<sigh> I was trying so hard to spell “necessary” correctly I forgot to add “not”!
Vaults are *not * necessary everywhere.
Sorry.
There was never a “goal” to “return to the earth”. That’s just what happened in poor people’s graves.
Burial was just designed 1) to keep the body from being eaten by animals, and 2) it had to be six feet under to keep down the stink.
Rich people have always been above ground or in dry caves, catacombs, pyramids, mausoleums, etc. The richest were embalmed.
Personally, I want to be buried at sea so there will be no remains, even ashes.
I assume you mean that your remains will be eaten by the sea creatures. But aren’t sea burials wrapped in something to prevent this? Or is that covering meant to dissolve or something after a while?
From this article:
“…the Army obtained through a broker bodies that had been given to Tulane University in New Orleans and blew them up in land mine experiments.”
Not that you are going to notice, but donating your body to medical science doesn’t necessarily mean that medical students are using it to learn anatomy. Personally, I’d object to the military using my corpse to advance their methods for killing people.
Hmm. Not sure about your assertions there. Aren’t skeletonized remains sometimes removed and stored in ossuaries and/or catacombs due to space limitations?
I can see that the rich might have historically had more funerary choices but I’m pretty sure that other things play a pretty large part in it, too. For example, and just off the top of my head, things like religious beliefs, traditions, and plain old practicality.
Not to mention if someone made a tidy little profit selling your body to the military. Leave it to the military, though, to not have any clue on the actual market value of whatever it is they’re procurring.
shudder I’m a deep sea phobic.
I want to be tossed into the sun. Even if it means waiting a few decades as a bunch of ashes. With my cat. Ever since that thread I’ve thought that was a good idea. When she dies cremate her and when I go bury her with me. And if I happen to get married I’d like her to come with me after we both kick the proverbial bucket. I hope this will be something available by 2070 about when I expect to be able to see the end.
Im scared of spiders, but i’d rather be in a room with spiders than have a blowtorch up my ass…
hehe
Joking
I almost got ostracized in high school for saying that viewings were the height of morbidity. Bad timing on my part; I shouldn’t have said that the week after one of my classmate’s brother died of cancer. But they ARE! I remember my paternal grandpa’s viewing after he died in 1993. The man in the coffin was not my grandpa. My grandpa never wore his wedding ring (he worked outside in the dirt a lot before he had all those strokes and the ring would have been damaged), wore his glasses (not carried them in his hand), and would never never never have appeared at a religious function without his toupee. Most of the time, the relatives had their backs to the casket and had a reunion. There was token grief at the funeral, but it seemed forced to me. (He had been very sick for five years before he died. We expected it.)
So yes, viewings are morbid.
From what I understand of it, some cities require the cement vault, or the outer casing now. They don’t want the grave to “cave in” and need to be re-filled time and time again, from what I remember. (I just recently helped out with funeral preparations for someone close to me.)
I, myself, would love a simple pine box. I definately don’t want a “newfangled” cemetary, if I’m buried. I don’t want an ugly flat tombstone, I’d like an upright headstone, and maybe old fashioned wildflowers planted on my grave. I wouldn’t mind cremation though, as long as a bit of my ashes are scattered along the stretch of river I played at as a kid, and the rest interred near my husband.
Not true in Texas, and in other states as well apparently. I have already made the arrangements and have my will and practically everything but the marker taken care of. My oldest and best friend died a couple of years ago (at age 40) of a heart attack. He appeared to be in good health. Not overweight, worked hard, didn’t smoke much, drank a little…but had a defect that was undetected. Anyway, his death was traumatic of course and to worry about funeral arrangements and costs was very distressing. I found out then what I could and couldn’t do, as far as my own funeral is concerned. I’ve even got a couple of folks (brother and cousin) that’ll make sure everything is taken care of, even digging the hole. The will and my directions are in my photo album, so I know they’ll find them. Plus, they’ve got copies.
I already have plots in the family cemetery, so that’s taken care of. My brother will build a box, if I haven’t by then. No autopsy or embalming is required unless death is caused by some contagious disease etc. You CAN dig the grave yourself and bury the body yourself, as long as it is witnessed and the proper authorities are aware of the arrangements. Headstones are not required. But because it is a family cemetery there will be one. I’ve been working on that myself. A blank slab of granite is fairly cheap. Dremel tools are too. When I’m done (w/the marker), I’ll stick it out there (the last date excluded of course) 
Seem like a bit much to y’all, maybe. I don’t think so. I’ve had to do this with a few friends and family members before and it is a pain to do so while grieving. I don’t want my family to endure this bullshit because of me. So, I’ve decided to take care of it in advance. My bro & cousin have done the same.
So, I’ll be in a handmade box, covered with one of Mom’s beautiful handmade quilts. A good recent picture of me on the lid and a photo album. A few already chosen songs playing in the background. Meanwhile folks who feel like it can get up and speak. No formal wakes or ceremonies. That’s the way my family does it anyway. Afterwards, everyone has dinner and plays some dominoes and whatever. The cost is minimal and everyone is comfortable.
Don’t forget to bring pie, mmm. 
