Every 10 minutes, the operators of the Minsk crematorium are required to open the valve in the furnace and stir the ashes of the deceased. They do this with absolutely equanimity, repeating that there is nothing supernatural in their work: “People are born, people die.” TUT.BY journalists personally observed the cremation process and found out why it is not customary to sprinkle ashes on your head while working here.
(Total 17 photos)
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Source: tut.by
In 2013, 39 percent of those who died were cremated.
The monumental red brick building, surrounded by columbar walls and cemetery graves, is not a pleasant place to work. The air here seems to be saturated with human grief. If in the 80s there were about 1,000 cremations a year, today their number exceeds 6,300. Last year, about 39 percent of the deceased were cremated.
1. The Minsk crematorium was opened in 1986 not far from the Northern Cemetery.
2. Unfilled cells in the columbarium - reservation. Relatives worry in advance about being “nearby” after death.
Deputy head of the crematorium Alexander Dubovsky explains the increased demand by the fact that, compared to a cemetery grave, a columbarium cell does not require special care. In addition, there are fewer and fewer places in the cemetery every year. And in the future, experts predict, the load on the crematorium will only increase. In Europe today, about 70 percent of the deceased are cremated, and in Japan - up to 98 percent.
3. Ritual hall
4. Those who have had the misfortune of visiting a crematorium know only its external side - ritual halls (there are three of them) and a store with the appropriate assortment (flowers, urns, tombstones, etc.). The cremation workshop and other utility rooms are located on the level below, and outsiders are not allowed to enter here.
5. The long and dark corridors along which coffins with the deceased are transported on a cart are connected to the ritual hall through a lifting mechanism.
6. With its help, the coffin is raised to say goodbye to relatives.
Ritual equipment operators - 5 people throughout the republic
Despite the specifics of the work, there is also “life in full swing” below. Strong-willed people work in the cremation workshop - with a tempered psyche and a healthy outlook on things. In official documents they are called “ritual equipment operators” - they are representatives of a rare, if not unique, profession in our country.
7. In the only crematorium in the republic, this work is performed by only 5 people - exclusively men. They themselves are sincerely surprised when their profession is called difficult or unpleasant. And then they remember that the morgue workers (perhaps the most experienced people in the prose of life) are also wary of the cremation workshop workers, calling them “kebab makers.” However, contrary to popular belief, there is no smell of either burnt or fried here. A cadaverous smell occurs occasionally - most often when a person dies at an advanced age and very quickly begins to decompose. On the day of our visit, we did not notice any unpleasant odors.
The work experience of the local stove makers is impressive. Both Andrei, one with a mustache, the other without, have been working at the crematorium for more than 20 years. They came, as they say, as young, strong, slender guys. It’s clear – with the expectation of working here temporarily. And then they “worked hard”, and now half their life has already passed within the walls of the crematorium. Men talk about this without a shadow of regret. They really seem quite happy with their situation. They say they don’t come face to face with the dead (dead people are cremated only in a closed coffin and together with the coffin), and all the main work is entrusted to the machine.
Previously, “smoke was coming out like a pillar”, today the driver’s work is dust-free
The cremation process is now truly automated. The workshop has four fairly modern Czech stoves. In one of them, post-operative oncological waste is burned, and the rest is used for its intended purpose. According to Alexander Dubovsky, with the old equipment there was “a column of smoke.” Now the driver's job is relatively dust-free.
After a memorial service is served for the deceased, the coffin is transported from the ritual hall either to the refrigerator (if all the ovens are occupied) or straight to the workshop. Crematorium workers say that they are often faced with the opinion that supposedly before burning they take gold and watches out of the coffin, and also remove good clothes and shoes from the deceased. “Are you going to put on the clothes of the deceased?” - Andrei asks the question point-blank, clearly tired of such conversations. And without opening the lid of the coffin, the driver quickly loads it onto the lift.
8. Now you need to wait until the computer gives the green light, and only after that you can send the deceased into it. The program automatically sets the required temperature (usually not lower than 700 degrees Celsius). Depending on the weight of the body and its condition, cremation takes from an hour to two and a half hours. All this time the driver is obliged to control the process. For this purpose, there is a small glass hole in the oven, which faint-hearted people are unlikely to dare to look into.
9. “You just treat it like this: you have to do it, and that’s it. And even at the very beginning I tried to think that I just threw the box. I used to work for one day. We should fear the living, not the dead.”
