In most Western countries, death is becoming a celebrated event. And even though the world is getting smaller, there are still many different ways that people dispose of dead bodies. There are several ways to put a person’s mortal remains to rest – including promession. But what is promession? you ask. Well, different cultures bury their dead in a variety of ways. But in the 21st century, there are increasingly new trends with burying the dead.
Promession is just one of the ways that people are using in an attempt to make death more environmentally friendly. There are many people who are looking at ways to dispose of the dead in a way which is more beneficial to the earth and the environment. Promession is one such way which is gaining the interest of people who are concerned for the environment, so it is worth taking a look at how it works.
Promession occurs in a promatorium, and is an alternative to cremation. The Swedish biologist Susanne Wiigh-Mäsak started the trend. She wanted something, that unlike cremation, would not release toxins into the environment through burning. She also wanted an alternative to the regular burial where the coffin releases toxins into the soil.
What is Promession – The Process
Promession is an option which can offer an alternative way to deal with human remains. Susanne Wiigh-Mäsak wanted an ecological way to deal with human remains. That was even though it might be somewhat different from the traditional burial process. Let’s look at the process of promession –
- the first step with promession is to remove all water from the deceased. The bulk of human weight is water and the idea is to remove this water by freezing the body in liquid nitrogen so that it becomes brittle. The body is sprayed with liquid nitrogen so as to crystallize the body’s cells.
- the body is then broken apart with ultrasonic vibration so that it becomes organic powder
- the organic powder then goes through a metal separator to remove metal parts
- the powder is then placed into a bio-degradeable coffin made of corn starch
- the burial is within a shallow grave
- the idea is for the powdery remains to be used as compost for a tree or shrub which is planted with the burial instead of a traditional headstone. This tree or shrub marks the burial site – a much more attractive marker than a hard memorial stone.
What is Promession – A Popular Idea
According to opinion polls run in Sweden, there is a lot of support for promession and the way a tree can become the symbol of the deceased.
Certainly when one compares promession with burial or cremation, promession offers a number of advantages over the other two in terms of ecological impact. Cremating a body relies on gas to reduce a human body to bones through combustion and the release of greenhouse gases and mercury vapour. The benefit of promession is that it also reduces the demand on land-space because burial is at a depth of 30 to 50 centimeters which is far less than that of a traditional casketed burial.
What is Promession – Promession Not Available Yet
Presently, the promession process is still unavailable, but the company Promessa allows one to express their interest in the promession process on their website as a show of support.