I like pecan.
I’m surprised no one has said, “Gotcha ya!”
Considering how long burial rites have been an important part of life, it sounds like you are being unrealistic and unfair. Even elephants have post-death rites where they spend time visiting with the bones of dead relatives.
Only because people want to pay that much money. Anybody who drops a truck-load of cash on a funeral does so by choice, no matter how much she complains about it. In Michigan, at least, low income families have subidised funerals to defer the expenses. Absent that, it’ll still cost some bucks, but not anything outrageous, considering the services you’re getting.
In Michigan, unless the law has changed, burial vaults are required. It wasn’t uncommon to bury ashes, which is an option for the box- or embalming-phobic.
Straight talk you may wish to avoid:
An embalmed body in a casket & burial vault will last 50 years with little sign of decomposition. I know this because shortly before I worked at a funeral home, the directors had to exhume two bodies that had been buried about 50 years before. Fresh as the day they were buried. If you want to be “returned to the Earth,” then you will have to be buried quickly enough to not trigger any embalming law. The alternative is cremation, where the body is burned at about 1,400º F. and the fumes are run through an after-burner. The only trace of you not fully oxidized and sent into the air are the calcium deposits left behind. Those aren’t ashes in the sense of what is left after a fire in the fireplace, it’s just calcium according to the crematorium guy who gave me the crematorium tour. Give it a whirl some time: If there is a customer using the services, you may get to look in the little door in the oven and watch the action.
I want to be cremated and have my ashes thrown into Rock Creek in Washington, D.C., my place of birth and favorite city in the world.
Cremation for me (and yes, I know all about it–I’ve visited a crematorium, and saw my father’s “cremains”).
I am going to have my ashes scattered in a pond near where I grew up (my mother’s will go there, too, when the time comes). My sister and I buried my father’s ashes under a tree in a park across the street from our childhood home–really, the only nice time the three of us ever had together!
I’ve always liked the idea of “sky burial” (expose the corpse to the elements in a platform on a tree or high place, let the scavengers deal with it) but I knew it wasn’t practical these days, so I was just going for cremation. I’ve recently learned about donating your body to a university for forensic studies (as in Zebra’s link) and I think that’s what I’ll do.
My Father passed away last December and they gave us a little bag filled with dirt from Mount Sinai to spread inside his casket. They also gave us a special candle for his gravesite. Because he was a Veteran, his plot was already paid for and I believe the little service we had cost around $3000 (including the headstone). I still think that’s very expensive even though his casket was one step above the cardboard box.
I myself would not want anyone to waste that kind of money on a service. Everyone that would attend would already have known me and my spiritual beliefs, so paying someone to tell them where I went would sort of be a waste. I’d rather they have a celebration of my life here and then celebrate the new life I will have 
I wanted to go on, well pretty much a giant barbecue. Kind of Viking style but all my mates could cook some Dan burgers of off my ashes.
But now I just decided (what with the illegality of my first idea) that I want to be placed on the top of Everest with a Straight Dope flag in one hand, and a thumbs up on the other. Yeah baby, that’s patriotic!
Are you sure it was for his grave? Jewish mourning includes lighting a yirzheit candle. A yirzhiet candle is also lit on certain holidays and on the anniversary (according to the Hebrew calendar, not the Gregorian.) of the person’s death.
Limbo Donni
AFAIK The oldest known burials were performed by the neanderthals. The corpse was placed in the fetal position and buried with various goods. Mourners would drop flowers on the corpse before the grave was filled. Since then, disposal of the corpse has largely been for religious reasons, getting rid of a rotting corpse is just a fringe benefit.
Jewish law does focus on returning the body to the earth. It also stresses that the wealthy and the poor receive the same funeral-no embalming, plain wooden box, and a shroud. These days, many Jews ignore the last two and are buried in fancy coffins and expensive suits.
Chef Guy
Again, expensive funerals are a violation of Jewish laws. Rabbi Joseph Telushkin rants a bit on funeral homes taking advantage of mourners in his book Jewish Cultural Literacy.
Re Organ Donation
I have to look into that. If somebody can use my organs after I’m done with them, they’re welcome to them. However, I have ADD. When my psychiatrist tried tapering me off methylphenidate and using another drug, I learned two things-I do much better with methylphenidate, and that I have roughly a month’s supply stored in my body. As some of my organs are filled with the same chemical sold on streetcorners everywhere as speed, I’m not sure it’s safe to put them in anybody.
As Brended Frasier said in the Mummy - don’t put me down for mummification=)
I have a living will, and a regular will, and burial plans already, my lawyer and husband and several friends know where the information is kept=)
I want my body to go first to be parted out for transplant, anything left can be used in a med school for training, and then the extra-crispy treatment=) I have 4 small bronze vials with my name and birth date engraved on them waiting in case there are several people who want some of the cremains. My husband wants also the same general process, except he wants 4 small diamonds made by that company in Russia[?] he found that will turn cremains into synthetic diamonds. One each for me, his mother, his father and his sister. I am not particularly into diamonds, but I think it is sort of an interesting memento mori to have my hubby on a chain=)