According to the ministers of the church, the cremation of a person is a blasphemous act and objectionable to God. With the coming to power, as a result of the revolution, the Bolsheviks, the situation began to change.
This method of burial, from the point of view of the new ideology, was correct and most preferable. After death, all living were equalized. In the early thirties, a tender was announced for the development of the country's first crematorium. The slogan of this project was the statement: "the crematorium is the chair of godlessness."
fire burial
The first Europeans who practiced the burning of the dead were representatives of the Etruscan tribes. Further, the tradition was adopted by the ancient Greeks and Romans. After the widespread adoption of Christianity, the tradition was gradually banned.
In conditions of overpopulation, in medieval Europe there was an acute problem of lack of places for burial. Often, poor people had to be buried in common graves, which could remain unburied for several days. This led to the spread of diseases. In Paris, the remains of people from many cemeteries were transferred to the catacombs under the city. As a result, whole galleries of bones were formed.
With the advent of a terrible scourge in Europe - the black death - the plague, the practice of burning at the stake was again restored. But this was not enough to stop the spread of the disease.
The modern cremation oven was invented by a German engineer in 1874. The device had a regenerative chamber in which combustion took place. The working process took place under the action of a stream of hot air. A little later, the first crematorium was built in Milan. In the modern world, there are more than 14 thousand stationary cameras of this type. There are also mobile devices.
The first crematorium in Russia was opened in the thirties, on Vasilyevsky Island in a bathhouse, in St. Petersburg. Although the establishment operated for less than two years, 379 bodies were cremated there. The crematorium stopped its activity due to the lack of solid fuel.
Later, the practice of burning the dead spread throughout the country. "The Last Fiery Path" became commonplace.
Unusual experiment
In the post-perestroika years. psychic practices began to spread widely in Russia. Many psychics conducted unusual experiments aimed at studying anomalous phenomena and the other world.
In 1996, during working hours, a rather strange program was shown on local television in St. Petersburg. A unique experiment related to cremation was shown.
An electroencephalograph, a device for studying brain activity, was used to track the post-mortem activity of the deceased. In the case of a living person, the device is able to diagnose various diseases and conditions of the brain.
Connected to the head of the deceased, by means of electrodes, the device, of course, did not give any signals. At the time of the research, it was already the fourth day after death. The coffin with the body was placed on the conveyor, the graphic device showed a straight line.
Gradually, as the coffin approached the combustion chamber, the recorder began to draw at first weak, and later, teeth with a high amplitude. The surprise and horror of scientists knew no bounds. The brain of the deceased, in the face of the flame, again began to show signs of life.
The transcript of the recording showed that the given signals corresponded to the state of strong fear. From everything that happened, it appeared that, for some reason, the deceased was afraid of cremation. There were no comments on what happened. After the broadcast, the television project was quickly curtailed, and the topic was forgotten.
Due to the lack of an official statement, the version seems to be the most plausible. After death, the cells of the body retain their functions for some time. Thanks to this, transplantation of organs and limbs is possible. In the face of danger, the last reserve of forces in the cells is activated, which was recorded by the device.
Signs over the pipes of the crematorium
There is a lot of evidence of manifestations of otherworldly forces near the crematoria. Hospital Doctor. Mechnikov Nikolai S. told a story from his practice. Occupation and life-material position of the physician give grounds to trust his story.
According to the doctor, what he managed to see on the February evening on the way home, after a day of work, defies logical explanation. It gets dark early in winter, and that was the case this evening. The tired worker got into his bus at the bus stop and fell asleep in the warmth. Waking up at the final stop, awakened by the conductor, he realized that he had boarded the wrong bus. As it turned out, the doctor came to the crematorium.
There was a distinct unpleasant smell in the air, indicating what was happening in the crematorium at the moment. While waiting for the return flight, Nikolai, with the cynicism of a doctor, began to count how many times smoke would come out of the chimney - how many of the dead would be burned. When another cloud appeared from the pipe, the doctor was shocked. In the air, not far from the chimney of the crematorium, hung the distinct silhouette of a man.
Intrigued, Nikolai missed his bus while waiting for the next cremation. As expected, he was once again able to see the outline of a human figure. Apparently, the process accelerated further, and several outlines of the dead had already formed in the air. What happened next sent the battered doctor into a stupor. A huge cloud appeared from the pipe, which systematically swallowed up all the silhouettes.
Why burn the dead
In many legends of the peoples of the world, it is customary to burn the bodies of villains and let the ashes go to the wind. It is believed that in this way all the negative energy accumulated by the criminal during his life is destroyed. It could be assumed that burning opens a direct path to paradise. But, there is no guarantee that in the process of cremation, all the useful experience accumulated over a lifetime will not suffer.
