When someone special passes on, it is but natural to feel the need to correctly send them off to the next life through ceremony and ritual. While a lot of cultures traditionally bury their dead, there are now a lot of people in these cultures that consider cremation as an alternative.
During cremation, human remains get reduced to ashes and bone fragments after being subjected to intense heat. The cremated remains that people get and are familiar with are a mixture of the ashes and the dried bone fragments which were pulverized with the use of a device called the “Electric cremated remains processor,” the bones are crushed until they reach a texture that’s almost like fine sand. This way, they can be scattered quickly.
While cremation is done in a lot of countries, the rules and standards are not the same.
Below are a few example of how different counties do cremation.
C
remation Process in the USA
In the USA, the corpse is placed and cremated in a chamber. This room is called a retort and lined with heat-retaining refractory bricks. Regulations require that the bricks are replaced every five years due to them going through expansion and contraction every time a cremation gets done. In this country, it is against the law to cremate more than one body at the same time. After cremation, the bone powder and other remains are collected and placed in urns to be given to the family.
Nowadays modern cremation process facilities are all equipped with computer-controlled safety devices. For example, the right temperature has to be reached in the cremator before the chamber door gets open. A motorized trolley gets used so that the coffin can be placed quickly inside. The trolley can also be sloped down into the cremator. The reason why a coffin has to be placed immediately into the retort is to prevent heat loss from the opened door.
After complete incineration happens, the bone fragments are removed from the retort. The cremulator is then used to pulverize the pieces. These crushed pieces are called cremains, and these then get placed inside urns. Cremation costs usually vary from one area of the country to another. However, the average cost of cremation is lower than that of a burial ceremony.
Cremation Process in China
In China, Buddhist monks go through a different cremation process. These monks have dedicated their lives to the high purpose of being of service to humankind. They lead lives of austerity in the complete renouncement of worldly pleasures for the upper goal of salvation. They live an ascetic lifestyle. They live on a strict vegetarian diet and spend most of their days in meditation. Aside from their deep studies on the life and teachings of Buddha, they also strive to put these in practice. Because of this lifestyle, their bodies are considered pure, having deliberately distanced themselves from worldly pleasures.
Because of leading a life of discipline and abstinence, crystalline substances called Sariras get produced after the monks’ bodies are cremated. The cremated remains, with these crystalline materials are preserved by the monks’ community as relics. These remains are held in high regard especially if they are of Master Monks. Great care is taken to preserve these relics especially as they are considered as reminders of their Master Monks’ time on earth. In contrast, the bodies of non-monks are reduced to ashes after cremation and don’t go through the same level of ceremony.
Another example of unique burial practices in China as well as in Tibet is the use of gravestones with unique shapes. This practice can be traced way back into the Confucian era, starting with Confucius himself. The sage’s gravestone is in the form of an axe. His followers followed suit and had their gravestones cast in a different mold to reflect their personality or personal style. While this practice is not the norm, there are quite a significant number of people who do this even up to this day.
Cremation Process in India
With estimated followers of almost a billion people, Hinduism easily becomes the third largest organized religion worldwide. Compared to other organized religion, Hinduism has no sole founder. In fact, there is no standard doctrine followed by different sects of Hinduism. Mainly practiced japanby Indians, this religion espouses the teaching that God is within everyone and in every object. Also, God’s presence also transcends any being and any object. In Hinduism, it’s believed that the soul’s essence is divine and one’s purpose in life is to have complete awareness of the divine essence of one’s soul.
There are numerous Hindu gods and goddesses that believers call on to for help in achieving this purpose. The gods and goddesses help believers transcend mortals’ ordinary perception of the world to access that divine essence. One thing that the many branches of Hindu worship have in common is the observation of rituals and meditation. Observing these practices leads the soul towards directly experiencing the God within or the Self.
In this connection, even as the physical body goes through a cycle of being born and dying in this world, the soul itself has no such beginning or end. A soul may pass from one body to another through reincarnation. Karma – the consequences of actions done spanning several lifetimes – plays a huge part in the rebirth process. Once the soul has reached the full realization of one’s true nature, it becomes one with the Brahman, or the “One.”
Hindus prefer to die at home surrounded by their loved ones. Their family and close friends hold a vigil on a person’s deathbed until he or she passes away. According to custom, the body stays at home until cremation. Cremation process gets done within 24 hours after one has died. After cremation, the ashes are scattered in a sacred river. In other cases, some Hindus choose to scatter the ashes of the deceased at some other place that holds deep significance to the departed.
During the wake, people who wish to pay their respects usually dress casually and in white. Wearing black clothing is frowned upon as it is considered inappropriate. A priest presides over the open casket service or wake. Guests are expected to view the body in the open casket service. The service usually involves reciting of mantras and hymns, making sacrifices, as well as making offerings to gods and ancestors. Senior family members may also help in conducting ceremonies aside from the priest.