“If Ivanov came, it means they will give away Ivanov’s ashes”
The main thing, men say, is to do their work efficiently. And the criterion for quality work for a crematorium is the absence of confusion. In the words of the heroes of the article, “if Ivanov came, it means that they will give away Ivanov’s ashes.” For each deceased, something like a passport is created: on paper they indicate the name, age, date of death and time of cremation. Any movement of the coffin or ashes is possible only with this document.
10. After the cremation is completed, the data is recorded in a special journal.
11. “Here it all depends on the driver, how carefully he removes the remains,” Andrey continues the story. “Look how the deceased is raked out. There are only bones, the organic part is all burned. And then the ashes go to the crematorium, where the remaining calcium bones are ground in a ball mill. And this is what remains of a person.”
13. Ashes ground in a cremulator
Andrey shows us a container with fine powder. If you don’t try to turn events back and don’t imagine what this person was like in life, you can safely work. The driver pours the ashes into a special bag and attaches a “passport” to it. Then the “powder” goes to the ashes collection room, where the organizers will pack it into an urn and give it to the customer. Or they won’t give it to the customer, because he simply won’t come for it. Although this is a rare case, it is regularly repeated. Urns can wait for months for their relatives until crematorium workers start looking for those who ordered cremation and somehow forgot about it.
“The only thing that’s hard to get used to is child cremations.”
14. Every day, about 10-18 people are cremated in this workshop - with different destinies and life stories. The average age of the deceased, say the drivers, is about 60 years. Usually they try not to go into the reasons for their death here. But when it comes to children, even the stern “stove-makers” change their faces. And the worst thing, according to men, is when they bring a child one year or older. Fortunately, such cases are few and far between.
15. Rest room for tough men
— I remember, I raked the little one, and among the ashes there was an iron machine (it didn’t burn. - TUT.BY). So I dreamed about her for a long time. It's racing. You get up at night, shed your sweat, go to the toilet and think, how could such a thing happen in a dream? The only thing that is difficult to get used to is child cremations. The first child who was cremated was a girl, she was one year old. Okay, there’s a newborn, but when he’s older... And you still see how the parents cry...
Money doesn't smell
Children are the only reason for stingy male sympathy. 22-year-old Alexander Kanonchik tries to reason dryly: “People are born, people die. What's the big deal? When he first started working at the crematorium, he was warned that people often come here for 2 weeks, and then they can’t stand it and leave.
16. In this matter, a very clear distinction between “work and home” is necessary, otherwise even an “above average” salary will not be able to calm you down. Machinists of ritual equipment earn about 7.5-8 million a month (approximately 27,700-29,700 rubles). “Money doesn’t smell,” the driver Andrey, who showed us the cremation procedure, hastens to remind us. Men are proud that recently dead people have been brought to them even from Russia. Rumor spread that “everything is fair” with them.
17. Saying goodbye to the crematorium
“Goodbye,” the crematorium workers say briefly. “We hope that we will meet you very soon,” we answer and happily leave this, albeit curious, but sad place.
The problem of overcrowding in cemeteries, visible to the naked eye - certainly exists. Something must be done, otherwise every line between the world of the living and the world of the dead on the physical level will literally be erased. And it is not so rare that old cemeteries are razed to the ground and residential buildings and shopping centers are built in their place. Even for people who are not superstitious and not adherents of mystical teachings, it is clear that there is nothing good in living on bones. There is nothing good in living next to a cemetery, when the landscape of the view from the window is complemented by tombstone crosses.
Let's talk today, what is better - Crematoria or cemeteries? What to choose in the end?!
Burial places were chosen earlier, at the founding of the city, or during its already active, but not as crowded life as it is now - on the outskirts, borders with settlements and desert areas. And today the urban population has increased, and the pace of construction of megacities is increasing, and the birth rate curve is only now beginning to catch up with the death rate curve.
For example (according to Wikipedia), at the beginning of the 20th century in Russia:
“The rural population of the empire significantly outnumbered the urban population. Of the total population of 174,099,600 people, 24,648,400 people lived in cities, i.e. only 14.2% (data from 1913). In terms of the ratio of urban and rural population, Russia occupied one of the last places among the largest states of the early 20th century.”
A little more than 100 years later, namely at the beginning of 2015 (according to Wikipedia):
“As of January 1, 2015, according to Rosstat, there were 146,270,033 permanent residents in Russia. Population density - 8.55 people/km2 (2015). The population is distributed extremely unevenly: 68.2% of Russians live in the European part of Russia, which makes up 20.85% of the territory. Urban population - 74.03% (2015)."