In Buddhist belief, burning cleanses the body of all sins. The soul is reborn without the baggage of a past life, starting all over again.
Orthodoxy has a different point of view. It is believed that man was created from the matter of the earth. After death, he must return not only his physical shell to the earth, but the experience and energy accumulated during his lifetime. At the same time, preventing this process by embalming or cremation falls as a sin on the person who did this and his relatives.
There is no scientific confirmation of these hypotheses yet. Therefore, the decision how to go on the last journey lies entirely on the shoulders of each person.
The first cremation oven in Russia was built in Petrograd, on Vasilyevsky Island, in 1920. The stove worked for only two months and was stopped for technical reasons and for lack of fuel - firewood. From December 1920 to February 1921, only 379 corpses were burned. A crematorium began operating in Moscow in 1927 near the former Donskoy Monastery. In 1973, a crematorium was also built in Leningrad. In the 70s, about 10 corpses were burned here daily. In the 90s, up to 50 dead passed through the cremators every day. Today, 100-120 dead people are burned in cremation ovens per day.
The deceased enter the crematorium from the morgues of the city, usually ready-made - dressed, shod, combed, powdered ... The deceased is placed in a coffin made of coniferous wood, covered with red cloth. Then the coffin with the body of the deceased is placed in the mourning hall for funeral rites. Classical music sounds in the hall, relatives say goodbye to the deceased for 30 minutes. If this time is not enough, then for an additional fee you can take the hall for 45 minutes, an hour, and a half ... After parting, the coffin is covered with a lid and, by pressing a button, is moved along the escalator to the basement, where the cremation ovens are located.
On average, every tenth deceased has gold teeth. Before burning the deceased, gold crowns are pulled out with pliers. Some relatives (approximately 50%) take gold teeth with them and sell them to jewelers or dental technicians. Other relatives often refuse such an inheritance due to squeamishness. In this case, the crematorium workers draw up a special act in which they indicate the number of gold teeth and their weight. Once a year, the gold accumulated in this way (approximately one kilogram is collected) is sent to Moscow to the gold depository for examination. The gold depository evaluates the yellow metal, and its value is transferred to the bank account of the crematorium.
After the "dental intervention", the coffin is again closed with a lid and put in line for the oven. Initially, English stoves were installed, which worked for 10 years. Then they were replaced by Czechoslovak ones - they served for another 10 years. In 1994, 13 Russian-made furnaces were installed - the Aprelevka Pilot Plant for Thermal Insulation Products. But domestic experience was unsuccessful. The stoves were made without any automation, often failed, and the entire process of burning the body of the deceased took place manually: from setting fire to the coffin with a rag to complete combustion of the corpse.
Recently, the St. Petersburg state unitary enterprise "Ritualnye uslugi" put into operation four new Czech-made cremation ovens. Investments in this project amounted to 20.8 million rubles. The entire cremation process is automated. All ovens run on natural gas. Information about the weight of the coffin with the body is sent from the trolley to the computer, one of the three necessary cremation programs is selected with the mouse, and then the "OK" key is pressed. The coffin is guided into the furnace by means of hydraulic trolleys. Burning takes place at a temperature of 850 degrees and lasts from 40 minutes to an hour and a half.
In Tsarskoye Selo in 1917, a crowd of revolutionaries dug up the coffin with the body of Grigory Rasputin, as you know, and dragged it to be burned on the Vyborg side - to the place where the mansion of a friend and colleague of the "old man" Tibetan clergyman Badmaev had previously been burned. According to eyewitnesses, when the boards of the black glazed coffin were burned, Rasputin's body began to stir. He got up, waved his arms, tried to get out of the fire, but drowned in the flames.
In the St. Petersburg crematorium, it has not yet been observed that someone tried to get up, gave signs that "this" should not be done, and asked to turn off the stove. We only saw how some of the dead, lying on their chests, straighten their arms.
So-called cremation oven operators work directly at the ovens. Men are 25-30 years old, do not drink, most do not smoke. Basically, they are former athletes, which means that they are strong-willed, weak-nerved, and do not adapt to such work. There are no educational institutions for working in crematoria. Personnel are found on the recommendations of employees working here. Usually they take people who have the specialty of the operator of a gas-using installation. Additional training takes place on site in the crematorium. The furnaces are served by 16 people, they work two days after two from 8.00 to 20.00. The only day off in the crematorium is the New Year. Work in the crematorium is not considered harmful, but nevertheless they are given milk, 6 days are added to their vacation, the salary is 8800 rubles. If an employee of the crematorium dies, then his corpse is burned for free. For 50 percent of the cost, deceased close relatives of the crematorium employees are cremated.
After the cremation of the corpse, the furnace is turned off and switched to the cooling mode. Then the furnace is opened and the ashes are raked into a metal container, or, in other words, an ash pan. Nails and latches from the coffin are removed from it with a magnet.
