Remember Your Loved Ones By Keeping Safe Their Mortal Remains Or Honour Them By Dispersing It In The
How to lay to rest the body of a loved one after their last farewell is a question that offers many choices. The answer will have to depend on the personal wish of the loved one when alive or the funeral procedures imposed by the country or the common practices followed by the believers of their faith. The answer indeed will be easy to conclude if the loved one had expressed any specific desire of how he should be laid to rest. In case of no such suggestion from the loved one, the family members take it upon themselves to do their best to honour their loved one after death.
The Muslim religion requires that everyone be buried in accordance with their religious sentiments. Similarly, in the Hindu religion cremation is the universal option. In fact, many traditional Hindus require cremation to be done with firewood in an open ground rather than in an electric crematorium. These opinions are slowly changing and many Hindus do prefer using an electric crematorium since it is quicker and more eco-friendly.
After the cremation has taken place, most Hindus require the ashes of their loved ones to be scattered at religious sites like being immersed in the River Ganges – a holy river for all Hindus. In fact, many offspring of Hindus take the ashes of their loved ones and make the long journey to the Ganges to immerse them. Christians the world over initially started off by burying their loved ones. Now, with burial spaces being limited all over the world, they too are taking to cremation.
The decision about what should be done with the ashes to honour the dead person should depend upon the wishes of the dead person when he was alive and should adhere to the laws of the land pertaining to this. If your loved one has deceased you can contact your local crematorium and find out from them the choices they offer. Some of the crematoriums these days have an online questionnaire which people can fill up when alive to decide how they should be laid to rest. This questionnaire will have questions that will identify your age, sex, religion and other such details.
Another questionnaire can specify what to do with the ashes and can involve many choices like:
• Bury ashes in a family vault
• Scatter in a Garden of Remembrance
• Bury them in the garden at home
• Keep in an urn in your house
• Bury around a memorial tree
• Scatter the ashes in a body of water
• Scatter them at places of religious significance
• Send the urn with ashes up in a hot air balloon
• Divide the ashes and follow multiple options
This variety of choices is available to you based on the part of the world you live and the crematorium you choose to do the last rites. In countries of the west, for example, in the UK, above 70% of the population are in favour of being cremated than being buried. And the family members choose to bring the mortal remains home in an urn than dispersing it elsewhere. They have choices like placing it in a significant place at home with a photo of remembrance or they can bury it in their favourite spot in the garden etc.. But all these should abide with the laws of the country in which you live.
If you feel it is too morbid to keep ashes at home, there are many ways to scatter or bury them in lovely gardens. Some places have beautiful gardens where people can bury the urn and plant a small tree or shrub over it. Once the tree grows, you can fix a small plaque to the trunk with some favorite words of remembrance and the name of your loved one. You can even have a small area around the tree where urns of other family members can be buried too.
Now a days, a common option available is the ‘Green Burial'. In this the mortal remains of the loved one is taken to a ‘Green cemetery' and transferred into a biodegradable urn, bag or blanket and buried in a particular place. Even burial at sea can be an option since there are boats available to take you out into the sea where you can take the ashes of your loved one in a biodegradable urn and drop it in the water after uttering words of remembrance or prayers. Finally, however or whatever method you decide to lay your loved one to rest, remember to keep up the desire your dead loved one had in mind regarding his cremation and do your best to honour them and show them that you loved them.
The Muslim religion requires that everyone be buried in accordance with their religious sentiments. Similarly, in the Hindu religion cremation is the universal option. In fact, many traditional Hindus require cremation to be done with firewood in an open ground rather than in an electric crematorium. These opinions are slowly changing and many Hindus do prefer using an electric crematorium since it is quicker and more eco-friendly.
After the cremation has taken place, most Hindus require the ashes of their loved ones to be scattered at religious sites like being immersed in the River Ganges – a holy river for all Hindus. In fact, many offspring of Hindus take the ashes of their loved ones and make the long journey to the Ganges to immerse them. Christians the world over initially started off by burying their loved ones. Now, with burial spaces being limited all over the world, they too are taking to cremation.
The decision about what should be done with the ashes to honour the dead person should depend upon the wishes of the dead person when he was alive and should adhere to the laws of the land pertaining to this. If your loved one has deceased you can contact your local crematorium and find out from them the choices they offer. Some of the crematoriums these days have an online questionnaire which people can fill up when alive to decide how they should be laid to rest. This questionnaire will have questions that will identify your age, sex, religion and other such details.
Another questionnaire can specify what to do with the ashes and can involve many choices like:
• Bury ashes in a family vault
• Scatter in a Garden of Remembrance
• Bury them in the garden at home
• Keep in an urn in your house
• Bury around a memorial tree
• Scatter the ashes in a body of water
• Scatter them at places of religious significance
• Send the urn with ashes up in a hot air balloon
• Divide the ashes and follow multiple options
This variety of choices is available to you based on the part of the world you live and the crematorium you choose to do the last rites. In countries of the west, for example, in the UK, above 70% of the population are in favour of being cremated than being buried. And the family members choose to bring the mortal remains home in an urn than dispersing it elsewhere. They have choices like placing it in a significant place at home with a photo of remembrance or they can bury it in their favourite spot in the garden etc.. But all these should abide with the laws of the country in which you live.
If you feel it is too morbid to keep ashes at home, there are many ways to scatter or bury them in lovely gardens. Some places have beautiful gardens where people can bury the urn and plant a small tree or shrub over it. Once the tree grows, you can fix a small plaque to the trunk with some favorite words of remembrance and the name of your loved one. You can even have a small area around the tree where urns of other family members can be buried too.
Now a days, a common option available is the ‘Green Burial'. In this the mortal remains of the loved one is taken to a ‘Green cemetery' and transferred into a biodegradable urn, bag or blanket and buried in a particular place. Even burial at sea can be an option since there are boats available to take you out into the sea where you can take the ashes of your loved one in a biodegradable urn and drop it in the water after uttering words of remembrance or prayers. Finally, however or whatever method you decide to lay your loved one to rest, remember to keep up the desire your dead loved one had in mind regarding his cremation and do your best to honour them and show them that you loved them.