The National Cremation Society that my dad had prepaid for was a big help when he passed away this month. Stephen Barreto with the Oviedo office contacted us after he died and was so compassionate, patient and kind to me during such a difficult time. He assured me every step of the way and I appreciated how much of a help he was taking care of all the questions that I never thought of. I highly recommend this company to those making arrangements for their family.

What happens when a family can't afford a funeral?


Despite being an obvious source of carbon emissions, cremation also has environmental advantages over burial, depending on local practice. Studies by Elisabeth Keijzer for the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Research found that cremation has less of an environmental impact than a traditional burial (the study did not address natural burials), while the newer method of alkaline hydrolysis (sometimes called green cremation or resomation) had less impact than both. The study was based on Dutch practice; American crematoria are more likely to emit mercury, but are less likely to burn hardwood coffins.[73] Keijzer's studies also found that a cremation or burial accounts for only about a quarter of a funeral's environmental impact; the carbon emissions of people travelling to the funeral are far greater.[73]
Cremated remains can be scattered or buried. Cremation plots or columbarium niches are usually cheaper than a traditional burial plot or mausoleum crypt, and require less space. Some religions, such as Roman Catholicism, require the burial or entombment of cremated remains, but burial of cremated remains may often be accomplished in the burial plot of another person, such as a family member, without any additional cost. This option is charged for in England in an Anglican church where the fee is set by the Table of Parochial Fees (£36 to incumbent and £78 to church council) a total of £114 in 2010 with a marker charged as extra. It is also very common to scatter the remains in a place the deceased liked—such as the sea, a river, a beach, a park, or mountains, following their last will. This is generally forbidden in public places but easy to do. Some persons choose to have a small part of their ashes (usually less than 1 part in 1000, because of cost constraints) scattered in space (known as space burial and offered by companies such as Elysium Space, Celestis and Ascending Memories). Cremated remains can now also be converted to diamonds.
When Lisa Tomasello was growing up in a large Italian Catholic family, the death of a relative was just the beginning of a grueling two or three days. Visitors would arrive at the funeral home and sign the guest book, then form a line to get to the casket. People would sit in front of the body of the deceased, kneeling and praying and making the sign of the cross, before kissing them on the hand, face, or lips. “The closer the relation, the closer to the lips,” she says.
Although the Holy See has in some cases authorized bishops to grant permission for funeral rites to be carried out in the presence of cremated remains, it is preferred that the rites be carried out before cremation, in the presence of the still intact body. Practices that show insufficient respect for the ashes of the dead such as turning them into jewelry or scattering them are forbidden for Catholics.[88]
However, I remember Barbara Kemmis, the spokesperson for the Cremation Association of North America, telling me that while operators do their best to remove recoverable remains, it’s possible that minute amounts of one person’s cremated remains could inadvertently wind up in someone else’s. Another part of the process that’s perhaps best not to think about.
Each cremation requires about 110 L (28 US gal) of fuel and releases about 240 kg (540 lb) of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Thus, the roughly 1 million bodies that are cremated annually in the United States produce about 240,000 t (270,000 short tons) of carbon dioxide, which is more CO2 pollution than 22,000 average American homes generate in a year.[74] The environmental impact may be reduced by using cremators for longer periods, and relaxing the requirement for a cremation to take place on the same day that the coffin is received, which reduces the use of fossil fuel and hence carbon emissions. Cremation is therefore becoming more friendly toward the environment.[75] Some funeral and crematorium owners offer a carbon neutral funeral service incorporating efficient-burning coffins made from lightweight recycled composite board.[76]
^ Robert Pasnau, in the introduction to his translation of Summa Theologiae, says that Aquinas is "...quite clear in rejecting the sort of substance dualism proposed by Plato [...] which goes so far as to identify human beings with their souls alone, as if the body were a kind of clothing that we put on," and that Aquinas believed that "we are a composite of soul and body, that a soul all by itself would not be a human being." See Aquinas, St. Thomas (2002). Summa Theologiae 1a, 75–89. trans. Pasnau. Hackett Publishing. p. xvii. ISBN 0-87220-613-0.
If you're unsure of the most appropriate funeral arrangements, our helpful resources for sympathy section can help you learn more about etiquette that best fits your needs. No matter what type of funeral floral arrangements you need, the expert Sympathy Advisors will be able to help you with selection and ordering, or with arrangements for delivery to the funeral service location or family home.
In movies, characters are always scattering the ashes of a loved one over the side of a boat or off the top of a mountain. In reality, cremation rarely ends that way. The Cremation Association of North America estimates that 60 to 80 percent of cremated remains go home with people who intend to place them in a cemetery or scatter them at a future date. But scattering is not as popular as people think.