The ashes weigh an average of three to three and a half kilograms. One person remarked very interestingly when they gave him an urn with ashes. He said, "That's how it works. When we come into this world and when we leave, we weigh exactly the same."
Urns cost from 100 to 1000 rubles. The cheapest ones are made of hardboard, the expensive ones are made of ceramics or granite. 60-70% of the ashes are poured into the urn, it is hermetically sealed, the last name, first name and patronymic of the deceased and the dates of birth and death are written on it.
Around the crematorium there is a columbarium (Latin columbarium, the original meaning is dovecote, from columba - dove) - a repository of urns with ashes after cremation. The St. Petersburg columbarium is a concrete slab with cells (niches) of 4 floors. An urn is placed in the niche of the columbarium and the cell is covered with a slab, on which the surname, name and patronymic of the deceased and the dates of birth and death are also inscribed. Often a photo of the deceased is installed. The urn with the ashes is in a columbarium above the ground, and it turns out that this violates the Christian custom that the ashes should be buried in the ground.
But there is one "but". Columbariums were made in Soviet times, and, perhaps, for reasons of saving cement and other building materials, the cells for urns are made very small, all the ashes cannot fit into these niches, so they pour as much ashes into the urn as it fits in the cell. The remains of the ashes, under the cover of secrecy, are dumped into a large common pit and then covered with earth. And in this case, no matter how partially the Christian custom is violated: 30-40% of the ashes of the deceased are interred, albeit in a mass grave interspersed and "embracing" with other ashes.
There is a cemetery at the crematorium, where, by paying an additional 2,500 rubles, you can bury an urn and erect a monument.
In cases where the deceased have no relatives or relatives are no better than the deceased - they do not pay money for the funeral, they fall into the category of the rootless. There were about 2,500 such dead last year. They were buried by the state, if, of course, it can be called a funeral. The naked body of the deceased is placed in a plastic bag and cremated without any funeral ceremonies. On the territory of the crematorium there is a so-called Field of Memory with the size of a football field. On it they scatter the ashes of the homeless.
In just 29 years of operation of the St. Petersburg crematorium, about one million corpses were burned here. There are very few great, famous, recognizable people. In the city on the Neva, about 65,000 people die a year. Of these, an average of 60 percent is burned. Cremation costs 3-4.5 thousand rubles, while burial in a cemetery costs 15-30 thousand rubles. "When you die, would you like your body to be buried or cremated?" - the correspondent of "NG" asked the acting director. director of the St. Petersburg crematorium Evgeny Kulinichev. "You know, I haven't thought about it yet," came the reply.
A report about one of the most unpleasant professions. 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." Journalists personally observed the cremation process and found out why it is not customary to sprinkle ashes on one's head during work.
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.
Unfilled cells in the columbarium - reservation. Relatives worry 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.
Those who, by misfortune, happened to be in the crematorium, know only its 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. Long and dark corridors, along which coffins with the dead are carried on a cart, are connected with the ritual hall.
Machinists of ritual equipment - 5 people for the whole republic
Despite the specifics of the work, life is also "boiling" below. Strong-minded people work in the cremation shop - with a tempered 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.
In the only one 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, we did not notice any unpleasant odors.
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, "the smoke was coming in a column", today the work of the driver is dustless
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.
Now you need to wait until the computer gives the "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. "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. You should be afraid of the living, 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.
After the end of the cremation, the data is recorded in a special journal. “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 organic part is all burned. And then the ashes go to the cremulator room, where the remains of calcium-bones are ground in a ball mill. And this is what remains of a person."
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" enters 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 for months for their relatives until the crematorium workers start looking for those who ordered the cremation and in some amazing way forgot about it.
"The only thing hard to get used to is baby cremations"
Every day, about 10-18 people are cremated in this shop - with different destinies and life stories. The average age of the dead, the machinists say, is about 60 years. 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.
Rest room for tough men
I remember raking the little one, and there was an iron machine among the ashes. 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. Alexander Kanonchik, 22, 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.
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 a month. "Money doesn't smell," Andrey, the driver, who showed us the cremation procedure, hurries to remind us. Men are proud that lately the dead have been brought to them even from Russia. The rumor spread that they "everything is fair."
"Goodbye," the crematorium workers say shortly. "We hope that we will meet with you very soon," we answer and gladly leave this curious, but sad place.
That's all I wanted to say. I agree with the last sentence.
Natalia Kravchuk
Natalia Kravchuk
How this place shrouded in myths actually functions is told and shown by the employees of the crematorium at the Baikove cemetery in the capital.
