Print

[oldghost]

Now that I'm getting close to my time to leave I was think that i wont to be buried the old way . I was going to be cremated but in thinking that give nothing back to the earth that I came from . So now I searching for a place that make basket coffins , so far no luck . How will you be buried. Do you think the old way of burial is better the being put in a concrete block . Should we not give back to the land some of what we have taken from it and ashes won't do . Now still have to find out if it's legal. Then someone to do the ceremony.

[Khara]

Now that I'm getting close to my time to leave I was think that i wont to be buried the old way . I was going to be cremated but in thinking that give nothing back to the earth that I came from . So now I searching for a place that make basket coffins , so far no luck . How will you be buried. Do you think the old way of burial is better the being put in a concrete block . Should we not give back to the land some of what we have taken from it and ashes won't do . Now still have to find out if it's legal. Then someone to do the ceremony.

I know that Jewish people don't do the whole "vault" thing and are buried in plain wooden boxes.  I can only presume if you arrange it in advance you can decide on something similar.  I doubt you will be able to do the basket thing, but at least you should be able to avoid the vault.

Myself, I've arranged to be cremated.  I have this zombie theory you see.....

[Firesong]

I know that Jewish people don't do the whole "vault" thing and are buried in plain wooden boxes.  I can only presume if you arrange it in advance you can decide on something similar.  I doubt you will be able to do the basket thing, but at least you should be able to avoid the vault.

Myself, I've arranged to be cremated.  I have this zombie theory you see.....

Yep... Jews are buried without embalming, because the believe that the process of the body decomposing is a part of atonement; they believe it takes about a year until the flesh is gone.  It's also associated with extreme pain, again as atonement.  Knew a Jew once who had his hated father embalmed; wanted his pain to go on for a bit...

You should be able to do the same thing; claim a religious restriction and find somebody to bury you without being embalmed so you can return to the earth in a timely manner.

[C_A]

Just google "Natural Burial".

It's become a bit of a "movement".  Warren Zevon, Alevasholem, was buried naturally in Oregon.  There is a Natural Cemetery about five miles from me in Maine. 

Thr eason we have, in this country, the "vault thing" is to prevent the embalming chemicals from entering the water supply.  They're toxic as all get out and take a long time to break down.  Even their broken-down components are toxic. 

I would go for it, except I prefer to be cremated.  I'm not worried about the "zombie thing" like some others, (wink), but I want a pyre.  Actually, the burning-ship modal of the Norse is quite cool, but I'll just take the pyre.  Or, being put into one of those vulture-towers in Bangra...

[oldghost]

Wish I still had all my old books , had one of my anthropology books that had a good section on the rituals of burials in Europe and The British Isles . There was one where the wrapped you in woven matting in the fetal position and buried you with a figure of the earth mother .

[Earthbound Spirit]

I prefer to be cremated.

^this^

[TheGreenWizard]

I know this is an older thread, but I just wanted to help put out a few sites for the natural basket coffins:

http://www.wickerwillowcoffins.co.uk/

http://www.burialcraft.com/woven-basket-caskets-green-burial-portland-wicker-bamboo.html

Personally, I want a green burial because I don't want to pollute the Earth; we only have one of Her and she gives us so much in life, that we should give back to her in death. With that said, I'm thinking I'll be buried in either a knitted shroud (silk, wool or cotton, I'm still unsure), or in a basket coffin.

A bit morbid to think of at the young age of 23, eh?

[alyceavary]

I haven't decided yet (I know I should, being a single mom and all), but my mom is completely against cremation. So if I were to die in a horrible car crash tomorrow (or some other unforeseen incident while she is alive), that won't happen. I'm not sure that I even want that. I'm 99% sure that I don't want my body or organs donated to science. But I like the idea of honoring the "old ways". At the same time, I would like my body to give back to the Earth. One thing is for sure, I WANT an autopsy. I don't want any guessing as to what caused my untimely demise. I don't want to be put i one of those above ground tombs after talking to a mortician, especially in the Southern heat......I'd be baked. More so than that crazy tanning mom in NJ.........

[oldghost]

Thank GreenWizard , already got mine ; woven flax . Natural colour and will rot around the same rate as my corpse. Return to mother what she gave you.

[dark magus]

When my dad died, we cremated him and according to his wishes cast his ashes from an airplane over "The Lions" mountain in Vancouver. That's their water shed so he thought a great joke that every time someone had a drink of water........
 
When my daughter died, we cremated her. We're holding off doing anything with her ashes until the kids get older and they can be part of the discussion.
 
