The Processes Involved In Cremation Or Funeral

| Saturday, March 3, 2012
By Alan Redman


A cremation or funeral is a way of saluting an individual who has died. There are a number of rituals and traditions for various cultures when performing either ceremony. A funeral service most often comes to a close with a burial or by placing the dead body in some sort of tomb. When the body is cremated, however, a process involving temperatures that are very high is used to ensure that the body is incinerated and broken down to its chemical compounds.

Cremating a body may in itself be a funeral, or it may be a post-funeral rite. Cremated remains can be buried or kept in an urn, in memory of the deceased. A crematorium is where the procedure usually happens, but various cultures across the world will have different methods. In India and Nepal, cremating happens in open air.

There are various parts to a funeral, starting with the wake. This is where the body of the person who has died is placed in its casket or coffin, which is then put on display for visitors. This ritual lets people who were close to the deceased come and pay their final respects in a private setting outside of the ceremony.

The body of the deceased is often embalmed. However, this is not a mandatory ritual and choosing to have this done is usually a result of other factors. The casket in which the body lays could be closed or open during the wake, and again, this would depend on circumstances like the causes of death and how the body itself looks as a result.

The person who has died is dressed in his or her best clothes, or apparel similar to how they usually dressed when alive. Although jewelry can be worn, it is sometimes removed and given to others in memory of the deceased. Jewelry can stay on the body when it is buried, but when being cremated, jewelry is often removed.

Though some memorial services happen at home, there are cultures that include the whole community in the service. This is especially so when the person who has died was important in the community. The transportation of the body to its final resting place happens with a procession, which varies across cultures.

The machine used to cremate bodies is called a cremator, specially created to incinerate. The temperatures this machine can reach are as high as almost one thousand degrees Celsius. Only one body can be cremated at a time, except in very special cases, one such being that of stillborn twins.




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