Well, you’ve passed on a traditional service and you’ve passed on cremation, so now what? You may be like many people out there and think that those are your only two options. Let me tell you a secret…they aren’t!
“What?!”
“Stop lying to us!”
“Dude, you’re crazy. There’s only embalming or cremation.”
Well my friends, you’re wrong. There are always options. Let me introduce to you, or rather reintroduce, the practice of natural burial. I say reintroduce because humans have been around for a long time and before embalming was even a thing, people were just straight-up buried.
I don’t want to confuse you, so let’s just dive right into what natural burial is. Natural, in this sense, means the human body as it is (at the time of death or in life). That’s a definition I just made up so I can’t really give a source for that. Just take my word for it. [Side note: There are 15 different definitions of natural on Merriam-Webster’s website. Who knew?] This basically means an unembalmed corpse, or just a body. No chemicals, cosmetics, or anything that accompanies embalming. By law, embalming is not (IS NOT!!!) required. If you don’t wish to be embalmed, then don’t. Now, the burial part is just that, a burial. You can choose to be shrouded, placed in a biodegradable casket, a mushroom suit that aids decomposition (see Image 1 and view TedTalk), placed in a pod that grows a tree (see Image 2), or even just placed in the ground.
Image 1
Image 2
For me, natural burial is a way to bring death back into society. For so long, we have pushed it away and never wanted to think about it. But, by going naturially, your family has a chance to be a part of the process. Your family can choose to have a wake at home, wash your body and dress you, and even dig the hole for your body to be placed (How intimate is that?!). Now, these options can be possibilities for traditional services and cremations, so if you want that, then choose it.
The whole idea is to return your body to the earth. You get a chance to decompose in the most honest way possible, giving life back to the planet. You are finally completing the circle and you’re not introducing chemicals into the soil (Do you know how bad that is to the environment, let alone the people who work with them?!). Let it be known that this is what I want done with my body. I want my family to be as involved as possible and place me in the earth to let nature take its course.
Jae Rhim Lee – Infinity Burial Project: This TedTalk is definitely one worth watching. It is rather short, but the information is amazing – https://www.ted.com/talks/jae_rhim_lee#t-137503
Ask A Mortician – Why are you SO MEAN to Embalming? – Caitlin’s thoughts are my thoughts. She gets it. She knows what’s up. (Definitely my inspiration in the death care industry!) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMw5E2rzKWg
Green Burial Council – Click this link to find where a natural burial cemetery is in proximity to you (at least in the US) – https://greenburialcouncil.org/find-a-provider/
Over the last few blogs, I have given you some good information that I hope has sparked how you think about your death. Just by taking the time to plan how you want to leave this world, you are accepting your fate. Death is never something we should push aside, because it will happen. As scary as that seems, it will happen. Stay curious and intrigued by death.