The gloomy and unusual building of the Kyiv crematorium - giant white concrete hemispheres - stands on a hill on the territory of the famous Baikovo cemetery, the oldest and most prestigious in the country. It is always crowded here, at times the processions go one by one, conveyor. We asked for a kind of excursion here to see how this mythical place functions. And they showed us the whole process - from the registration of the cremation procedure to the moment the ashes were handed over to relatives.
The head of the cremation shop, a calm, pleasant man of about 50, agrees to conduct a "tour" around the crematorium. He is sociable and willingly answers all questions, but immediately voices his demands: not to indicate his name, surname and not to photograph him personally. Almost all employees of the KP Kyiv Crematorium will behave in the same way, and there are a little more than a hundred of them here. Not everyone here is ready to tell where they work and what they do. It is understandable: the work is not easy in every sense.
First of all, we are taken to the administrative building, where the cremation procedure is completed. Relatives come here to agree on dates, agree on conditions and pay for the service. The price list is available on the crematorium website. The total price tag here is a little more than 4 thousand UAH. Of these, the cremation procedure itself costs 445 UAH, the rest of the expenses include renting a hearse, providing a ritual hall, buying an urn, a funeral service, an orchestra, and applying text to the urn. All this varies in price. The most expensive urn, for example, costs about UAH 1.5 thousand, the cheapest - UAH 525.
More than 12,000 cremations are now taking place every year, and this number is increasing. This is more than it used to be: before it barely reached 10 thousand, - says our escort. He links it to two things. First, he says, more and more people during their lifetime choose this option for their own burial, considering it more environmentally friendly. And secondly, cemeteries are simply overcrowded in the capital.
On average, more than a thousand cremations take place here per month, but it all depends on the time of year: people die more often in summer, because chronic diseases worsen and the heart cannot withstand the heat.
There are several farewell halls in the crematorium at once: two small ones right there, in the administrative building, and two large ones a little further away, in that very famous building in the form of concrete hemispheres. First we go into the small ones - now they are just empty.
One room is considered normal, and the second one is ours as a VIP room. It is not so hot in summer and not so cold in winter, there are heaters. Previously, there was a small urn storage here, but now it has been reconstructed into a hall, - says the escort.
The VIP-hall is also distinguished by the fact that it organizes farewell procedures for representatives of different faiths. The walls here are almost bare, and all elements like crucifixes and icons can be easily dismantled if necessary.
VIP room
And in the first and second halls, unlike the other two in the next building, there are no elevators - after parting, the coffin is taken away manually. The second hall is decorated with a colorful blue bas-relief - a unique monument of Soviet architecture. It was created in 1975, when the building of the crematorium itself was being built. Its authors are artists Ada Rybachuk and Vladimir Melnichenko - 13 For years, we have been working on another mega-project, which was supposed to grow near the unusual shape of the crematorium building - the Wall of Memory, 213 m long, 4 to 14 m high. Elements of a huge high relief, Walls, should have been painted in bright glaze, reflected in the water of the lake and symbolized Love, Motherhood, Spring, Creativity and other joys of life. But when the construction took 13 years and the Wall had only to be painted, the incredible happened: in 1981, city officials suddenly considered the building "alien to the principles of socialist realism." Either there were too few Soviet symbols on the Wall, or one of the functionaries was afraid of responsibility for a too free-thinking approach to the interpretation of the afterlife, but the epic structure was ordered to be destroyed. It took three months and 300 KAMAZ trucks of concrete. They filled them with Spring, Love and others like them, the same workers who helped the artists cast them.
The Wall of Remembrance was originally conceived as an element that should distract the attention of the mourners. Looking at pictures from famous myths embodied in concrete, people could reflect on life and being or remember deceased relatives. Now none of the active workers of the crematorium even remembers what the drawings on the Wall looked like. Now it looks like a concrete rampart overgrown with ivy.
All that's left of the Memory Wall
While we are talking about all this, I notice how a young priest is looking at us from the backyard.
This is Father Vladimir, he is the only one who is constantly involved here. There is his parish, - our escort points to a small wooden temple on a hill.
All other priests come to the ceremonies from different churches.
While we are climbing the columbarium to the hill, to the large halls, our "guide" says that people often come to the Wall and the crematorium to take pictures.
Sometimes the Goths come too, they walk here at night. Homeless people sometimes come in and steal everything that can be sold or sold later, metal structures, for example, - he says.
Near the big halls - crowded. Here and there scattered groups of relatives and hearses - mostly black Mercedes. In one of them, in the front seat, a woman under 50 with a pocket mirror in her hand paints her lips. There is a badge on her chest that reveals that she is an employee of the ritual service. And in the first, and in the second halls there is a farewell. We look into the largest one, a young guy is being buried there. On the back wall of the hall there is a panel of artificial flowers.
Once they buried a young woman, it seems that she was the director of a travel agency, - our interlocutor recalls. - It seems that she died in Turkey, or something. So they overlaid all the panels at their own expense with fresh flowers.