Over the course of one century, despite the apparent lack of growth in the country's population, the share of the urban population increased from 14.2% to 74.03%. This is reflected in mortality and, naturally, in the condition of city and suburban cemeteries.
It would be possible to move future cemeteries to a distant suburban area, and leave the previous ones, which are within the city limits, as they are and simply not bury them there. But here, too, not everything is so simple. The authorities have their own arguments, and those at the helm of the funeral business, of course, do not want to lose their profits with all their might. But after all, burial sites moved outside of populated areas and residential areas will also become megacities in a couple of decades or centuries. Well, what should we do? Closing previous cemeteries and opening them in more distant places is nothing critical; death, if you think about it, is the same natural process as birth, and we need to take care not only of maternity hospitals.
In addition to the usual burial method for everyone, cremation is becoming more and more popular. And although the procedure itself and its essence are alien to the mentality of the Russian person, crematoria have become a fact of our time and a necessary measure for resolving funeral issues.
Crematoria will be built in many Russian cities, and cremation, according to more than half of Russians, is a good alternative to land.
What Russians think about repeated burials and cremation in a short TV segment:
Cremation and crematoria
Currently, there are 17 crematoria in 14 cities in Russia: Moscow (Mitinsky, Nikolo-Arkhangelsky, Nosovikhinsky, Khovansky), St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Novokuznetsk, Norilsk, Ekaterinburg, Barnaul (started work in 2015), Nizhny Tagil, Vladivostok, Artyom, Nakhodka, Rostov-on-Don, Surgut , Chelyabinsk, Tula, Khabarovsk.
What do we know about cremation? According to the website homotomia.ru, only 15% of respondents considered themselves knowledgeable about the intricacies of the cremation process.
And this despite the fact that (according to the website crematorium.ru) - “in those cities of the Russian Federation where there are crematoria, the percentage of cremations in the total number of burials ranges from 45 to 61.3%.”
However, in reality(Do you personally often hear that friends preferred cremation to the usual burial for a deceased relative?):
“...for the most part, their services are not particularly popular among the population (cremation in these cities (which have crematoria) is chosen by relatives of no more than 15-20% of the deceased on average). The largest percentage is in St. Petersburg, Norilsk and Moscow (50-70% of all deaths). The largest crematorium - the Nikolo-Arkhangelsk Crematorium in Moscow - is equipped with 7 double cremation ovens. Its construction was completed in March 1972. It covers an area of 210 hectares and has 6 non-religious mourning halls, which are used for atheistic funerals. The cremation complex in Volgograd, launched in 2011, is considered the most environmentally friendly. His cremation installation was purchased in Germany and includes a KE 400 type cremation oven with a high-purity chromium sorption filter,” Wikipedia about Russian crematoriums.
« Crematorium(from the Latin “cremo” - to burn) - is a building of a ritual nature, intended for burning the bodies (remains) of the dead (dead), giving them fire (cremation).”
« Cremation- This is the destruction of a corpse by burning. Such a process may be either uncontrolled open burning in funeral pyres or controlled burning in a cremation oven installed in a crematorium.
The cremation process is the burning of the body of the deceased due to flows of gas heated to high temperatures (870-980 °C) supplied to the chamber of cremation furnaces. To make the process more efficient, modern ovens have introduced a number of modifications (one of them is to apply most of the flame to the torso, which makes up the bulk of the body). Currently, gas (natural or propane) is usually used as fuel for furnaces, and less often electricity. Until the 1960s Coal or coke was actively used.
Modern ovens are automated and controlled by microprocessor devices, equipped with safety devices to ensure safe use (for example, the oven retort door is locked until normal operating temperature is reached; the coffin is fed into the oven as quickly as possible to avoid heat loss).” (Wikipedia)
Who needs cremation and why? Firstly, burning corpses in fire initially had two main motivations: religious and domestic. In the first case, the dead were burned at the stake, as the religion of the nation said; in the second, the climate, lack of tools for digging holes, unsanitary conditions, and a large number of dead people often forced them to give preference to this particular method of burial. Today in our country, of course, those who look at the cremation procedure from a religious perspective are in the minority; we are mainly interested in the recycling aspect. This procedure is for those who firmly decided that they do not want to smolder in the ground after death (or his relatives decided so, if the deceased did not leave other recommendations, or he did not care), who want to save on a funeral (although this also depends on the high cost related goods and services, it may turn out that cremation is several times more expensive if relatives, for example, wanted to place the ashes in a gold urn). In general, half the world is already using cremation as one of the most active methods of burial. It is important to know what it is in general, what are the benefits of this option of wires to the Other World.