A cremator is an industrial furnace that is able to generate temperatures of 871–982 °C (1,600–1,800 °F) to ensure the disintegration of the corpse.[41] Modern cremator fuels include oil,[42] natural gas, propane, and, in Hong Kong, coal gas.[43] Coal and coke were used until the early 1960s.[citation needed] Modern cremators automatically monitor their interior to tell when the cremation process is complete and have a spyhole so that an operator can see inside.[44] The time required for cremation varies from body to body, with the average being 90 minutes for an adult body.[44]

Can you be buried without a funeral?


The cost of pet cremation depends on location, where the cremation is done, and time of cremation. The American Humane Society's cost for cremation of 22.5 kg (50 lb). or less pet is $110 while 23 kg (51 lb). or more is $145. The cremated remains are available for the owner to pick up in seven to ten business days. Urns for the companion animal range from $50 to $150.[126]


Appropriate flowers for a funeral often include flowers for the casket, standing sprays such as floral crosses or wreaths, as well as smaller sympathy flower baskets or arrangements. Popular funeral flowers include lilies, roses, daisies, mums, and snapdragons. While many funeral arrangements incorporate white flowers, blue, pink, purple, and red can also be included for a subtle pop of color. Even though these floral arrangements are most popular, smaller arrangements like sympathy bouquets, flower arrangements in a vase, and memorial plants are also great gift options to convey condolences and deepest sympathies.

Was Hatshepsut a good pharaoh?


This place is called the columbarium, and at first, the very existence of this vast chamber full of urns can come as a surprise. In the movie version of life and death, a cremated person’s remains sit up on the shelf at home, or friends scatter the ashes over a sacred locale. In the real world, many cremated people stay in the cemetery, just like their buried counterparts.
^ Gassmann, Günther; Larson, Duane H.; Oldenburg, Mark W. (4 April 2001). Historical Dictionary of Lutheranism. Scarecrow Press. p. 48. ISBN 9780810866201. Retrieved 22 April 2014. Cremation was unheard of from the time Charlemagne outlawed it (784) until the 17th century. At that point, the practice was urged primarily by those opposed to the church, and for a long time cremation was forbidden by Roman Catholicism and practiced only reluctantly by Protestants. Recently, these strictures have eased, and more and more churches have established columbaria or memorial gardens within their precincts for the reception of the ashes by the faithful.
Appropriate flowers for a funeral often include flowers for the casket, standing sprays such as floral crosses or wreaths, as well as smaller sympathy flower baskets or arrangements. Popular funeral flowers include lilies, roses, daisies, mums, and snapdragons. While many funeral arrangements incorporate white flowers, blue, pink, purple, and red can also be included for a subtle pop of color. Even though these floral arrangements are most popular, smaller arrangements like sympathy bouquets, flower arrangements in a vase, and memorial plants are also great gift options to convey condolences and deepest sympathies.
Cremated remains may also be incorporated, with urn and cement, into part of an artificial reef, or they can also be mixed into paint and made into a portrait of the deceased. Some individuals use a very small amount of the remains in tattoo ink, for remembrance portraits. Cremated remains can be scattered in national parks in the United States with a special permit. They can also be scattered on private property with the permission of the owner. A portion of the cremated remains may be retained in a specially designed locket known as cremation jewelry, or even blown into special glass keepsakes[66] and glass orbs.[67] The cremated remains may also be entombed. Most cemeteries will grant permission for burial of cremated remains in occupied cemetery plots that have already been purchased or are in use by the families disposing of the cremated remains without any additional charge or oversight.

What is a service for a funeral?