While mourners may bring flowers, bringing of food is not usually done. Using cameras is not considered appropriate. Friends and guests who belong to other faiths are welcome but are not expected to participate in the ceremony.
Ten days after the wake, another ceremony is held at the deceased’s home so that their soul is free for its ascension into heaven. Mourners and visitors bring fruit offerings during this ceremony. A typical mourning period would range between 10 to 30 days after a person has passed.
Cremation Process in Japan
funeral, rosary
Due to the ban on burials imposed by many local authorities in Japan, more than 99 percent of people get cremated which is the highest figure in the world. Before the Second World War, only the rich in Japan could cremate their family. The cost of cremations went up after it got realized that the process was very efficient and clean.
It is also interesting to know that the funeral cost here is also the highest in the world. The different stages of a funeral procedure in Japan are the wake, the cremation, the burial in a grave reserved for the family and lastly the memorial service. Due to the high density of population in the country plots for burial are scarce thus increasing the funeral cost. Ashes are now being scattered instead of being buried to save cost.
Buddhist rituals are followed during this cremation process. A new Buddhist name is assigned to the dead person during the funeral to ensure that he does not get reborn with the same name. Flowers get spread around the shoulders and the head of the dead person by his family members, the casket makes its journey for cremation. The corpse gets kept in the cremation chamber in the presence of his or her relatives. The family remains at the crematorium for about two hours to receive the ashes and bones at the end of the process.
The next portion of the cremation process is quite fascinating when the family members take part in separating the ashes from the bones. The bones are separated from the ashes with the help of chopsticks and kept in an urn so that leg bones are at the bottom and the bones from the head are at the top signifying an upright body. The ashes are either kept in a single urn or distributed among the relatives.
As per tradition the family members carry the urn to their home and keep it on an altar for thirty-five days after which it gets placed in the crypt of the grave reserved for the family in the cemetery.
Memorial services are carried out for forty-nine days after the day of the funeral but the period may vary as per local beliefs. The memorial services may continue for seven consecutive days or can be staggered over forty-nine days or on the seventh, forty-ninth or hundredth day after the funeral. Later, these services get organized in a periodic fashion over the coming years.
Cremation Process in Greece
Traditions followed by Greeks for cremating and burying their dead are dependent on their religious and orthodox beliefs. The culture in Greece believes that the corpse must be buried whole as it is the ‘temple of the spirit’ and so that it gets resurrected fully.
This belief led to the banning of cremation which was lifted only in 2006 and extended further up to 2008 by the State Council. No crematoriums got built since the time cremation was made legal. But it is anticipated that a crematorium may start functioning soon with al state-of-the-art features.
The process of burial followed by traditional Greek customs is the most common practice that has been going on in the country for the last fifteen hundred years even though it might be disheartening to people following other cultures. A large number of Greeks believe and accept that the body is the ‘temple of God’ and think that the ideal way to keep a body till it gets resurrected is by burying it in its whole form.
Cremation Process in Tibet
The process of allowing vultures to devour a corpse is known as sky burial. As per Buddhist traditional belief in Tibet, a person wishing to reach heaven should be given a sky burial. This practice is commonly followed all over Tibet.
After death, the body of a Tibetan is kept wrapped in a cloth for three to five days in one corner of the house while Lamas and monks read the scriptures loudly to help the soul reach heaven quickly. The passage of the soul to heaven is made easier by a peaceful and calm environment undisturbed by family members who stop all work.
After this, the family members hire a body carrier to carry the body to the sky burial site on an auspicious day. On the previous day, the relatives remove the clothes from the corpse and fix the body so that it is sitting in the fetal position with the head touching the knees. When the auspicious day comes, the body is brought to the site of the sky burial which is usually located far from the residential areas of the city. Condors and vultures get attracted by the ‘Su’ smoke produced by burning, a master of the burial ceremony prepare the body while the soul is provided redemption from sins by the sutras chanted by the Lamas.
Tibetan Buddhist philosophy and the concept of sky burial have a very close relationship. It is the belief of Tibetan Buddhists that the body is washed from all sins when it is devoured by the vultures, and the condors and the soul of the person are allowed to reach heaven in peace. In this way, the ‘holy birds’ or condors do not prey on other animals and are satisfied by eating the flesh of the corpse only. The portions left by the ‘holy birds’ have to be gathered together and burnt while the sound of sutras being chanted by the Lamas removes the sins from the remains and releases the spirits from the life on earth.
A large number of taboos are also related to the sky burial practiced in Tibet. Strangers are prevented from attending the ceremony to ensure that the ascent of the souls to heaven is not affected negatively in any way. Visitors are requested not to participate in these services out of respect for the Tibetan customs. Family members are also not allowed to visit the location of the burial.
By Thomas Snyder, Owner Operator at Peaceful Preserve.
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