About the life of the Khabarovsk crematorium, about the costs of cremation and many other nuances in the plot of the “Details” program of the “Russia24” channel:
“Cremation reduces the area required for burial by 100 times, and the period of mineralization of bodies is reduced from 50 years to 1 hour.
Crematoria were first built in Italy, in Milan in 1875 (joint developments of German and Italian engineers). Already in the 20s of the last century, in many European cities, even with a population of no more than 100 thousand inhabitants, it was thought possible to have a crematorium, and in cities and towns with a population of 110 thousand or more, the presence of a crematorium was a mandatory urban sanitary norm.
In 1874, the International Federation of Cremation was organized, whose primary task to this day is to explain to the population of the planet the advantages of the cremation process, both from an economic point of view and from the point of view of ecology, hygiene, sanitation, ethics and aesthetics. Today, the Cremation Federation unites 21 countries, Russia is also a member.
In the pre-revolutionary period in Russia, the first crematorium was built in Vladivostok using a Japanese oven, and the first crematorium in post-revolutionary Russia was built in Petrograd in 1927.
Today, cremation is widespread in North America (there are more than a thousand crematoria in the USA), Europe; Cremation is mandatory in some Southeast Asian countries. There are 356 crematoria in England; in the Czech Republic - 80; in China - 1300; in France -70; (in fact, in every major city). There are currently about 14,300 crematoria operating in the world. Cremation is most widespread in Japan (98% of all deceased are cremated), in the Czech Republic (95%), Great Britain (69%), Denmark (68%), Sweden (64%), Switzerland (61%), Australia (48%), in Holland (46%)"
(from the site homotomia.ru, article “Basics of cremation”).
Benefits of cremation. From the side of those who bury. Reducing the cost of burial and honors by up to 50%, if you use the simplest materials, in the future no one will build an entertainment center on the grave, razing it to the ground. That is, the memory and ashes are always with you (although a sufficient number of relatives of the deceased prefer to scatter the ashes over the favorite places of the deceased).
From other sides. Saving land, reducing pollution of water sources located near cemeteries, preventing unsanitary and environmental disasters.
However, there were cases voiced in the press when burials of unburned bones were found not far from a Russian crematorium. The crematorium was closed, disputes began, investigations began into what the relatives received in the urns with ashes and who was buried.
And there is an undoubted disadvantage of cremation, besides those voiced in the article. This is the impossibility of exhuming a body (for investigative actions) if a person died a violent death, if there is a suspicion that the wrong person was buried - it is also almost impossible to identify genetically.
According to the testimony of crematorium workers- very often after the procedure, fragments of unburnt bones remain, which are ground in a special device similar to a drum with iron balls. The amount of ashes is about 4-5 liters, but usually only 2-3 are placed in an urn, that is, some of a person’s ashes goes into the trash.
Crematoria as boiler houses: For us it’s blasphemy, but for others it’s just warm radiators. How far has the progress been: “Cremation requires a lot of energy, and the heat from burning corpses is wasted. Some European crematoria have found a solution to the problem. Instead of letting combustion gases escape down the chimney, you can use them to heat homes. Since 1997, in the Swedish city of Helsingborg, local crematoriums have provided 10 percent of the heat in homes" (from the website freundchen.blogspot.ru, from the article “A crematorium can be a source of energy”)
Urns with ashes can be stored in columbariums - storage facilities specially designed for this purpose; as a rule, a certain fee is charged for this from the relatives of the deceased.
Cemeteries and burials
We all know firsthand about cemeteries, so many people understand what it is, and although not everyone is familiar with the word “inhumation,” everyone is aware of the essence of the procedure. Inhumation is the burial of the deceased's body entirely in the soil.
If there are no epidemics or pandemics of infectious diseases (which, as a rule, reign in poor countries with hot climates) and the burial area is far from swamps and reservoirs, then a depth of 2 meters to which the coffin is lowered and buried almost guarantees sanitary and epidemiological safety.
Based on the latest data on the density of the Russian population for 2015, it turns out: 8.55 people/km2. Well, my dear, there should be enough land for everyone... Why are we, the most spacious country in the world, so greedy? Especially considering that cremation, no matter how elegantly it is advertised, is alien to the consciousness of many Russian people, who have been accustomed for centuries to burying the dead in the ground.
