People are not always willing to talk about death, let alone think about their own funeral in the future. But, as you know, the human body is not eternal, and the time comes when the relatives of the deceased need to resolve the issue with the funeral. Modern ritual services are not limited to the generally accepted burial of a deceased person in a coffin, but offer several options for sending on the last journey at once.
Increasingly, in modern society they try not to bury the body underground, but to cremate it. This process consists in burning a corpse in special furnaces (crematoriums), at a high temperature of over 1000 degrees. Under such conditions, even hard bone becomes brittle and turns to ashes. The tradition of burning bodies dates back to prehistoric times, and is popular even today.
Cremation is chosen due to its convenience and practicality. In addition, some people are disgusted with the fact that their body will rot and be eaten by worms underground.
Crematorium
To cremate a body, certain conditions are needed, which can be achieved thanks to a special oven at the Crematorium. Inside it reaches an incredible temperature - up to 1092 degrees Celsius, which allows you to turn the body into a small handful of bones and ashes. After burning, large remains of the bones are crushed in a centrifuge, if there is permission from relatives.
Modern crematoria operate on gas, electric or special fuel. The entire cremation procedure for a person of average configuration takes about 2 hours, but it all depends on the characteristics of each body. For example, a person who had cancer or tuberculosis during his lifetime requires more time for cremation. The same can be said about drug addicts, and those people who often took different drugs.
To ensure that the final ashes are homogeneous, all the remains are sorted and sieved. Metal crowns or prostheses present in the body are selected using a powerful magnet.
How does cremation take place?
After the pre-training bodies, the closed coffin with the deceased is loaded into the furnace chamber. Next, the automatic electronics of the device comes into play.
- The initial stage of cremation is the burning of the coffin. This process takes about 10 minutes. It all starts with the ignition of the walls of the coffin, which begin to disintegrate, after which the ignition affects all combustible materials. The soft tissues of the body begin to decompose under the influence of high temperature (carbonization process).
- Starting from the second stage, the automation of the furnace sets the temperature regime so that the destruction of the body occurs in certain sequences. The main thing is that these processes take place according to standard schemes, otherwise it will not be possible to achieve full mineralization of bone and soft tissues.
There are several factors that are taken into account during the cremation of each body, and due to which the required furnace mode is set. These include:
- The age of the deceased.
- Body mass.
- The time that has passed from ascertaining death to cremation.
- Features of the lifestyle of the deceased (habitual diet, drug therapy, the presence of diseases).
These parameters are of great importance for the workers of the crematorium, because the necessary mode of combustion will depend on them. So, some factors provoke dehydration of the body, others, for example, leaching of calcium from the bones, and all this affects the final result of cremation.
Ashes processing
Burning is not the end of a complex process. Another, no less milestone Cremation is considered the final processing of the remains, because after the thermal effect of the furnace, they remain in a heterogeneous consistency. The remains include ash, bone fragments and possible metal parts. The homogeneity of the ashes is ensured in the Kremulator - a special device for crushing the remains to a state of homogeneous ash, sifting out all that is superfluous.
But, in many crematoria they work without this equipment, using the old methods of processing ashes (crushing particles with a hammer and sifting the ashes by hand).
After cremation, the ashes of the deceased are placed in an urn and transferred to relatives who themselves dispose of them at their discretion, or follow the will of the deceased.
What does the law say
There is a certain law according to which the issuance of ashes to relatives is carried out. After the burning of the body is completed and the remains are loaded into the urn, it is handed over to the close relatives of the deceased in a specially prepared room - the farewell hall, where the "farewell" ceremony is performed. But, just like that, you can’t get an urn with ashes, since its issuance occurs only after the presentation of certain documents:
- Death certificate of a person.
- Passport of a relative who wants to pick up the urn.
- Conclusion on the cremation (taken in the crematorium in which the procedure was carried out).
- Certificate of availability of a plot for burial (it can be obtained at the cemetery where relatives plan to bury the urn). There may be several options:
- Burial in a separate area - the burial of the remains after the issuance of a crematorium can be carried out in a cemetery, like a standard burial in a coffin. The cemetery administration must allocate a site in advance and prepare a pit. To bury an urn, you do not need such a site as for a coffin, so it will cost a little less.
- IN Lately began to practice the burial of ashes in the already existing graves of relatives. As stated in the laws, per inhabitant locality a free site is provided for at the local cemetery, but in fact, the relatives of the deceased always pay a considerable amount of money for this. If an urn is buried in a family grave, the money will only be needed to dig a hole, but if it is necessary to change the monuments, again, you can’t do without spending.
