What to Do With Ashes of the Deceased

The question isn’t about whether the deceased should be buried or cremated but rather what to do with the ashes of the deceased.

Today people place the body of the deceased in a cardboard box or a cremation casket. These containers are designed to cremate quickly. The high temperatures of the fire vaporise the organs and tissues. And all that remains after the cremation process is the fragments of the bone.

The cremation process takes anything from 2 to 3 hours, and once done, and all that remains is a greyish powder. The powder weighs between 3 and 7 pounds. This ash doesn’t pose any health hazard to anyone. So people have come up with 101 unique, interesting, weird and bizarre ways to store or even disperse cremated remains.

We’ll look at just some of the fascinating ideas people come up with to ‘deal’ with the ashes of the deceased – their loved one. Of course one of the most popular options people use with ashes is to scatter them over the sea or a field of flowers the

deceased loved.

Columbariums – a Regular but Popular Choice

Other people want to be able to ‘visit’ their loved one, and they store the ashes of the deceased in a columbarium. These are usually in a church or cemetery. Or they are inside a building or in a small compartment outside for everyone to see. They have lots of small compartments where people place the urns which hold the cremated ashes. When you visit these columbariums, you’ll find photographs and mementoes in some of them to commemorate the life of the loved one.

People want to see death as something more lighthearted and not so final. It is for this reason that they’re looking at biodegradable urns. These are a way for your ashes to nourish a tree that grows over your biodegradable container.

People fancy the idea of ‘coming back to life’ through a tree. The jar allows the seed to germinate, and once the urn starts to bio-degrade, the seed roots emerge. When ordering these urns, the person can choose the type of tree they ‘want to grow into’ after their death.

Ashes of the Deceased – More Ideas

Some of the other ideas people come up with what to do with the deceased’s ashes are:

• Some companies turn the cremated remains into some or other firecracker, sparkler, rocket or catherine wheel. People fancy the idea of being part of a large firework rocket that gets let off by a family member. And other folks fancy the idea of being part of a bonfire in the back garden.
• Some people choose to have their ashes placed inside a helium balloon. And they love the idea of the balloon flying over an area that they loved. The balloons can reach heights of 5 miles or so before they burst into tiny pieces, freeing the ashes into the unknown.
• Cremation jewellery or remembrance jewellery is a growing trend and an attractive way to memorialise a loved one. People place the ash in rings or lockets, which is a popular choice because it allows you to have your loved one with you wherever you go.
• Some artists like to mix the ash into paint . Then they paint a portrait of the loved one who is no longer there. A portrait is an excellent way to capture the very essence of an individual’s life.
• As a tattoo – the tattoo artist sifts and filters the ashes of the deceased to remove big pieces. Experts sterilise the fine dust before adding it to the tattoo ink.

 

Camilla and Richard’s Preferences

We talk to Richard Hansen who lives in Anglesey with his wife, Camilla. He says that his wife stored an old bottle of brandy in the cellar for years, plus a host of other ‘useless stuff’. And he says that she was keeping the drink as well as some other items in there for a ‘special occasion’. But he wasn’t clear what and when this particular event would arrive.

An urn with ash in the cellar

Richard knew that there was an old antique lace blanket in there waiting for one of the children to produce a grandchild for them but that the years were passing. There were sheets, linen, furniture and some valuable antiques in the cellar. Richard says that Camilla’s mania for hoarding didn’t stop there. After unwrapping a parcel one day he discovered an urn with ash. When he questioned her, she said it was her mother’s ashes.

The ‘special occasion’ is announced

Richard went on to say that it wasn’t long after he discovered this urn of ash that his oldest daughter, Lily, announced she was pregnant. Richard explained that with this news, the special occasion that his wife always spoke about had finally arrived. So they brought down the old brandy bottle. His wife came home with a couple of helium filled balloons, and the house had the aroma of roast beef.

Celebrating the new and the old

Lily arrived with her fantastic news and Camilla handed her the one helium filled balloon. ‘This one’s for the new baby, and the other one is for the ashes of my old mum’. It was over dinner that opened the old brandy bottle and that Camilla announced they’d release the two balloons into the sky. One bore the news of new life and the other the ashes of life that had come to an end.

Make your Own special Memories

These days the world is your oyster regarding ideas and creativity. When it comes to looking for ways to remember a loved one through doing something creative with the ashes of the deceased, there are endless ways to remember them. And some ideas so fantastic that people will regularly speak about them in future.

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All info was correct at time of publishing