There are currently approximately 7.3 billion people living on Earth, and this figure is “living”: Some people die, a new generation appears. Population growth is due to increased birth rates. And in total, according to various sources, there lived on Earth from 79-110 billion people to the fantastic figure of 5.2 thousand billion people. It is impossible to establish the absolute plausibility of one version or another, but most likely the truth is somewhere in the middle. If we assume that the number of all deceased and living inhabitants of the planet reached the same fantastic figure indicated above, then even then the situation with the place on earth would be far from the most cramped:
“The population density, if all the people born would remain alive, would be from 34 to 52 thousand people per 1 square kilometer. In other words, for each person there would be a large room of 20 - 30 square meters - people still did not end up crammed like “herrings in a barrel”” (from the site pandia.ru, article “How many people lived on our planet”).
“Lying in the land” after death is somehow Christian, say many of those who argue their position only with an ethical aspect.
And indeed... After all, it’s somehow uneasy that the relative you loved, or rather, the bodily part of him, is now placed in a small vase with a stopper or there is nothing at all if the ashes are scattered. There was a man - there is no man. I would like there to be some place where you can come to remember where a piece of earthly things belonged to the deceased. And even if there is no soul on the grave, this is all that remains of the earthly face of the deceased.
True, there is also a moment that is not so moral. Coming to the grave and looking after it, of course, is a necessary action for the peace of the soul, but if some people honor the memory of the dead, modestly clean the burial site, plant flowers, then others organize drunkenness at the wake, impartial spectacles, in no way showing respect for the honor of the deceased etc. Although, that's probably a different conversation.
According to the Christian faith, dead people (according to one version - saints, according to another - different) on one day, after the Second Coming of Christ, must be resurrected, that is, they will be resurrected by God. And here is the point: how will He resurrect them if there is no bodily temple even at the level of the skeleton? However, from those who lie in the ground for a couple of hundred centuries - after all, in theory, there is also nothing left, and the promise of God is beyond centuries and times.
I think that not a single person will give a 100% correct answer as to whether it is possible to recreate a living thing from ashes; this is accessible to the divine sphere. However, the word that man is created from dust and goes to dust may also suggest the possibility of resurrection from dust. Let's leave these puzzles to God, theologians, ministers - who can know what will happen?
Jews (a people who are in a special place with the powers of heaven), for example, are against cremation. And the Orthodox Church does not approve of this procedure as a correct burial option; it considers it a pagan rite., of course, in the first place is that there is a “place of meeting” with the deceased, a place of memory, in the second place is a fairly safe (if all norms and rules are followed, no flooding) in sanitary and environmental terms, a method of burial. Of the minuses- relatively high cost of burial costs (with similar parameters for cremation).
The funeral business is one of the most profitable; a place in the front row at a famous cemetery costs from a couple of million rubles to several tens of millions and more (depending on the city). Who wants to lose such a fatty piece of cake? And the business is a win-win: people have died, are dying and will always die: such is life, we are all mortal. And if the ruble exchange rate is an unstable phenomenon, then death is inevitable for everyone.
What's better for the environment?
About the dangers of cremation ovens. It all depends on what kind of ovens are in the crematorium, what kind of fuel they use, but in any case, there is harm to nature. For example, even with the highest quality and most expensive technologies:
“The environmental damage from one crematorium oven is comparable to the damage from the running engines of 50 passenger cars” (data from an article about the need to build a crematorium in Krasnoyarsk).
“However, according to some estimates, it is the burning of bodies that produces 9 percent of mercury pollution in the atmosphere. In addition, nitrogen oxides, dioxins, benzpyrenes are released from the pipes of crematoria - among other things, they have a carcinogenic effect" (from the website pravda.ru, from the article "Crematorium fined for harming nature").
About the dangers of land burials. Still, overcrowding of cemeteries, especially those adjacent to residential village areas and reservoirs, is a problem, and not only a lack of land area, but also an environmental and sanitary one. Rain and groundwater erode part of the soil, all the products of corpse decomposition, along with wastewater, end up in the watercourse, in vegetable gardens, in taps, wells... Bones do not decompose until several centuries (thousands of years), and modified products, chemical food fillers, and the environment destroy people and everything around even after death: today’s corpses, according to scientists, decompose extremely slowly, the body’s formerly living tissues seem to have been saturated with all sorts of preservative nastiness during life so that no one needs to be embalmed. When we bury the dead, the earth absorbs all this chemistry, then the water cycle in nature, and many other biological and chemical processes that contribute to the spread and continuation of cluttering the earth with waste.