- Often urns with ashes are buried in the columbariums of the "Wall of Sorrow". There are many cells in this wall, in which an urn is placed and closed with a memorial plate with data about a person resting in this place.
Common Traditions
Burying an urn with the ashes of the deceased is not the only option. For example, in many Western countries, many people leave urns for storage at home. For us, this may sound unacceptable and creepy, after all, it contains the remains of the deceased, but if that was the will of the deceased, then hardly anyone will argue with this.
Another tradition of farewell to the deceased is the scattering of ashes. Typical dispersal sites are meta pilgrimages. But occasionally, fulfilling the last will of the deceased, relatives scatter the ashes over his native places. There are special services that are engaged in scattering the ashes of a cremated person, who will deliver and scatter the ashes anywhere in the world.
Below you will find answers to the most frequently asked questions about cremation.
If you have not found the answer to your question, please contact our funeral directors. They will advise you quickly and professionally.
How many people choose cremation?
In Russian cities where there are crematoria, the number of cremated people reaches 60% of all the dead.
What religions do not accept cremation?
Orthodox Jews, Greek Orthodox Church and Muslims do not allow cremation.
All Christian denominations, Sikhs, Hindus and Buddhists are not against the cremation of the dead.
Which is cheaper, burial or cremation?
Due to the severe lack of space for traditional burials, the price of cremation is lower.
For pricing details, please contact our funeral directors.
Do I need to draw up any special documents for cremation?
The list of documents for cremation is no different from those needed for a traditional funeral.
If the death was unnatural (trauma, crime), cremation will require permission from the prosecutor's office.
In other cases, you will need an identity card, a passport of the deceased, a stamped death certificate, a medical death certificate.
Our funeral directors will help you with any paperwork.
Do I need to remove jewelry before cremation?
Some materials (glass, some metals, PVC) are not allowed in cremation.
If you want to put something in the coffin of the deceased - consult with the funeral director.
According to the cremation code, the coffin is not opened after it has been delivered to the crematorium. Take care of in advance jewelry or things on their last journey.
How can I arrange a farewell?
Farewell to the deceased in the halls of the crematorium can be organized according to your desire.
This may be a religious ritual with the participation of a visiting priest.
Any ritual must take place within the allotted time for renting the hall - 45 minutes.
In order for everything to pass with reverence and without fuss, we advise you to stop by the church on the way to the crematorium.
If you need to invite religious leader, then the funeral director will help with this.
How long after the farewell does the actual cremation take place?
Cremation takes place on the day of farewell, usually after a few hours.
In some cases, a relative or close person may be present at the cremation, as required by some religions.
This requires a separate agreement.
What happens to the coffin after saying goodbye?
Crematorium staff carry the coffin from the farewell hall to the preliminary preparation room. The plate with the data of the deceased is checked against the documents and attached to the furnace.
The tablet remains on the stove during the cremation process and until the ashes of the deceased are removed from it.
According to the cremation code, the coffin is not opened during its movements around the crematorium. You do not have to worry about the safety of the things that you put on the last journey of the deceased.
How does the cremation process take place?
The coffin is placed in a crematorium. The temperature in it remains very high throughout the process. Cremation time is about 90 minutes.
After that, the remaining small bone fragments are removed from the furnace. They are placed in a special machine and ground to the consistency of ashes.
Then all the ashes are placed in a sealed package and sealed in an urn.
A plaque with the data of the deceased is attached to the urn.
How can I be sure that the ashes of my loved one will not mix with others?
The crematorium is designed for only one coffin at a time. After the cremation process is completed, the ashes are removed and placed in an insulated chamber for cooling. After the ashes are removed and placed in an individual sealed package.
The cremation code does not allow the ashes of several people to be in the same room at all stages of the process.
Where can you bury an urn with ashes?
An urn with ashes may be buried in a family grave in a regular cemetery. At the same time, up to 6 urns with ashes are placed on one site, which is a cost-effective solution.
Also, the urn can be buried in a special rack with cells - a columbarium.
Columbaria are open and closed type. In the first case, the urn is in an open cell and is visible to all visitors.
In a closed columbarium, the urn is sealed in a cell with a stone or metal lid engraved with the data of the deceased.
In Russia, following the Western example, scattering of ashes is gaining popularity. loved one over his favorite spot. It can be a seashore, mountains or a park. Please note that in this case you will need permission from the landowner.
Can I bury an urn in the crematorium?
In the crematorium of St. Petersburg, it is possible to bury the ashes of the deceased.
Columbar walls, urn plots in the cemetery, family plots are available.
Please note that family graves are not buried during winter. You can store the urn in the crematorium and bury it in the ground with the onset of spring.
