While cremation has been in existence for almost as long as the human race, it is still not generally the method of choice for loved ones who have passed away in the United States, especially Alabama. But some attitudes toward cremation are beginning to change.
Cremation is the process of exposing a body to extreme heat in order to reduce it to its basic elements. The heat required to accomplish cremation is between 1,500 and 2,000 degrees for about two hours. Cremations are generally done in a specially designed furnace called a chamber, or retort.
In most places, the family is allowed to be present when the body is placed into the chamber; some religious groups even incorporate this into the funeral service.
Most of the body and the container, usually a wooden box, are consumed in the process, leaving between four and six pounds of remains. Anything that is not consumed, such as dental work, metal from clothing or hip replacements, is removed before the fragments are mechanically processed to a consistent size. Although the remains are referred to as ashes, they are actually small bone fragments resembling coarse sand.
Although an urn is not required by law, the family or the deceased, by prior arrangement, generally provide an urn in which to place the remains. If no urn is provided, the remains are placed in a temporary container.
According to the Cremation Association of North America (CANA), archaeologists believe cremation was used as early as 3000 B.C. in Europe and the Near East, spreading to other areas in Europe by 1000 B.C. By 800 B.C., cremation was an integral part of the Greek burial tradition, favored primarily for health reasons. The early Romans followed the Greeks, performing so many cremations that the government was forced to regulate the practice through decrees.
Between 27 B.C. and A.D. 395, cremation traditions in the Roman Empire included elaborate urns and burial structures that resemble modern-day columbaria, or buildings designed to hold cremated remains. With the rise of Christianity, however, cremation began to fall into disfavor. Early Christians strongly preferred burial over cremation and considered cremation to be pagan.
After 1,500 years, cremation once again began to gain popularity when an Italian professor named Brunetti developed a modern cremation chamber, showing it at the 1873 Vienna Exposition. Crematories were soon springing up both in Europe and the United States. Within three years of Brunetti’s invention, a crematory had opened in Pennsylvania. By 1900, there were 20 crematories in the United States. In 2005, there were more than 1,900 crematories.
Of the total deaths in the United States, the percentage of cremations has risen almost tenfold since 1960, from 4 percent to 32 percent in 2005. CANA projects more than 40 percent of all deaths will result in cremation by 2025.
Alabama has the lowest percentage of cremations of all the states reporting 9 percent in 2005. The next smallest numbers are from Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky and Louisiana. The largest numbers — Hawaii, Nevada, Washington and Oregon — all reported cremation in more than 60 percent of total deaths in 2005.
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