The, Environmentally Sound?

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.

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

Unlike most communities or religions, the Amish choose to make arrangements with the funeral home then and there. The arrangements are made regardless of the hour of death. Generally, English funeral arrangements take hours for the funeral director to explain the choices and customization of an English funeral. When in an arrangement for an Amish funeral, the family and clergy will be informing the funeral director about the traditions and customs that MUST be followed. Most Amish families will handle informing the cemetery, ordering and paying for the coffin, and ordering the rough box (The Amish equivalent of a vault or outer burial liner). (Beerman,

Cremation and burial services are among the most common choices for American post-mortem body disposal (NFDA, 2017). Though the population of the United States is continuing to grow, observing increases in funeral rates, the number of active funeral homes has significantly decreased within the past ten years (NFDA, 2017). This could be due to the extreme shift in American practices, from a traditionally religious population to a more environmentally aware and loosely religious society (Fleming, Farquhar, Brayne, Barclay, 2016; Pew Research Center, 2015). Because of the general shifts in the prioritization of traditional practice, funeral homes should be better equipped -especially in cremation services- to suit the needs of the evolving disposal preferences of all demographics through observation of holistic

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.

Criticisms of American funeral practices have been made publicly aware since the 1920’s, and actually go back to ancient times in the scope of human’s ceremonies for the dead. Since the first published argument against modern funerals various authors joined the movement publishing their disparagements of customs for the deceased; that in essence contend the grandiosity and lavish displays are merely a social and psychological representation of the monetary opportunity of funerals (DeSpelder & Strickland, 2015, p. 306-307). Even further, regarding the encompassing funeral industry as exploiting grieving loved ones for their financial gains, while disregarding the actual needs of modern society (DeSpelder & Strickland, 2015, p. 307).

In conclusion of The Embalming of Mr. Jones the author Jessica Mitford describes many gruesome ways that the mortician molest the body and process the body for reconstruction. I believe in some cases that many people now days want to be cremated and not buried. My grandmothers wanted to cremated because she wanted her ashes to be spread over the sea. My grandmother in her last days on earth said that burying her was going to be expensive, so that’s why she chose to be cremated she knew her family didn’t have thousands of dollars to pay for a nice burial. In my argument I feel that Jessica made a valid point when she described how gross the sight of the embalming was and I believe that she would be cremated when she dies. I know for a fact that I don’t want my love ones to pay all that money to

Proper burial was essential to Romans to ensure malicious spirits did not rise from the underworld. The first part of the average funeral was the

According to the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs (“History and development of the national cemetery administration”, 2015), the origin of National cemeteries began during the Civil War. Prior to the establishment of such places, fallen soldiers’ were often buried on battlefields, nearby campsites, or taken to the families chosen cemetery. However as the war progressed, the chaos and limited land titles led to quick and inadequate burials. Neither the Union nor the Confederacy were equipped with the awareness and resources to properly bury their soldiers’.

The only thing in life that is one-hundred percent certain is death. Humans go through life ignoring this ultimate fate until the day they are confronted. What a civilization does with their deceased tells a lot about their culture and beliefs in an afterlife. Whether a person is cremated or the body is preserved, whether they are buried in the ground or placed in a tomb, and how their final place is decorated all show their cultures values and beliefs and what kind of person they were. At the Getty Villa museum one piece called the Sarcophagus with Scenes from the life of Achilles depicts how a Roman sarcophagus can show you their beliefs and customs.

According to farmers insurance, the average funeral costs up to 7,000 dollars going with the traditional coffin and burial. Cremation was figured to be about half the price of a traditional funeral, with urns ranging from $25 to $250 and above. When going with the bio urn process, this would cost about the same as the cremation process would, rounding up to about $2,500 including the cremation process and could be more cheap depending on the tree chosen which range to about $105, and even though the price may still be somewhat high, this provides for “a greener, cleaner earth.”- Amanda Froelich. Other burial options like the natural burial is where the body isn’t embalmed and is given a biodegradable coffin to where they can be given back to the earth, this shares the same concept as the burial mushroom suits. Things like, the eternal reefs, or the rocket launch are more expensive alternatives.

Thank you for your question and your commitment towards green burials. One of the big needs in Minnesota is to have more green cemeteries that are committed to our ecology - and to help promote the green burial concept. On a high level, a green funeral and burial is: So, basically, to create a "green" cemetery you need to follow these steps:: Establish a cemetery, following the local rules and regulations for creating a cemetery. Make the cemetery "green" in accordance with green burial regulations and certification guidelines And, for an extra measure, get your green cemetery certified.

This teaches us that we should bury people directly in the ground. This practice is done today in Israel, but in places where it is illegal to bury the dead directly into the ground, we place a person in a casket that is later buried into the ground. Unlike gentiles, Jews do not buy expensive fancy coffins. To truly honor the deceased, it is better to spend the money you would have spent on a fancy coffin on charity in memory of your dead relative. This is why Jewish people buy cheap wooden coffins. According to Jewish tradition, a casket should not have any metal on it because metal is used for weapons and war. It is believed that a person should not go to eternal rest accompanied by these materials. After these crucial actions are done to the deceased, they are then ready to face the master of the universe in the World to Come.

When burying a dead body into the ground there are several processes of decomposition going on that leave out foul odor deep into the ground that can cause diseases spread and completely contaminate the whole area depending on the scope that the cemeteries cover. The effects of these

     Because of the increasing education of the consumer, many may choose to bypass the funeral home as a way of lowering costs.