Cremation facts for kids

Cremation in Ubud, Bali

Cremation is when a body is burned after a person has died. It's a common way to say goodbye to someone instead of burying them in the ground. The special place where cremations happen is called a crematorium or crematory.

Many religions allow cremation. These include Christianity, Jehovah's Witnesses, Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism, Sikhism, Shinto, and Neopaganism. However, some religions do not encourage it. Judaism and Mormonism usually don't approve of cremation. Islam, Neo-Confucianism, and Zoroastrianism also tend to disapprove.

What Happens to Ashes After Cremation?

After cremation, the remains are often called ashes. These ashes are given back to the person's family. The family then decides what to do with them.

Keeping or Burying Ashes

Often, the ashes are placed in a special container called an urn. This urn can then be buried in a cemetery, much like a coffin. Many religions believe ashes should be handled with respect. In places like Scandinavia, Japan, and Thailand, it's common to bury urns in a family grave. This type of grave holds the remains of many family members.

Sometimes, the person who died shared their wishes about what they wanted done with their ashes. The urn can be kept at home or placed in a special building called a columbarium. A columbarium is like a wall with many small spaces, or niches, where urns are stored.

Scattering Ashes

Another choice is to scatter the ashes. This means releasing them into the air or water in a place that was special to the person. Ashes can also be buried in the ground without a marker.

There are also some less common ways to scatter or use ashes. For example, ashes can be scattered using fireworks. They can even be sent into space or turned into a diamond. This is possible because both humans and diamonds contain a lot of carbon.

See also

• Human death

Images for kids

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  An electric cremator in Austria

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  Bronze container of ancient cremated human remains, complete with votive offering

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  The Aztec emperor Ahuitzotl being cremated. Surrounding him are a necklace of jade and gold, an ornament of quetzal feathers, a copilli (crown), his name glyph, and three sacrificial vassals to accompany him in the afterlife.

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  An 1820 painting showing a Hindu funeral procession in South India. The pyre is to the left, near a river, the lead mourner is walking in front, the dead body is wrapped in white and is being carried to the cremation pyre, relatives and friends follow.

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  The Woking Crematorium, built in 1878 as the first facility in England after a long campaign led by the Cremation Society of Great Britain.

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  The trial of William Price confirmed that cremation was legal in the United Kingdom. He was himself cremated after his death in 1893.

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  Advertisement for woollen envelopes to wrap the body in for cremation, appearing in the Undertaker's Journal, 1889.

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  A sketch from the Vrba–Wetzler report, showing the rough layout of the crematoria used at Auschwitz, one of the several Nazi German extermination camps in occupied Poland

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  A relic found amid the ashes of Chan Kusalo (the Buddhist Patriarch of Northern Thailand) is placed inside a chedi shaped vial and displayed inside Wat Chedi Luang in Chiang Mai.

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  Bone-picking ceremony at a Japanese funeral

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  Cremated ashes still in plastic bag

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  A U.S. Navy sailor scatters cremated remains at sea. Visible is the clear plastic inner bag containing the remains, and next to it the labeled black plastic box that contained the inner bag. This is normal in American packaging.

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  Cremation allows for very economical use of cemetery space. Mini-gravestones in Helsinki, Finland.

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  Cremation of the dead by Hindus in Ubud, Bali, Indonesia.

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  (Germany) A piece of fire clay used for identifying the ash after burning the dead body

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  (Germany) A cinerary urn. The laces are used to lower the urn into the ground

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  (Germany) A sealed cinerary urn, showing the ash capsule containing the remains of the dead, along with the name and dates

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  (Germany) The ash capsule

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  (Germany) An open ash capsule showing the remains of the dead

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  (Germany) Ash capsule and cinerary urn after 15 years

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  Burning ghats of Manikarnika, at Varanasi, India.

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  Cremation of Mahatma Gandhi at Rajghat, 31 January 1948. It was attended by Jawaharlal Nehru, Lord and Lady Mountbatten, Maulana Azad, Rajkumari Amrit Kaur, Sarojini Naidu and other national leaders. His son Devdas Gandhi lit the pyre.

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  Cremation process at Pashupatinath temple.

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  A Hindu cremation rite in Nepal. The samskara above shows the body wrapped in saffron red on a pyre.

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  Cremation taking place at Pashupatinath Temple.

See also

In Spanish: Cremación para niños