When the priest finishes the memorial service, the trumpeter gets down to business, playing a sad tune. He is also a full-time employee of the crematorium, but at the request of relatives, musicians with an orchestra from other companies can also be invited. When he finishes playing, the coffin is covered with a lid and lowered by an elevator down. Relatives split up. A local funeral worker, a lively black-haired woman in a blue down jacket, takes a portrait, collects everything that relatives have brought, and quickly exchanges it for a new one. Instead of a portrait of a guy, a photograph of an elderly woman appears.
Let's! - orders the ritualist somewhere in the distance. A man in black with a bandage on his sleeve, on command, unloads the next coffin from the hearse, he is brought onto the stage and proceed to a new farewell. This coffin is not even opened, everything goes faster. Several bouquets and a loaf of black bread are placed on the lid.
We go outside. The territory near the halls is paved with paving stones. Our guide tells us that this is also the idea of the architect Miletsky.
It was so conceived that the people who walk in the procession looked under their feet, and did not yawn, - the man explains.
Through the rows of the columbarium we go to the next point - the cremation shop. Where the coffins end up after saying goodbye. Everything is arranged like this: a 75 m long tunnel runs underground, through which the coffins are transported on a special electric car. Rather, this is what our interlocutor calls it, but later we will see that this type of transport resembles rather a large cart.
While we are going to the krem shop, the guide talks about the columbarium. There are currently 16 lots here. There are new ones and old ones - in the hill and in the ground around. The ones in the ground are like family vaults. It holds four urns. It can be seen that there is an empty space left on some tombstones, which means that they will still be buried here. Here you can also see a new site with empty cells for bins.
There are very few places left. Very, very, - the man sighs thoughtfully. - For a couple of years and all. Now in the spring they will go, they will go, and that's all they will take. In winter, rarely anyone buries - cold, frost.
On top of the hill - a separate area for "mass graves". Urns are buried here once a year, for which no one came. I walk along the site and see square concrete signs with names on them. Above is the year of death. The oldest are dated 2003. It happens that relatives come for the urn even after a few years. Then she is found in common graves by last name and confiscated.
We are approaching the cremation shop. Two dogs barking at us. The man hurries to assure that they are attached. Under the feet of one of them, a small black pot-bellied puppy gets confused. He tries to copy an adult and also barks, but he does it funny.
Look, he survived, - our escort nods at him. - Somebody put it up.
He hides for a couple of seconds behind the heavy metal gates in the workshop to warn the workers that the journalists have come, then leads us inside. There is nothing here but a long concrete tunnel - the same one that leads to large halls, metal racks for coffins and furnaces. Furnaces - there are eight of them, that is, four blocks of two furnaces each - were purchased during the construction of the crematorium.
There's a refrigerator over there, but it hasn't been working for a long time, - the man nods at the ajar green doors with the corresponding inscription. - And what to do if even in morgues they have not been working in some for a long time. But there is also a working refrigerator. True, in the administrative corps.
The workers of the shop come to us. A bell is heard somewhere in the tunnel: this is a signal that it is time to go to pick up another coffin from the hall. One of the men, Dimitri, jumps onto the platform of his vehicle and hides in the tunnel. I walk a little forward and see that there is a bowl of water and an empty plate near the wall.
Cats live here, our guide explains. - There are so many mice and rats - the tunnel is underground.
A few minutes later Dmitry appears, carrying two coffins in front of him at once. Apparently, these are the dead, the farewell to which we observed upstairs. Near one of them is a loaf of bread. The lids just lie on top, not screwed or nailed in any way, slightly beveled a couple of centimeters to the side. Dmitry takes a special metal hook, hooks the coffin under the lid and pulls it onto a cart. Then he shifts to the stage near the wall - to wait, because the furnaces are still busy.
On the lid of the coffin is a piece of paper with the data of the deceased. Inside is a metal token engraved with an individual number assigned to this deceased. When the remains are removed from the furnace, the token will be in them as proof of identity for identification.
We go around the ovens on the other side. Three men peek out from behind them - local workers. They also do not want to be called and photographed. The furnace has a round hole through which flames are visible. One of the workers opens the shutter so that we can see what's inside: flames and bones.
The burning process takes an hour and a half, depending on the size, they explain to us.
Sometimes they put everything in the coffin. Some boots or a bottle of moonshine. Moonshine is dangerous, it can explode, the men say.
I ask them where the rumors came from that here, in the crematorium, during the Maidan, the murdered protesters were burned. Our escort brushes aside, saying that after that scandal they were visited by the Prosecutor General's Office with a check, but nothing suspicious was found. The cremation shop, he explains, is equipped with meters that count gas consumption, and to understand whether there has been an overrun of fuel, you just need to double-check the figures.
