regarding pollution, the crematoriums use air pollution systems to burn any odours from off gases and remove ash and particulate before discharge. Burial on the other hand (According to "Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater") may pose a significant groundwater pollution risk and at any rate involves the dedicated use of cemetery land.
Other fine points:
- No clergy are required.
- No family are required. Here in Calgary one site offers a no frills pick up and disposal service.
- During the burning process the corpse is often prodded with rods to ensure rapid and complete burning - just like a campfire log.
Answer:
I don't want to offend anyone who has taken their time to write an answer on here so I will provide my own answer rather than make alterations to someone else's. I am in the process of applying for a job at a Crematorium and came across a few of the answer sites while trying to check up some facts about the job on Google; In short, I have never read so much nonsense about one subject as I did while searching; I was fortunate enough to spend a day at a Crematorium in London where I met a wonderful group of staff, all of whom were quite happy to explain everything to me and show me how the whole process works. I am in the UK so the process I will describe relates to cremation in the UK (some countries vary the process, although I imagine it is essentially the same basic process anywhere in the world).
When the Funeral Directors arrive at the Crematorium, they hand a number of documents to the Crematorium staff (usually a service co-ordinator) which include the permission to cremate the deceased (on behalf of the family) and a copy of the death certificate. The coffin in brought into the crematorium on a low trolley, or carried in by friends (usually called Pall-bearers) and placed on a plinth called a Catafalque (pronounced CAT-a-falk).
A short service is usually held, depending on the wishes of the family and the particular religion practiced by the deceased, then the service usually ends with some music. At this stage, one of two things will happens . . . most usually, curtains will close in front of the coffin. If there are no curtains, you may see the coffin roll along the catafalque and usually through a small doorway to an adjacent room. If the catafalque does not work automatically, the coffin will be taken off by crematorium staff, usually behind the curtains to avoid distress to the family and friends.
Note that if the catafalque does roll the coffin through a small doorway IT IS NOT rolling it into the cremator so don't expect flames to come shooting through the doorway as the coffin goes through. The coffin is either placed straight onto a trolley (sometimes called a charger) or placed in a lift, sent down to a lower level and then placed onto the charger.
It is now in the hands of the cremation technicians. They check that the name on the lid of the coffin matches that on the paperwork (this must be the name of the deceased and must match exactly (there are no titles on the coffin lid e.g. Lord John Smith). If the name on the coffin matches the name on the paperwork, the cremation can continue.
The charger is taken to the cremator which will be switched off at this stage - once the crematorium is running, the cremator holds the heat from the previous cremation. When the coffin is loaded into the cremator, the temperature is usually around 700 Degrees and is hot enough to begin cremating the coffin and the deceased. After about 45 minutes, most of the coffin has burnt and the body has begun to burn, the cremator is switched on and gas fired flames raise the temperature inside the cremator to around 1400 Degrees. It takes approximately another 45 minutes to cremate the rest of the body.
To ensure the final remains are those of a particular person, a name label is placed into a holder on the front of the cremator (like a label on a filing cabinet) showing the name of the person being cremated.
Once the body and coffin have been cremated, the cremator is turned off and a sliding trap door is pulled out allowing the remains to drop into a chamber below. Crematorium technicians use a 'paddle' to ensure all the ashes pass through to the chamber below and then take the name label and put it into a holder on front of the chamber now containing the ashes.
The ashes are allowed to cool and contain enough heat to finish the cremating process without adding further heat. The sliding trap door in the bottom of the cremator is then closed and ready for the next cremation.
Meanwhile, the ashes that are now cooling are dropped through a trapdoor in the bottom of the second chamber into a cooling tray and the name label is transferred with the ashes and placed into the holder on the front of the third (bottom) chamber.
The process thus far is repeated for each cremation and the cremator when fully loaded has three bodies at various stages of cremation. The next step is to take the ashes from the bottom chamber in the container into which they have fallen, and with the name label slotted into a holder on the front of the container, to a machine called a 'Cremulator'.
In short, a cremulator looks a little like a tumble dryer and the burnt remains are placed into the cremulator (at this stage, some of the remains are still fairly large, like body joints and bigger bones that have not yet been reduced to ash) so three or four steel balls (each about the size of a tennis ball) are place in the cremulator with the remains. The cremulator tumbles round, like a tumble dryer, and the steel balls gradually break up the remains into ashes.
As the ashes gradually disintegrate, they fall through the holes inside the drum of the cremulator into a container in the base. The name label is transferred to a holder on the front of the cremulator and stays there until all the ashes are broken down. The final consistency has a texture similar to coffee granules and the process is complete.
In the final stage, a magnet is passed over the cold ashes to remove any ferrous metals (small screws from the coffin lid and nameplate) and visually checked for non-magnetic metal remains which are also removed.
It is worth pointing out that many of the coffin fittings are 'crematable' so in most cases there is little metal left at the end of the process. All metal left over at the end of a cremation is collected and buried on crematorium grounds.
Finally, the cold ashes are placed into an urn or a plastic container and made ready for the family to collect. The Crematorium will scatter the ashes if asked to do so by the family, but some families have specific places where they would like to do the scattering themselves. The choice rests with the family and the process is complete.
Before finishing, it might be worth dispelling a few myths . . .
- The body is not taken out of the coffin and the coffin resold.
- The crematorium technicians do not open the coffin looking for valuables.
- Ashes don't end up in a big pile and each family given a mixture of other people's ashes.
- The ashes are not topped off with extra burnt wood.
In summary, I found the visit informative and the staff extremely professional. The general consensus among the people I spoke with is that one day, they may be cremated and treat their clients (deaceased or not) in the way they expect to be treated when their time comes.
Crematoriums are well regulated, both economically and from the point of environmental friendliness. For the most part, you can visit a crematorium and, from the outside, you wouldn't realise what was going on inside. There are no chimneys belching out tons of smoke; indeed the regulations assure that noxious emissions are properly controlled.