At present there are four crematoria in operation at BIRKENAU, two large ones, I and II, and two smaller ones, III and IV. Those of type I and II consist of 3 parts, i.e.,: (A) the furnace room; (B) the large halls; and (C) the gas chamber. A huge chimney rises from the furnace room around which are grouped nine furnaces, each having four openings. Each opening can take three normal corpses at once and after an hour and a half the bodies are completely burned. This corresponds to a daily capacity of about 2,000 bodies... Crematoria III and IV work on nearly the same principle, but their capacity is only half as large. Thus the total capacity of the four cremating and gassing plants at BIRKENAU amounts to about 6,000 daily.[35]

Cremation may serve as a funeral or post-funeral rite and as an alternative to the burial or interment of an intact dead body. In some countries, including India and Nepal, cremation on an open-air pyre is an ancient tradition. Starting in the 19th century, cremation was introduced or reintroduced into other parts of the world. In modern times, cremation is commonly carried out with a closed furnace (cremator), at a crematorium.
Despite being an obvious source of carbon emissions, cremation also has environmental advantages over burial, depending on local practice. Studies by Elisabeth Keijzer for the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Research found that cremation has less of an environmental impact than a traditional burial (the study did not address natural burials), while the newer method of alkaline hydrolysis (sometimes called green cremation or resomation) had less impact than both. The study was based on Dutch practice; American crematoria are more likely to emit mercury, but are less likely to burn hardwood coffins.[73] Keijzer's studies also found that a cremation or burial accounts for only about a quarter of a funeral's environmental impact; the carbon emissions of people travelling to the funeral are far greater.[73]
Another environmental concern is that traditional burial takes up a great deal of space. In a traditional burial, the body is buried in a casket made from a variety of materials. In the United States, the casket is often placed inside a concrete vault or liner before burial in the ground. While individually this may not take much room, combined with other burials, it can over time cause serious space concerns. Many cemeteries, particularly in Japan[77] and Europe as well as those in larger cities, have run out of permanent space. In Tokyo, for example, traditional burial plots are extremely scarce and expensive,[78] and in London, a space crisis led Harriet Harman to propose reopening old graves for "double-decker" burials.[79] Some cities in Germany do not have plots for sale, only for lease. When the lease expires, the remains are disinterred and a specialist bundles the bones, inscribes the forehead of the skull with the information that was on the headstone, and places the remains in a special crypt.
During the 19th and early 20th centuries, as the Jewish cemeteries in many European towns had become crowded and were running out of space, in a few cases cremation for the first time became an approved means of corpse disposal among the emerging liberal and Reform Jewish movements in line with their across the board rejection of traditional Torah ritual laws having mandatory standing. Current liberal movements like Reform Judaism still support cremation, although burial remains the preferred option.[69][121]

Pre-arranging your cremation is simple and affordable and gives you peace of mind knowing that you will relieve the burden on your family. Pre arranging also enables you to lock in today’s low prices and will give you worldwide protection in the event you’re traveling or if you decide to relocate. Call us today and ask about attending one of our informational seminars while enjoying a complementary lunch or dinner.


Another environmental concern is that traditional burial takes up a great deal of space. In a traditional burial, the body is buried in a casket made from a variety of materials. In the United States, the casket is often placed inside a concrete vault or liner before burial in the ground. While individually this may not take much room, combined with other burials, it can over time cause serious space concerns. Many cemeteries, particularly in Japan[77] and Europe as well as those in larger cities, have run out of permanent space. In Tokyo, for example, traditional burial plots are extremely scarce and expensive,[78] and in London, a space crisis led Harriet Harman to propose reopening old graves for "double-decker" burials.[79] Some cities in Germany do not have plots for sale, only for lease. When the lease expires, the remains are disinterred and a specialist bundles the bones, inscribes the forehead of the skull with the information that was on the headstone, and places the remains in a special crypt.
The magnitude 9.0–9.3 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake triggered a series of lethal tsunamis on 26 December 2004 that killed almost 300,000 people, making them the deadliest tsunamis in recorded history. The tsunamis killed people over an area ranging from the immediate vicinity of the quake in Southeast Asia (Indonesia, Thailand, and the northwestern coast of Malaysia), to thousands of kilometers away in the Indian subcontinent (Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, the Maldives), the Horn of Africa (Somalia), and the African Great Lakes (Kenya and Tanzania).

What debts are forgiven when you die?


At Baldwin-Fairchild Oviedo Funeral Home, we also recognize that funeral arrangements and associated expenses can be overwhelming. In addition to assisting during your immediate time of need, our funeral directors specialize in working with families to plan ahead. By preparing in advance, you provide a sense of relief, peace of mind and comfort for your loved ones while ensuring your wishes are met and your budget is kept. We are here to discuss these options should you wish to do so.

Who was the first female pharaoh?

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