Opposite the ovens there is a separate room in which the bones removed from the oven are crushed into dust on a special machine and given out in an urn. In the room - a table on which a table lamp is turned on, there is a journal with handwritten notes. The names of the dead are entered there - records are kept. Along the wall is a closet. On the glass is a black and red sticker of the Right Sector. Above the shelves is a wooden crucifix. On the floor there are iron cells, similar to covered scoops from shovels, in which there are bones that have not yet been ground, and the same metal buckets. On each - a piece of paper with data on the deceased, inside - the same metal token.
Sometimes they put everything in the coffin. Some boots, or a bottle of moonshine. Moonshine is dangerous, it can explode
There are two such granite balls inside - a local worker, a man in blue overalls, opens a round door in one of the cars. - These balls grind the bones into dust, before placing the bones there, I take such a large magnet and pull all the metal elements onto it. We put them in a special container.
He waves his hand in the direction of the container - there are melted nails from coffins, a watch strap and a metal denture frame are visible.
The ground ashes are placed in a bag, a token is placed on top, all this is put in an urn. Usually its capacity is about 2.8 kg. A metal token is also placed here, which was with the body of the deceased during cremation. So relatives will be able to make sure that they were given the one they need.
In addition to the cremation of human bodies, animals are sometimes cremated here: the owners can order such a procedure, for example, for their beloved dog. Also, the KP Kyiv Crematorium has a license for the cremation of biological waste, which, as a rule, is brought from medical institutions.
The room where the remains are ground to dust and poured into urns
Then we go to the urn storage, where they come to get an urn with ashes. At the entrance to the vault itself there is a window for issuing. The woman checks the document and gives out the ashes. There are also examples of tombstones, slabs and monuments that can be purchased for the burial of ashes.
We pass by the woman and get inside. There are dozens of racks with trash cans here. They are all of different shapes, they are made of stone, wood and even ceramics, the vast majority are black. Each rack is marked with an A4 sheet with a printed letter - the one that begins the name of the deceased. But they are scattered randomly, not alphabetically.
A woman walks between the rows with a piece of paper in her hands and looks for the right thing to take to the issue. A man helps her - in overalls, a cap and glasses. Represented by Alexander. From the photo does not refuse and even poses a little. He does his work methodically, it shows that he has been doing this business for a long time. He is looking for urns that will be needed for issuance and burial tomorrow. I ask him about the strange order of the letters on the shelves.
Yes, we have already got used to it for many years, - the man says. His position sounds like the head of the urn, but emphasizes that he is not in charge here - "there is still a woman above him." I'm trying to calculate the capacity of the urn, at least in approximate numbers. 12-13 urns are placed on one shelf of the rack, five shelves in the rack. It turns out about 70 bins per rack.
To find the right urn on the rack with the letter, you have to read each engraving: there is no photograph or any other marker.
When the relatives take the urn, they themselves decide what to do next: bury it here, in the columbarium, take it with them, take it to another city or country, or scatter the ashes where the deceased wished in his will.
Recently, a lot of different information has begun to appear in the press (especially in online publications) about how now in certain countries it is accepted bury the dead, who and how provides funeral services. Curious materials about the application of various technologies appear. I am always with I read these articles with interest in order to be, so to speak, aware of modern ritual affairs. It’s just that relatives, acquaintances and sometimes even strangers often turn to me with a request to consult them on a particular issue related to With funeral. So you have to match.
Just recently, a friend of one of the neighbors came (her father died) and asked me to tell you more about cremation. I asked how organize it and what to do after. How does the Christian church feel about the burning of the body. Along the way, for some reason, she asked about other alternative methods of burial. This is where my knowledge comes in handy.
How right bury urn With ashes, neededwhetherfunerals, memorials and fences
In general, now there are many different ways of burial. This is due to many reasons.
After all, the decision of the family of Valentina Ivanovna (this neighbor's friend) to cremate the deceased was dictated by understandable difficulties. She herself lives with her husband and children somewhere in the Primorsky Territory. In the city of childhood on the mainland” are selected extremely rarely: far and expensive. BUT how then take care of the grave? Well, so far two of her aunts are alive and on the move. But they are already old enough, they won't be able to drive soon. at the cemetery . And there will be no one else, except perhaps ritual services. Besides, she wants to dust father was buried in the place where she lives and can always come on the visit the grave So, the deceased must be transported. But transporting a body from central Russia all the way to Primorye is an extremely expensive business. But urn with ashes shipping is much cheaper and easier. However, disagreements arose in the family. Religious aunts stood up with their chests: in no case should you burn the body - it is a sin. And the younger generation, including grandchildren and husband, prove that there is no sin here, so how there is no direct prohibition of the Church. Which of them is right?