However, is everything so pessimistic and is the prospect of maintaining the predominant trend towards cemetery burials so dangerous for the world and our country? Even if we proceed from the most “crazy” figures about the number of people who have ever lived on Earth, everyone would have received at least 20-30 meters, and in today’s Russia, for 8-9 people there is a square kilometer of open space. Nature is the most powerful filter of waste, although it will respond accordingly if it is not taken care of.
Crematoria will still be built everywhere, because for now the trend of growth in the world's population continues exponentially, which means the recycling aspect of death is acquiring more and more relevant and acute features. People need to be buried somehow and somewhere. After all, even in countries where cremation is the main type of burial, the ashes of people are already under their feet in the literal sense. Relatives of the deceased scatter ashes from urns over sacred places or rivers, mountains, forests. Experts have found that in the area of active “sowing” of ashes, vegetation and productivity increase abundantly. That is, the ashes become ordinary fertilizer, like ash. And here, too, no matter how you look at it, the word “... until you return to the ground from which you were taken, for dust you are and to dust you will return,” is appropriate.
“Recycling” is the processing of garbage, waste... that is, it turns out that our body is just... garbage? In general, the term “recycling” has become very popular recently: there is a lot of garbage on the planet, humanity has begun to realize that we will all get bogged down in tons of waste if we don’t do anything with it. We need to put it somewhere, or, more precisely, somehow process all the dirt, moreover, turn it into profit or at least not into decline. People leave behind too much of everything, the world strives for chemical, environmentally harmful perfection, which, naturally, has such a side effect as an increase in waste in all spheres of life on the planet. But, you see, the concept of garbage has become so impersonal that on the way to this “perfection” we forget what is what, the word “disposal” has become almost synonymous with cremation, life is a moment, and the body is dust. Still, we Russians, for the most part, are not Buddhists or Hindus, so we can talk about the correctness of cremation in a religious context, Our arguments relate mainly to recycling, saving square meters of land. True, there is one more point that I understood from a dialogue with a friend: cremation guarantees that the deceased will not be buried alive, and such fears are found among people, because lethargic dreams are a reality.
It turns out that nothing is safer, everything is harmful. But the problem is eternal, people die, and they need to be buried somehow. Cemeteries must be located far from residential and water areas, flood prevention is necessary, and crematoria must be built very far from the city.
Of course, the right to choose the method of burial always remains with the dying person (if he has time to express his will in this regard) and with the relatives of the deceased. And everyone, without excuses as to why it is this way and not otherwise, has the right to choose any of the available burial methods. Still a personal and sad topic.
But there is an important point: opinions may differ when we consider the problem as global and as personal. As a global one, it goes beyond the boundaries of roads, towns, cities, but as a personal one, everyone, even after death, wants to have their own corner, a piece of land.
What do you think about cremation and traditional burial in a cemetery?
People usually don't like to talk about death. It seems illogical to plan your own funeral when life is raging nearby. But the human body, unfortunately, is not eternal. Sooner or later, relatives have to decide on the funeral of a deceased person. The modern burial industry offers several options.
Some people choose to turn their ashes into a diamond, become part of a coral reef, or even go to the moon after death. Increasingly, in the civilized world they are trying not to bury the body in the ground, but to cremate it. During this process, the corpse is burned at high temperature, even the bones become brittle and turn to ash. The tradition itself dates back to prehistoric times, but has become popular today.
Cremation is preferred because of the convenience of this option; it turns out to be both more practical and convenient. Yes, for many, the very burial in the ground with the subsequent decomposition of the body causes disgust. However, cremation still remains a mystery, gaining numerous myths that frighten people. It is worth debunking some of the most popular misconceptions about this procedure.
Cremation is cheaper than a regular funeral. Many people choose cremation as it is considered cheaper than a traditional burial ceremony. In fact, you can save money because there is no need to hold a public farewell ceremony with embalming of the body and an expensive coffin. In the West, cremation costs range from $600 to $1,000. In Russia, amounts are limited to thousands of rubles. But this quantity is not finite. Many people request a traditional embalming and burial ceremony prior to cremation. Often relatives want to bury cremated remains in a cemetery or columbarium. Farewell funeral services are held, which are also expensive due to flowers, food and memorable gifts. These additional services can ultimately make cremation even more expensive than a traditional funeral. If you try to minimize the budget, then burning the body will actually be cheaper. But when choosing the option of saying goodbye to a friend or close relative, people often do not think about money or simply fulfill the last will of the deceased.
