Burial Vs Cremation Research Paper

At some point in our lives, we all come to realize that death is a part of life. Cultural diversity provides a wide variety of lifestyles and traditions for each of the unique groups of people in our world. Within these different cultures, the rituals associated with death and burial can also be uniquely diverse. Many consider ritualistic traditions that differ from their own to be somewhat strange and often perceive them as unnatural. A prime example would be the burial rituals of the Native American people.

cremated. Although there is no direct ban against cremation, the Bible speaks clearly about “ashes to ashes, dust to dust.” Christian tradition states that God created man from dirt and so the body will return to the earth. The Bible states: “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till

The temples, pyramids, tombs, and religious artifacts left behind all tell us that the Ancient Egyptians believed in the resurrection of the dead. Their belief in immortality was the fundamental driving force behind their religion. “The formulae which were declared to have been recited during the performance of ceremonies were written down and copied for scores of generations, and every pious, well-to-do Egyptian made arrangements that what had been done and said on behalf of Osiris should be done and said for him outside and inside his tomb after his death.” (Liturgy of Funeral Offerings, pg.2) This illustrates just how important the ceremony and the process was to the Egyptians. Their belief in the afterlife and the importance of the ceremonial steps taken to get them there caused them great concern with their own funerals. Today, everyone has an idea of what they would like to do for their own funeral as well. We may follow in the same patterns as our family heritage has done for generations with either a traditional funeral or cremation, or we may have a newer alternative in mind for our self. Even though we may not be preparing for an afterlife, we still have an

The amount of annual revenue allocated to funeral home versus cremation services is quickly evening out, and cremation is predicted by the NFDA to completely overtake burial selection within the next

Dead?" AlterNet. In this article, Frankie Colmane looks into how dead bodies are treated in the United State even after Mitford's expose of the funeral industry was published. The article takes both a philosophical and scientific issue with the procedure of embalming sighting proven negative effects to human beings and the environment. Colmane shows that even though people are aware of the malfeasance and misappropriations of the funeral industry following pieces like Mitford's, very little has changed. Therefore problems that have been discussed in earlier works should not be forgotten. Rather they should be continually brought up until the issue is solved. During the 1800s, embalming became common practice because the dead family member would lie in state within the home for a period of days or weeks until it would be buried (Colmane 2010). The article shows the duplicity such as when "funeral directors were arguing forcefully against charges that their mediation between the living and the dead translated into social obstruction that barred the stricken from facing death with maturity, realism, and honest" (page 2). This article will be used to illustrate that things have not changed with funereal practices despite the publication of Mitford's essay.

The idea of human composting is almost exactly the same. Composting works when bacteria release carbon dioxide and nutrients from organic materials that help plants thrive (Ashford n. pag.). These are the same plants that provide the oxygen we need to survive and the beauty of nature that people will travel thousands of miles to witness in some cases. Human composting is the most ecologically friendly way to dispose of bodies; cremation pollutes the air with gases and chemicals such as carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, and hydrochloric acid while bodies that are buried can take more than fifty years to decompose (Huffman n.pag., Memorial Pages n.pag.). The earth does not get the nutrients it needs from burial until the casket and body break down, and even then it receives materials that could be utilized for something other than holding bodies: “Each year, over 30 million board feet of wood, 1.6 million tons of concrete, 750,000 gallons of embalming fluid, and 90,000 tons of steel are buried underground in the United States alone,” (Herzog n.pag.). Cremation and burial are neither environmentally friendly to the earth nor economically friendly to the family left

Burial has long been considered an important component of death; it is the mourners’ final encounter with the recognizable, substantial body of the deceased. Every culture has to determine how to deal with the physical remains of the dead, to find a way to honour their memory, and to go on living in a society that is now deprived of one of its members. Burial traditions and practices have developed throughout history and around the world to meet this human need. This paper will examine Jewish death and burial practices from the Old Testament, the Gospels, and other New Testament accounts, as well as archaeological evidence from first century Palestine; this evidence, when compared to recent arguments against the burial of

2 million people are buried on average a year and the cost for burials are expensive. The average cost of burial is £4,000 and this price can increase to £10,000. It was proven in 2015 that the funeral industry makes £1.7 billion a year and this was expected to increase by 2.9 percent in a year. While burials being so expensive, there is alternatives. Cremation can cost from £1,000 up to £3,500, which is lower than the average burial cost. Eternal Reefs which is a company that will turn your ashes into coral reefs to help create a nurturing environment for fish and other sea forms, this costs £4,000. Natural burial, the corpse is wrapped up in cloth and buried in backyards or forests, this is free.

The demands for cremations is now at its peak especially when the Catholic Church permitted the cremation as a legitimate mode of disposing the dead body, and it was justified the existence of

Mankind’s history of burial practices and funeral customs are as old as civilization itself. There is no specific way to planning a funeral. Every civilization and culture has provided for their dead in different ways. Religion and personal beliefs play an important role in the burial practices and funeral customs of a given culture or civilization. Furthermore, each civilization and cultured ever studied have three things in common: some type of funeral rites, rituals, and ceremonies; A sacred place for the dead; and memorialization of the dead. As far back as the time of Christ, burials have been noted to take place. In time burial and funeral customs have become very distinct, interesting and

Cremation is the process of burning the body it was first introduced to the western world by the Greeks in 1000BCE. Large pottery urns that were dated to around 1900BCE were use to store human ashes which provided us with the earliest evidence for the practice of cremation-which is the burning of a body. Cremation was very much associated with the

Burial of the dead is defined as the act of placing the deceased’s remains inside a tomb or grave. Entombment of human corpse began on account of ancient religious traditions and beliefs. The placement of a body underground was due to the belief that the underground was the gateway for the afterworld. Once buried, a stone engraved with the name of the body lay by the burial place as a marker. This custom began in 5000 B.C. in ancient Sumer, and continues presently. Although our loved ones may be given a proper ceremony and burial; this act may be done before it's natural or suitable time. In other words, a human may be sent to a living death. This is properly known as premature burial or vivisepulture.

Special people in your life deserve unique resting places, and there is hardly an improved option than a cremation urn. With almost unlimited versatility in both design and functionality, cremation urns offer the special opportunity to give the one you love a resting place just as unique as they were in life. Some like to keep their adored ones closest to their heart, with mementos made to match the cremation urn.

A family has many options of how to handle the remains of their loved one. One way of handling the remains is the scattering of the ashes. According to the Cremation Association's survey, around 135,000 families are scattering their loved ones ashes every year. Scattering ashes is a way the family can remember or honor a person by spreading them in a place that was special or important to them. Many families also choose burial after they cremate a body. Burying the ashes can give a family a sense of relief because they know they have a place to go to remember their loved one in person. Some families keep the ashes at their house as a way to remember them too. Other options of what to do

Cremation is a viable option these days, as it does not impose such a financial burden upon survivors. But, it does bring up the question of what to do with the ashes.