Traditions
I must say that cremation was practiced by mankind With time immemorial. This is how representatives of many pagan cultures and civilizations buried their dead. For example, the same the ancient Greeks and Romans burned their dead, and the ashes were placed in ceramic vessels and buried in the ground. Moreover, sometimes it was buried right in the house, under the main hearth, so that the spirits of the ancestors protected the housing and its inhabitants.And in Rome has a tradition of sometimes keeping a piece
ashes of fathers in urnsin the form of stone or ceramic busts that stood in a special home sanctuary. Our Slavic ancestors, before their Christianization, also arranged fiery funerals for the dead, and the ashes were placed in specially shaped pots. Then they were either buried in burial mounds or placed in wooden dominoes. on the tall poles. The Vikings, and the Celts, and many steppe peoples like the Huns or the same Mongols cremated the dead. All they were sure that the soul after the death of the body must be freed from the flesh by means of a purifying fire. Say, the wild views of the pagans? But the most complex religions - Hinduism and Buddhism - say the same thing. Their representatives also cremate the dead, thus releasing their souls. at will.
With modern monotheistic religions, the situation is more complicated:
- Christian faith States that the body is a vessel and a gift of God, which must be preserved even after death. Therefore, the burning of the deceased is undesirable for Christians, the Church does not approve of it. However, it does not prohibit, especially if there are some objective reasons for cremation. Moreover, Orthodoxy treats this method of burial with a fair amount of condemnation, while the Catholic and Protestant branches are more tolerant.
- Representatives of Judaism consider the ritual burning of the deceased sin. Many clergymen say that it is better to occasionally visit the distant graves of relatives than to cremate the bodies for transportation. dust . direct ban on the cremation among the Jews how would not, but this method of burial is not popular.
- Here is Islam completely excludes cremation how ungodly and very sinful act. The funeral rite of the faithful is described in detail in the Koran and hadiths, it cannot be violated, because in this case sin will fall on both relatives and the soul of the deceased himself.
In modern Western countries and both Americas, cremation of the dead is a very popular way of burial. Very environmentally friendly, economical and approved by the authorities. Many cemeteries they simply do not provide sites for traditional burial in coffins - only for urn with ashes . For such a grave, less space is needed, and from the point of view of sannorm, it is much more preferable.In Russia, cremation is also gaining popularity.
,
especially in big cities. There Ashes can be buried in urns ordinary churchyards, or you can get a plot (even a family one) at the cemetery columbarium at the crematorium.
Permissivethe documents
on the Cremation is easy to assemble. Their kit should include: passport of the recipient of the service, stamped death certificate, order invoice on the funeral services and accessories. To obtain dust for a funeral (usually this can be done on the the other day after the cremation), special papers will also be needed. Namely: certificate of cremation; accompanying card with registration number ( indicating the date, time, place and name of the deceased); a receipt for paid services of a cemetery or columbarium or a statement about the burial of the urn in another place.
Usually, relatives are given an already issued 
urn - with surname, name, patronymic of the deceased and thus the registration number, which is indicated and on the card. Thus, any confusion should be practically excluded. Issuing dust usually in a ceremonial setting. On the this ceremony, in addition to relatives, other people can come - friends, neighbors, colleagues. But usually the case is limited to the family, so how the rest had already seen off the deceased during the memorial service. Everything is organized in a special funeral hall, where music is played, and urn installed on pedestal decorated with flowers.
A little abouturns.They are different, including the price. Simple standard ones (of all shapes and colors) are made of plastic. They are inexpensive - from 600 rubles to one and a half thousand. But many people want to buy something more interesting. They are offered a variety of options made of wood, porcelain, metal alloys, enamelled, stone, ceramic, etc. These models stand already more expensive - from 4 thousand and above - up to several hundred thousand rubles (if, for example, they are gilded or handmade). The upper price bar depends on the high cost of the material and the complexity of the design of the vessel. In any case, the so-called capsule (sealed plastic bag) with the ashes is placed in the urn.
Most burial traditions at cremation
remain unchanged. For example, the same farewell to the dead occurs in the usual way. A memorial service is most often organized right in the mourning room at the mortuary or crematorium - depending on where it is more convenient. These are mostly civil ceremonies, so how the funeral service is preferable after all in the temple. But sometimes it, in a shortened version, is organized in the same funeral hall. Usually there are no difficulties with the clergy. In the sense that they do not express their negative attitude towards the chosen method of burial. And even more so, no one will refuse to sing the funeral of the baptized deceased.