Cremation is prohibited by major religions. It must be said that different religions have their own attitudes towards this procedure. You can often hear that cremation is prohibited in Christianity, Judaism and Islam. The Greek Catholic and Protestant churches insist on burying the body. It is believed that there will come a time in the future when the dead will be resurrected. But over time, the Catholic Church softened its demands. Cremation is now permitted after a requiem and the bishop's permission, although traditional burial is still considered preferable. But Orthodoxy takes a more rigid traditional position on this issue. Judaism is loyal to cremation, because this is a fairly ancient practice, which was followed by Jewish kings. In Islam, cremation is prohibited, as is embalming the body. This is considered disrespectful to the deceased. In Buddhism and Shintoism, cremation is considered acceptable. In Hinduism, cremation is one of the 16 rituals of life. It is believed that with its help the soul will leave the body more easily and can then find a new home. In any case, this practice is gradually gaining acceptance throughout the world, even in places where burial has traditionally been practiced.
Cremation is an environmentally friendly procedure. Whatever fans of this method of destroying the body may claim, it cannot be considered completely safe for the environment. We can only talk about saving space required for burial. Cremation requires burning fossil fuels, which can leave behind harmful chemicals. These may include carbon monoxide, nitrogen monoxide, sulfur dioxide, hydrofluoric acid and mercury. A solution to this problem could be the installation of filters in ventilation systems. This will reduce the environmental impact, but carbon emissions will still be significant. An environmentally friendly alternative is bio-cremation, in which the remains are dissolved with chemicals. To ensure truly clean smoke, you should not use special means for rapid combustion. Containers made of rubber or plastic can also produce toxic smoke.
Cremation leads to air pollution. Modern cremation ovens already meet all the most stringent air pollution requirements. Filters trap all hazardous elements. It is no coincidence that in the USA and Europe they are not afraid to place crematoria in the centers of large cities. And this myth does not contradict the previous one. Only the most modern equipment and careful adherence to standards allows crematoria to remain environmentally friendly.
Cremation involves the destruction of the body by fire. This statement seems natural, so it is more interesting to refute it. During the cremation procedure, the body of the deceased is placed in a specially designed oven where it is exposed to very high temperatures. It shrinks the body by removing gases and softening bones. Once this process is complete, the remaining fragments are machine processed, which reduces the body to ash. This substance is passed on to relatives. Modern cremation methods do not use fire and disposing of the body has become a quick and simple process.
During cremation, the remains turn to ashes. Many people refer to cremation as turning the body into ashes. In fact, the remains are not ashes. They resemble small pebbles, which are bone fragments. After the body is exposed to extreme temperatures, the fluid evaporates and only parts of the bones remain. They are further processed in a high-speed blender-crusher. It turns bone remains into fine gravel, the texture and color of which resembles ash. This sand is placed in a temporary container so that it can be given to relatives.
Cremation involves avoiding a traditional funeral. For some reason, many people believe that cremation loved one implies a rejection of the traditional farewell to him in an open coffin. In this regard, cremation is no different from a regular funeral. Relatives can conduct traditional farewell ceremonies for their loved ones by ordering any services accompanying the funeral. It is also possible to hold a memorial service.
The body is placed in a coffin for cremation. Even if you do not watch the human body being sent into the oven, it will still be placed in a special container. The transfer of the deceased from the funeral home to the crematorium is done in the best possible manner, as respectful as possible for such an occasion. And it is preferable to leave the body in a coffin. However, there are many forms of such a container. There is no reason to leave the body in an expensive coffin, which will not be visible during the entire procedure. The most economical container options are generally made of cardboard, and many crematoriums offer this option for free.
At the moment the body is burned, the head explodes, like an egg in a microwave. There is a common misconception that an intact head without wounds will simply explode during cremation. However, this legend was debunked by forensic experts who specifically observed the burning of several dozen bodies, wanting to debunk the myth. And the legend itself appeared thanks to firefighters. They often found bone fragments of victims' skulls separate from the body. In fact, the bones of the head have thin areas in some places, becoming brittle when exposed to fire. These fragments can be separated from the skulls by falling or water jets from pumps.