The ashes of more than one person can be placed in the cell of the columbar wall. At the same time, a velvet bag is used for the ashes, since the urns do not physically fit into the cells.
Let your funeral director know about your desire to bury the ashes of the deceased in the territory of the crematorium, and he will arrange this for you.
Is it possible to transport the urn with ashes to another region/country?
To transport the urn, you will need a certificate of cremation, permission from the sanitary and epidemiological station for the transportation of ashes, and permission from the organization whose services you will use (Russian Railways, airline, bus depot).
In the case of transportation of the urn to another country, you will need to declare it at customs.
Before making a decision on transportation, be sure to contact the carrier company in advance. This will help you plan your trip in case one of the transportation options is not available.
You can contact the funeral director, and he will help you with the issue of transportation.
How do I let you know that I want to be cremated?
First of all, inform your relatives, relatives or the person who will be in charge of your funeral about your decision. You can also write a will and have it notarized. It will be read only after your death and must be performed. The will is yours last will. If it is certified, then it has legal force.
You can also plan your funeral in advance by contacting the selected funeral service. The funeral director will help you plan everything.
This option is often used by elderly or seriously ill people in order to relieve their loved ones of the heavy burden of organizing a funeral.
Where is the crematorium located?
Crematorium for residents of St. Petersburg and Leningrad region is located at Shafirovsky prospect, 12.
Public transport: city bus number 138 from the metro station "Ploshad Muzhestva" to the final stop "Krematorium".
Every 10 minutes, the drivers of the Minsk crematorium are required to open the valve in the furnace and stir the ashes of the deceased. They do it with an absolutely deadpan air, 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 one's head during work.
(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 graveyard 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 dead went through cremation.
1. The Minsk crematorium was opened in 1986 near the Northern cemetery.
2. Unfilled cells in the columbarium - reservation. Relatives are worried in advance about being “close” after death.
The deputy head of the crematorium, Alexander Dubovsky, explains the increased demand by the fact that, compared with a cemetery grave, the columbarium cell does not need 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.
3. Ritual hall
4. Those who, by misfortune, happened to be in the crematorium, know only his outer side- ritual halls (there are three of them) and a store with the appropriate assortment (flowers, urns, tombstones, etc.). The cremation shop and other utility rooms are located on the level below, and outsiders are not allowed to enter here.
5. Long and dark corridors, along which coffins with the dead are transported on a cart, are connected to the ritual hall through a lifting mechanism.
6. With his help, the coffin is raised to say goodbye to relatives.
Machinists of ritual equipment - 5 people for the whole republic
Despite the specifics of the work, life is also “boiling” below. Work in the cremation shop strong-willed people - with a hardened psyche and a healthy outlook on things. In official documents, they are called “machinists of ritual equipment” - they are representatives of a rare profession in our country, if not piecework.
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 wary of the workers of the cremation shop, calling them "barbecue people". However, contrary to popular belief, there is no smell of either burnt or fried here. Cadaverous smell occurs occasionally - most often when a person dies at a respectable age and begins to decompose very quickly. On the day of our visit unpleasant odors we didn't notice.
The work experience of local "stove-makers" is impressive. Both Andreis, one with a mustache, the other without, have been working in the crematorium for more than 20 years. They came, as they say, young, strong, slender guys. Of course, with the expectation of working here temporarily. And then they "worked in", and now - already half a life has passed within the walls of the crematorium. Men talk about it without a shadow of regret. They seem to be quite content with their position indeed. Face to face with the dead, they say, they do not intersect (deceased 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 in a column", today the work of the machinist is dust-free
The cremation process today is truly automated. The workshop has four fairly modern Czech ovens. In one of them, postoperative oncological waste is burned, and the rest are used for their intended purpose. According to Alexander Dubovsky, with the old equipment, “there was a column of smoke here.” Now the work of the driver 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 often come across the opinion that, allegedly, before burning, they take gold, watches from the coffin, and also take off good clothes and shoes from the deceased. “Will you put on the clothes of the deceased?” - Andrey asks a question in the forehead, who is clearly fed up with such conversations. And without opening the lid of the coffin, the machinist quickly loads it onto the lift.
8. Now you need to wait until the computer gives a "green light", and only after that you can send the dead person 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. To do this, there is a small glass hole in the furnace, which the faint of heart is 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 one day. The living should be feared, not the dead."
“If Ivanov came, then they will give Ivanov’s ashes”
The main thing, men say, is to do your job well. 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, then they would give Ivanov's ashes." For each deceased, something like a passport is made: the name, age, date of death and time of cremation are indicated on paper. Any movement of the coffin or ashes is possible only with this document.