The very burial of the ashesusually occurs on the day it is issued(unless transportation to another place or some other method of storage is expected urns ). Most common after cremationdustburied more or less traditionally. Can choose place in the columbarium- open (these are also called "Walls of Sorrow") or closed.In our country if possible, they still prefer to bury in the ground on cemetery. Grave for urns done less than traditional. But sometimes relatives want to put dust also in an ordinary coffin (it happens!). In this case, the grave, of course, needs a traditional one. By the way, Valentina Ivanovna asked me if I could whether she will put somewhere consecrated ground. I consulted with the priest about this, and he said that it was possible. If they are buried in a coffin - then in it, and if not, then - then in itself urn.
By the way, sometimes
dustthe deceased is buried not in one, but in two (or more!) Places. This is quite possible during cremation, although does not conform to the canons of most religions. I have heard more than one story on this subject from quite reliable sources. For example, a friend of my cousin died a couple of years ago. The sister of the deceased lived in the United States for a long time, she got married there. She insisted on the cremation just because wanted part dust take with you to Cincinnati and there bury . And some acquaintances buried a piece of the cremated remains of their deceased son at home on the dacha near Moscow, where they lived almost constantly. The rest of the boy's ashes rest on one of cemeteries in the family grave.
Wake after cremation
no different from those who spend after traditional funerals. After all, the meaning remains the same: the farewell of the soul, a tribute to memory, the unity of people in the days of sorrow. Therefore, relatives and friends sit down at the memorial tables on the day of farewell to the deceased (this is usually the 3rd day after his death), and then on the 9th, 40th and on the years. By the way, now some crematoria offer a convenient service: the organization of a memorial meal in a cafe at their ritual complex.
Howdecorate the grave with an urn
Whether there is a fundamental difference compared to conventional burial, depends on the rules and cemeteries. If it is ordinary and does not provide for special areas for urns , then the territory is allocated the same as for everyone. And you can also arrange it in the usual way: make a fence, put up a large monument, set up a flower garden, etc. Butin special urn areas or in cemeteriescolumbariums often have special standards. The allocated territories themselves are smaller, their fencing is usually not provided (or only a low plinth is allowed), and monuments and tombstones are allowed in a certain size, shape, and sometimes even colors. In general, standardization reigns in everything.
If the urnneed to be transported for burial to another city or even country, then it will be easier to organize it than the transportation of cargo-200. After all, packed in a capsule dust no longer dangerous from a sanitary point of view. It is carried in the same way as ordinary luggage, taking with it the death certificate of the deceased and a certificate of cremation issued by the crematorium. For transportation of urnsby train, plane and across the border you will also need a certificate of non-insertion of foreign objects into urn issued by the ritual service, and a certificate from the SES on non-obstruction of transportation and confirmation of the quality of soldering urns . For overseas travel you will need to take care of permission for burial in the desired country (it is issued at the consulate) and translate all documents in a foreign language.
Non-traditional burial methodsdust
almost uncommon for Russia. The maximum that relatives occasionally allow is scattering ashes in some beautiful place. Most often they choose the one that the deceased himself loved: the edge of the forest, the river, the sea, the meadow. It happens that this is done even in different places, in parts. Wealthy people even hire helicopters for such purposes in order to capture a larger area. In How many it costs them, I don't dare to guess.
Still abroad came into vogue anonymous burial dust. It is scattered over the so-called meadow of memory, which is a picturesque lawn created just for such purposes. These glades are now hosting many European cemeteries.
Recently, another trend has been strengthening:store bins at home. That is, in reality, for example, on the chest of drawers, mantelpiece or special pedestal. For this, they even order especially beautiful urns - with paintings, carvings, inlays. People carry such arks and vessels everywhere with them in case of moving. Apparently, this is the main point of such a decision - to leave dust yourself. Although one of our English acquaintances explained that she should always keep at hand urn with ashes dead husband because she loves to talk to him. In the evenings, she tells him about what happened to her during the day, consults. She says that he even answers her. Not out loud, of course, but so. Mentally.
What is storage
ashes at home!
This is old, but there are more amazing innovations. For example, paintings painted with mixed paint
dustrelatives. Some more wear ashes on his chest in special pendants. Also, multi-colored crystals are made from it, which are then set in jewelry. And recently, a new service appeared in one of the European tattoo parlors: they offer ash tattoos, into which the body of a loved one has turned.
It's up to you, but I still don't understand such things. As for me, then dustthe human must go into the ground - period. Even after cremation, since it is so convenient and preferable for someone. Even in the West, free from many complexes, people still prefer to bury what is left of the deceased, namely in the ground. Although cremation there, according to statistics, is chosen almost in ninety percent of cases. But for the main part of the inhabitants of Russia, traditional funerals are closer. We still have a lot of open spaces, there is where to bury according to the Orthodox, Muslim, Jewish and other rites. Therefore, I consoled this neighbor’s friend, of course, with information suitable for her, but I myself hope that my son will personally bury me how supposed to. No fire, straight to Mother Earth.