All that remains of a person after cremation is a pinch of ashes. Complete burning of the average body lasts 2-3 hours. After this, from one and a half to 4 kilograms of ashes remain. There is no need to talk about a “pinch”. The weight of the remains depends on the structure of the bone tissue and body volume. But light newborn babies don’t even have bones yet, only cartilage. There may be nothing left of them after cremation.
When cremated, the body does not require embalming. Embalming is usually not required. But if you are planning long-distance transportation of the body to the cremation site or a long farewell ceremony, then it is better to turn to embalming.
For cremation, it is necessary to purchase an urn for the remains. After the cremation procedure, the ashes of a loved one are returned to his relatives in a temporary container. What to do next is up to them to decide for themselves. An urn is a common solution, although there are many other options for placing ashes. It is poured into the sea (in America there are even certain standards establishing distance from the shore), placed in reefs, sent into space and turned into decoration. Modern cemeteries allow the remains of a loved one to be placed in a columbarium, individual memorial, family crypt, or alcoves. Since ashes are non-toxic, there are no restrictions on the type of container used.
The cremation procedure for animals is completely different than for humans. The pet cremation process is virtually identical to what is offered for humans. Usually a veterinarian organizes the process, but you can also contact a crematorium that specializes in working with animals directly.
Cremation is a rare procedure. Today, cremation is becoming increasingly popular in large cities where there are obvious problems with land. Even in St. Petersburg and Moscow, 50-70% of the dead are cremated. This method is also popular in the West. It is believed that soon every second death in the world will be cremated.
In the crematorium, several bodies are sent to the oven at a time. Some relatives are openly afraid that their loved one will be cremated at the same time as someone else. This may result in mixing of ashes. However, this is contrary to all existing rules. Moreover, most ovens are not designed to process more than one body at a time. Sometimes relatives, on the contrary, want the two bodies to be cremated together. But here we can only recommend a special urn for storing the ashes of two people at once.
A body or organs that have been in the morgue for a long time can no longer be cremated. Such a body can also be cremated. The cold stopped the decomposition process and the body seemed to be mummified for a while. And cremation will be even better, since the tissues will be dry and burn better. Cremation and exhumed remains are successfully carried out.
The cremation procedure cannot be seen. Most crematoria offer this service, but on a paid basis and in the case of a person’s involvement in a specific funeral. No one can just come and watch a stranger being burned without a good reason. The crematorium offers relatives a special room in which they can observe the process.
Of course, the loss of loved ones becomes a real psychological shock and severe stress for us. When a person dies, his relatives have to decide what type of burial to choose so that the soul of the deceased “finds eternal rest.”
Currently, in our country, a procedure such as human cremation is becoming increasingly popular. Agencies specializing in the provision of funeral services are forced to resolve a huge number of issues directly related to cremation. At the same time, many people who, for various reasons, are forced to organize a funeral, do not have the slightest idea about cremating a person. The information below will be very useful to them.
So, what is this ritual and how expensive is it?
Cremation is a variation of burial that involves burning a person's body in a special oven until ashes are formed. After this, the ashes of the deceased are placed in a special container, which is given to the relatives and friends of the deceased so that they complete the burial procedure using one of the following methods: either placing the ashes in the grave, or placing the urn in a columbarium.
What is the cost of the above procedure
It should be noted that the cost of cremation is not that high - it is about 4 thousand rubles.
Considering such a ritual as cremation of a person, the price of which depends on a particular set of necessary services and accessories, it should be emphasized that even the purchase of a coffin for cremation is for the relatives of the deceased. One way or another, the cost estimate for cremation is prepared based on their financial capabilities.
Currently, there are no problems with choosing a coffin for the deceased. The only requirement is that it be made from materials that are highly flammable.
Why is human cremation becoming increasingly preferred as a form of burial? There are several of them. And they are individual.
Some experts say that over time, cremation will “displace” land burial because it is a less expensive procedure from a financial point of view.
Of great interest to many is not only the question of how a person is cremated, but also whether it is necessary to cremate him before burning the body. If the cremation point is located at a remote distance and it takes a long time to get to it, or when the farewell procedure is scheduled immediately before the cremation of the deceased, then it is recommended to embalm the body.
The church is very indifferent to the above procedure. There is a position according to which the burning of a body in itself does not contradict church canons. However, a certain part of the clergy has an extremely negative attitude towards cremation. Very little time passed from the moment the clergy began to perform funeral services for the dead directly in the crematorium building.
