I told my kids to make a huge bonfire in the backyard and throw my body in it plus throw a keg party! Have fun and no crying!

I wanted to go down the aisle in my (brown wheelie bin)( that I paid for) let everyone have a sing song amd mourn or not as they please - whatever they want - a great knees-up or a communal sadness, poems - whatever - I won't be thereso let them all eat drink and be merry for I will have died.

i know of a ritual whereby the body is just shrouded & a tree seed grown right on top of it - very economic! back to nature

Funerals are such a racket. We, as a society, have been brainwashed into believing that we need the funeral home and the somber ceremonies and the fancy casket and it adds up to $10,000+ to put a body in the ground. The reason we have "living rooms" in our homes was thanks to a rebranding by funeral homes (or funeral parlors, as they were called then), as a push was made to eliminate the practice of people having the body laid out in the home (in the parlor). And here's the thing: it was way more convenient for everyone when the body remained in the home. It was easier for people to visit. Visitors would bring food for the family. There weren't long lines of people waiting to awkwardly say "sorry for your loss" because it spanned a couple of days. It cost nothing. And we could all do this again if we were so inclined, but nobody thinks to do it. There are less costly caskets, too, that are every bit as lovely, if you go through other sources. (I don't want to advertise for anyone here, but if you're interested in where to buy a casket for ~$2,200 please send me a private message and I'll send you the link.) When my father passes away, I'm hoping to honor all of his wishes (burial, funeral Mass, etc.), but I'm intent on bypassing the funeral home for calling hours and just have it at the homestead. The funeral home will have to be involved in the embalming and the transportation of the body, which I'm sure will still be highway robbery (heh, that was an unintended pun, but I'm keeping it), but I'm not planning on paying for a space for calling hours and I'm not giving them a dime for the casket (because, seriously, they charge triple for a wooden casket). When it's my time, I want to be cremated. No funeral. No calling hours / wake. No urn (just a nice mayonnaise jar). Nothing extra beyond what's required by law. If I could, I'd have my remains burned in a public dumpster and hauled away by the garbage truck and nobody would have to pay anything at all.

I’ve got my cremation bought and paid for. Originally told my daughter to burn me and flush me which didn’t go over well. Now she doesn’t have to worry about it.

I'm curious what happens to the water/fluid in "water cremations". ?

I belong to the cremation family. Yes that is correct not the creation family, The Cremation family. So far my father and mother have been cremated as well as my older sister. My two dogs and cat have been cremated. It's just what we do.

I am suprised you can bury someone in the yard... I thought the rules around land usage would make this illegal at least in the u.s. Surprised they didn't mention composting method.

Yep, it's cremation for me; spread my ash o'er mountain and sea. Please don't toss my bone bag in a box, I'd much rather spread over water and rocks. Throw me into the currents, and along dusty trails to mingle with dust and unfurled sails. And finally when the last little bit of me exits the urn, put a smile on your face and say, "He had a good turn."

And, that is a highly positive development. . I have already acted to ensure that my body will be cremated, that there will be no burial, and that there will be no service of any kind.

As a former Funeral Director I find the article misleading in several ways. Back in the early eighties the Funeral Home I worked at was at fifty percent and by the late nineties when I was over the whole thing we were in the eighty percent area. So cremation is not new or causing funeral homes to lose money. The home funeral was big when I started in the the business in the early seventies and backyard funerals were growing. Memorial services were common and as we scatter across the globe will be more common. I like the concept of Green burial but it still takes up land. As for the hydrolysis process it will run up against the cities with barely adequate sewer services and public dislike of ecky stuff going into the sewer. And the bones that is left will not be ash, that only happens after cremation. The process leaves a larger volume of bone than cremation which will entail larger urns, at a greater charge to the consumer. I got out of the profession when it became a business, "What do you mean you left them with half the insurance policy, surely you could have tacked on some more flowers or cars!"

Well, sadly, this post is making me think about my own mortality, which, I'm sorry, but fucking sucks! LOL! That said, I had already decided I would be cremated and I think I agree with bypassing the whole display ritual and for me it would go without saying there would be NO religious services what so EVER.

I believe I'll stop short of being pressed into a vinyl record. A CD maybe. LOL! This was interesting, thanks for sharing.

Indeed we are