I know that when my wife or I pass, we will also be cremated. Haven't given much thought about what to do with our ashes yet. I guess we should have that talk one day.

[The Pet Goddess]

I haven't made any arrangements yet, as I hope to have a few more years to do so; but I am opting to donate any and all body parts for transplantation or scientific use and then to have a green/natural burial if there's anything left over.  There are several green burial sites in my state. 

Starhawk wrote a fabulous book called The Pagan Book of Living and Dying.  There are deathbed rituals, after death/funeral rituals, and information on burial on private land and private cremations...subject to state law, of course.  Seriously worth checking out.   

[C_A]

I haven't decided yet (I know I should, being a single mom and all), but my mom is completely against cremation. So if I were to die in a horrible car crash tomorrow (or some other unforeseen incident while she is alive), that won't happen. I'm not sure that I even want that. I'm 99% sure that I don't want my body or organs donated to science. But I like the idea of honoring the "old ways". At the same time, I would like my body to give back to the Earth. One thing is for sure, I WANT an autopsy. I don't want any guessing as to what caused my untimely demise. I don't want to be put i one of those above ground tombs after talking to a mortician, especially in the Southern heat......I'd be baked. More so than that crazy tanning mom in NJ.........

IF she's Catholic, cremation was "ok'd" several years ago.
 Even MY Mom, (who is doubtless a generation older than yours), has come to terms with it.  Have her consult a priest.

YES, you SHOULD.

"Any and all useful" is on my I.D. card.  WHY should I be SO selfish as to deny healing to someone who's life would be bettered by it?  After all...what, exactly, am I going to need my organs for?  (NOT that ANYone would WANT them, after what I'VE done to them in 60+ years, but...).

ALL Moms in NJ are "crazy tanning".  Goes with the geography.

[alyceavary]

She's Southern Baptist. When I mentioned years ago, before leaving Christianity, that I thought it might be nice to be cremated and have some ashes spread in the Atlantic so I could "always swim with the dolphins" and some spread over the Swiss Alps since I was born near there in Germany. She then asked why I would be so selfish as to not have a place for my descendents go to "visit" me. Part of my reason for not donating is I know my grandparents and some of their earlier children were exposed to radiation. Including my grandfather painting over spills with no suit, stuff being put in children's milk at school all in Oak Ridge, TN in the 50s all to see how far radiation would go through the generations. My grandmother actually died of a rare cancer that is directly caused by overexposure to radiation. I have aunts that have cancer and the medical issues from my mother's side alone is scary. Add in my poor eyesight and asthma and I'm not sure there's really anything healthy enough to be used for anyone else. It's a personal choice and I understand the benefits of passing on my organs, it's just hard for me to consider.

[Scorched Eartha]

She's Southern Baptist. When I mentioned years ago, before leaving Christianity, that I thought it might be nice to be cremated and have some ashes spread in the Atlantic so I could "always swim with the dolphins" and some spread over the Swiss Alps since I was born near there in Germany. She then asked why I would be so selfish as to not have a place for my descendents go to "visit" me. Part of my reason for not donating is I know my grandparents and some of their earlier children were exposed to radiation. Including my grandfather painting over spills with no suit, stuff being put in children's milk at school all in Oak Ridge, TN in the 50s all to see how far radiation would go through the generations. My grandmother actually died of a rare cancer that is directly caused by overexposure to radiation. I have aunts that have cancer and the medical issues from my mother's side alone is scary. Add in my poor eyesight and asthma and I'm not sure there's really anything healthy enough to be used for anyone else. It's a personal choice and I understand the benefits of passing on my organs, it's just hard for me to consider.

I have a lot of questions over the organ donation industry too . There are far too many abuses perpetrated in its name for me to be sanguine about signing over all rights to my own or my children's organs. Not the least of which is the fact that in societies where people die decades too early because of a lack of access to basic health care and preventive medicine it seems to me to be immoral to be spending hundreds of millions of dollars on whizz bang science type medical advances when far more lives would be saved by publicly funding things like pre and ante natal care, antibiotics, eardrops and asthma medications.

[C_A]

I have a lot of questions over the organ donation industry too . There are far too many abuses perpetrated in its name for me to be sanguine about signing over all rights to my own or my children's organs. Not the least of which is the fact that in societies where people die decades too early because of a lack of access to basic health care and preventive medicine it seems to me to be immoral to be spending hundreds of millions of dollars on whizz bang science type medical advances when far more lives would be saved by publicly funding things like pre and ante natal care, antibiotics, eardrops and asthma medications.

Hadn't thought in that light over those points.

Thanks.