The Importance Of Cremation

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.

Poorer citizens were not buried with a coffin and outer sarcophagi where as wealthier citizens were. Citizens of higher strata were also buried with precious stones and gold. Thus, the socioeconomic structures of specific groups can be analyzed and broken down as to who was a peasant and who was deemed of higher social strata by examining the way ancient Egyptians practiced burial.

With the graveyards filled to capacity, some resorted to throwing their dead into the dark waters of the Rhone. Eventually, mass graves were dug and provided a place to dump the corpses. In London, such burial pits sometimes proved inadequate to receive the dead, with bodies overflowing their layered stacks within the trenches. (684)

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.

For several decades histories of Native-American encounters with the European have been recorded and taught. The majority of these narratives have downplayed the importance of religion, most often understanding it as a veil for underlying political and economic motivations. In his book The Huron Wendat Feast of the Dead, Erik Seeman addresses this absence by recognizing the influence that religious exchange had for the Wendat and French people in colonial New France. He sheds light on the impact of religiously rooted beliefs and motivations of both the Jesuit missionaries and the Wendat people.

In the 7th Century AD, an important individual was buried inside a ship in East Anglia. The ship most likely hauled up from the nearby river, a burial chamber was built in the center of the massive vessel. Luckily grave robbers did not reach the ship burial as they did other nearby burial mounds, because the ship was rich in history and artifacts including gold, silver, bowls, spoons, weapons, drinking horns and much more. Originally discovered in 1939, the artifacts and ship burial have been closely examined another 2 times. The artifacts found within the magnificent burial site have created a lot of stir over the past 80 years. Theories have changed on the significance and origins of the artifacts due to changing hypothesis or the arrival of new and different evidence. Because there are dozens of artifacts within Sutton Hoo, this paper will be focusing on a select four of them including; the ‘baptismal’ spoons, the Merovingian coin hoard, the whetstone, and the scepter. According to scholars over the past 80 years, how have opinions, evidence, or assumptions changed relating to these exact artifacts? This paper will be taking a contemporary look at the perspectives of different scholars on different artifacts and, finally, analyze why these perspectives have shifted or changed over time. To my knowledge, scholars do give credit to previous perspectives, but no scholar has every brought all the perspectives together and analyzed their findings.

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).

Higgins, Joseph, and Chuck Bergman. "Evidence of the Afterlife." Death, Burial, and the Afterlife in Greece and Rome -. Web. 5 Nov. 2014. <http://www.netplaces.com/evidence-of-the-afterlife/afterlife-beliefs-in-ancient-and-modern-cultures/death-burial-and-the-afterlife-in-greece-and-rome.htm>.

During all parts of the existence of Rome, burials and funerals were extremely important, even more so than weddings. The Romans believed that without a proper burial, a spirit would cause unhappiness for those living. While rites varied throughout different periods, traditions remained vastly, and always had the same importance.

While the model of a ‘Good Roman Death’ may have differed by person, the constant remained that a death that was rapid and without suffering, and in the company of relatives, was ideal. A Roman funeral began at the deathbed of the deceased with the last kiss, the closing of the eyes, and the calling out of their name to confirm death. The role of preparing the body was taken over by the woman of the house if a pollinctores, a male slave commissioned to lie out the body, was not employed. There were many laws surrounding the proper and decent disposal of the deceased as written in the Digest of Roman Law. Due to such laws, some worried about the legally mandated financial burden would join a burial collegium, a club in which members would make contributions to expense funerals.

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

The Ancient Romans believed and carried out the sacred traditions of taking care of the dead by disposing those by either burying or cremating the body, it was also ensured that citizens were promised a formal burial. However, the social status of whoever died would also depend on how the body was disposed and treated which helped establish the difference between the Patricians and Plebs. It was widely believed by the Romans that death established the great segregation of body and soul.

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

Today the society is looking for ways to ease life and to find solutions for problems which oppress our lives and make it hard to live through. Because of many reasons, the traditional burials in this century are becoming a problem. (Prothero,2001). The fact that they cover a lot of land to build cemeteries and other things that are attached to these traditional burials is enough for us to search for a practical solution. About a century ago the term "cremation" was unknown to many people. It is believed that it began to be practiced during the early Stone Age and still exists today. Since that time cremations have been made all