Burial customs: the downside of "green" funerals
Texas Fred posted about green burials, saying he thought that the money for boxes etc was too much and he preferred cremation...but a simple green burial would be a good, cheap alternative.
Well, there are reasons for all the rigamarole.
One: You embalm to keep the odor down...if you don't embalm, you have to bury within 24 hours (which is the rule in Islam and many African societies).
Two: If you bury early without embalming, you might bury someone who is alive...this is where the idea of zombies and premature burials comes from.
Three: Necrophilia. Lock that coffin.
Four: Animals. That's why it's six feet under...too deep for dogs. In Minnesota, the Chippewa build houses over the shallow graves of the dead...and other Indians placed coffins in trees.
Five, pine boxes collapse. So the ground settles. and in cases of floods, bodies surface...which is why the cemetaries in New Orleans are above ground. Also why many cemetaries are on hills. You can't dig six feet down for a grave if the ground water floods the hole and collapses it.
Six: Hygiene. Without concrete boxes, the bacteria can contaminate ground water.
Enough morbid stuff...
In the US, one reason people want cremation is that they don't want their family to bother about them...it is a sign of independence, but also a sign that they don't want to be mourned.
But even in the US, many groups still make a big thing about funerals...which are big reunions of families and friends of the deceased, where they tell stories about the dead one.
Here in the Philippines, our graves are usually concrete boxes above ground, probably because the water level is three feet down.
And on days of anniversary of the death or on Nov 1-2nd, families visit the grave, and often hold a picnic there. On All Souls day, you even have vendors in our cemetary with flowers, candles, and cold drinks and snacks.
I though this was a Catholic custom, but a recent special about Singapore showed the Chinese doing the same thing...
===============
The original gushy "green burial" link is HERE...
For another point of view, read this in the archives of FreeRepublic.com
Well, there are reasons for all the rigamarole.
One: You embalm to keep the odor down...if you don't embalm, you have to bury within 24 hours (which is the rule in Islam and many African societies).
Two: If you bury early without embalming, you might bury someone who is alive...this is where the idea of zombies and premature burials comes from.
Three: Necrophilia. Lock that coffin.
Four: Animals. That's why it's six feet under...too deep for dogs. In Minnesota, the Chippewa build houses over the shallow graves of the dead...and other Indians placed coffins in trees.
Five, pine boxes collapse. So the ground settles. and in cases of floods, bodies surface...which is why the cemetaries in New Orleans are above ground. Also why many cemetaries are on hills. You can't dig six feet down for a grave if the ground water floods the hole and collapses it.
Six: Hygiene. Without concrete boxes, the bacteria can contaminate ground water.
Enough morbid stuff...
In the US, one reason people want cremation is that they don't want their family to bother about them...it is a sign of independence, but also a sign that they don't want to be mourned.
But even in the US, many groups still make a big thing about funerals...which are big reunions of families and friends of the deceased, where they tell stories about the dead one.
Here in the Philippines, our graves are usually concrete boxes above ground, probably because the water level is three feet down.
And on days of anniversary of the death or on Nov 1-2nd, families visit the grave, and often hold a picnic there. On All Souls day, you even have vendors in our cemetary with flowers, candles, and cold drinks and snacks.
I though this was a Catholic custom, but a recent special about Singapore showed the Chinese doing the same thing...
===============
The original gushy "green burial" link is HERE...
For another point of view, read this in the archives of FreeRepublic.com
posted by Nancy Reyes at
3:14 PM
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