My religion has pretty specific laws about these things. Cremation is not allowed. I will be buried in a casket made of hardwood (hardwood or crystal is required, because, while the soul has departed the body upon death, the body is still the temple that has housed the soul, and therefore deserves respect), a gold ring on my finger, engraved with the words “From God I came, and to God I return”, and buried facing the East. It is my hope that one day soon hubby and I will buy a house on a largish (10 acre or so) piece of land, and there will be a nice hardwood tree on that land, suitable for him to make my casket out of. Some people may think it’s morbid, but I like the idea of him making my casket, and he likes it, too. I think it would be nice if I could be buried on our property, too. I’d pick a spot with a nice view, a hole can be dug, our “Prayer for the dead” can be intoned, and in I’ll go.
I’m uncomfortable with the idea of my body being around intact after death. I’ll opt for cremation, I think.
How Kirk Douglas ended up in THE VIKINGS is the way to go but I think my city regulations would stop it from happening.
Ravi
Lets look at the cremation process:
- Prep phase. Use pliers to pull out any teeth with fillings - fillings contain mercury which would cause air pollution. Remove anything else that the EPA doesn’t want to go into the atmosphere.
- Furnace phase. Heat body so that most of it turns into H2O and carbon dioxide gas. Up the chimney it goes.
- Grinding phase. Put remaining bones and crusty stuff into a big paint mixer thing along with some iron shot-put balls. Turn on until everything is reduced to dust.
Personally, none of the choices sound appealing. I’m going to put the end off indefinitely. Like cleaning the basement - I’m just not going get around to it.
A boat, an anchor, and a length of chain.
That’s my ideal. If not that, than cremation.
My father hates funerals. He told me and my mother, “When I die, just put a plastic sheet over me and call Animal Control to come pick me up.” (My father has a weird sense of humor.)
For me, it’s definitely burial.
My will contains the instructions for me
No funeral, no family, no religion, no box. Burn and give the leftovers to the SO who will do with them whatever she pleases because I suspect I will be beyond caring.
Burn. Seems much cleaner than being left to rot.
I also think there’s something incredibly vain about demanding personal space set aside for you on the planet long after you’re gone.
One place to put ashes:
http://www.sanfranciscocemeteries.com/Clbrm.html
(for those too lazy to click, it’s call a “Columbarium”)
I’m not looking to check out anytime soon, but I’ve considered donating my body to science, or maybe the “body farm” at University of Tennessee (not sure they’re taking reservations but who knows?)
You do know this is just a grand title for ending up on a slab for a year, being gradually hacked to bits by first year medical students?
I’ve no problem donating organs, but, sorry, you couldn’t pay me enough to “donate my body to science”.
I want to be plastinated:
Then just put me in the La-Z-Boy with the remote, and I’ll be happy.
Ideally, I’d like to be left in the desert for carrion birds and various desert creatures. I really like the idea of my bones being bleached by the sun.
Being stuck in a box in the ground is really, really creepy to me… and being burned into nothing is only slightly less creepy.
OK, as I tally it, here are the results so far:
Burn - 16
Unspecified or ‘traditional’ durial - 2
Natural Burial - 3
Creatively alternative method - 8 (Viking Funerals, permanent preservation, skeletonized, the Body Farm, etc.)
Undecided - 1
Don’t plan to die - 1 (I have to admit that it is a sure fire way to avoid the whole issue 
)
The more I think of it, the more I feel that this is a PERFECT thread for the days leading up to Christmas.
Cremation. Ideally, I’d like to be burned, have my ashes mixed into soil, and have some nice herbs growing on my remains. That way, at least I’ll be providing for something after I’m gone.
'Course, I plan on sticking around for a while…
If anyone is interested in a pre-need discount let me know :
:
Could you maybe put him in a large pot, box and all? Maybe put some foam around the box if you don’t want it to rattle against the sides of the pot?
I would like to suggest The American Way of Death by Jessica Mitford, an expose of the evils of the greedy funeral industry. Very readable, and tounge-in-cheek.
My office window used to be right next to a crematorium vent. This is all I want to say about the subject.
Does the EPA have any problems with the embalming fluid and other chemicals leeching out of a decaying body into the soil? I’ve never read anything on the subject, but it seems to be that they’d end up in the ground water eventually. (Pleasant thought, I know.)
Well said!
I’m sure that I won’t mind. Besides, they’ve got to practice somehow. At least if they screw up, they won’t be harming a living person.
Personally, I want to be cremated and a young tree to be planted in my ashes. A small, uncut field stone with only “Lissa” carved on it placed below.
I remeber reading somwhere of a culture that used to plant oak trees in the hearts of their dead warriors. If the tree flourished, the warrior was having a wonderful afterlife, if not . . . well, he hadn’t been such a great guy after all. Does anyone know who these people were?
I like the idea of a Tibetan sky burial. Traditionally, when a Tibetan died, his or her body would be chopped up and left for vultures to dispose of the flesh, thus testifying to the truth of impermanence and conserving on scarce firewood that would be wasted on cremation. Besides, I have always been an advocate of recycling.
Creamation and my ashes spread in the Atlantic Ocean.
My dad has chosen cremation. Me, I’m not real sure yet. I know I want as many usable organs taken from my body as possible and donated. But beyond that, I’m still not real sure.
Probably cremation, though. I do want a memorial service, though, because yeah, I’m that vain. But I want it to be like the reast of my family funerals. Fun. If you’ve just got to cry, that’s fine. But don’t forget to laugh and tell stories about me. And please, unless it’s all you’ve got clean at the moment, don’t wear black.