10. After the end of the cremation, the data is recorded in a special journal.
11. “It all depends on the driver, how carefully he rakes out the remains,” Andrey continues the story. “Look how the deceased is being raked out. There are only bones, the whole organic part burns. And then the ashes go to the cremulator, where the remains of calcium-bones are ground in a ball mill. And that's what's left of a man."
13. Ashes ground in a cremator
Andrei shows us a container with fine powder. If you do not try to turn events back and do not imagine what this person was like in life, you can safely work. The machinist pours the ashes into a special bag and attaches a "passport" to it. Then the "powder" goes to the room for the issuance of ashes, where the organizers will pack it in an urn and give it to the customer. Or they won’t give it to the customer, because he simply won’t come for him. Although this is a rare occurrence, it happens regularly. The urns can wait months for their relatives until the crematorium workers start looking for those who ordered the cremation and somehow miraculously forgot about her.
“The only thing hard to get used to is baby cremations”
14. Every day, about 10-18 people are cremated in this workshop - from different destinies And life stories. Average age The dead, the machinists say, are about 60 years old. Usually, they try not to go into the causes of their death here. But when it comes to children, even the harsh "stove-makers" change their faces. And the worst thing, according to men, is when they bring a child from a year and older. Fortunately, there are few such cases.
15. Rest room for tough men
- I remember, I was raking a little one, and among the ashes there was an iron typewriter (it didn’t burn down. - TUT.BY). So I dreamed about her for a long time. Racing like this. You get up at night, throw off the sweat, go to the toilet and think, how could this be a dream? The only thing that is difficult to get used to is children's cremations. The first child who was cremated was a girl, she was a year old. Well, there is a newborn, and when he has lived ... And you also see how the parents are crying ...
Money doesn't smell
Children are the only reason for stingy male sympathy. 22-year-old Alexander Kanonchik tries to think dryly: “People are born, people die. What's wrong with that? When he first started working in the crematorium, he was warned that they often come here for 2 weeks, and then they can’t stand it - they leave.
16. In this case, a very clear distinction between “work and home” is necessary, otherwise even an “above average” salary will not be able to reassure. Operators of ritual equipment dirty earn about 7.5-8 million per month (approximately 27,700-29,700 rubles). “Money doesn’t smell,” Andrei, the driver, who showed us the cremation procedure, hurries to remind. Men are proud that lately the dead have been brought to them even from Russia. The rumor spread that they "everything is fair."
17. Saying goodbye to the crematorium
"Goodbye" - throw a short phrase crematorium workers. “We hope that we will meet with you very soon,” we answer, and we are happy to leave this curious, but sad place.
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They are based on the words of an early Christian church writer that he does not see any harm in burning, but, as before, they are accustomed to burying corpses in the ground. But Orthodox clergy say that when choosing cremation or burial, you should choose the option of keeping the body in a coffin.
Answer christian church to the question why it is impossible to cremate is that cremation will not give the relatives of the deceased the opportunity to comfort and pray. Although this is also controversial issue. It all depends on the need for this procedure. The Church does not deny this process and does not forbid it, it simply tolerates such a manifestation.
Why Orthodox Christians are not cremated
Such a question is wrong. The Church does not forbid burning the body of a deceased person. For example, the Russian Orthodox Church disapproves of cremation, but nevertheless does not prohibit priests from holding all services for the dead before burning.
The Bible says what should be read, but nothing is specifically indicated on how to carry out the burial of the body of the deceased. Often in sacred writings it was said about the burial of bodies in caves or in the ground. And the phrase “he came out of dust and will turn to dust” is not about the method of burial, but about what the body turns into after death.
Different attitudes towards cremation are primarily due to a different understanding of the purpose human body or death. This can cause fear that in this way we can cause pain or disrespect for the body of the deceased.
Burial after funeral
When asked if it is possible to cremate Orthodox Christian after the funeral, you can answer positively. The Church allows all ceremonies to be performed after death before the burning of the body. That is why you can not think about the fact that the Orthodox funeral rites will not be held.
Regarding the method of burial, there are at least two different interpretations:
- Some consider the burning of the body as a belief in the world of heaven, where the soul moves with the help of fire instead of being buried in the earth.
- The second say that the burial dead body into the ground has to do with pagan rites. Thus, Christians who come to the graves to honor the memory of the dead are also taken from paganism.
Which method of burial to choose depends on the wishes of the deceased or his relatives. But it must be remembered that the most important thing will be the memory that you will keep in your heart about them.
The Lord is always with you!
