burial

Burial

Burial

The first space burial took place on April 21, 1997, when the cremated remains (cremains, or ashes) of twenty-four people were launched into Earth orbit. The Houston-based company Celestis, Inc. performed this historic space memorial service. Approximately seven grams of ashes from each individual were placed into a lipstick-sized flight capsule. Each capsule was inscribed with the person's name and a personal message. The capsules were then placed in the memorial satellitea small satellite about the size of a coffee can. The memorial satellite was launched into space aboard a commercial rocket and placed into Earth orbit.

Celestis has continued to launch a memorial satellite every year since 1997. Many families choose the space burial because their loved ones had wanted to travel in space in their lifetimes. Each successive satellite has included more individuals as news has spread of this unique space-age service.

As of this writing, Celestis is the only company in the world launching ashes into space. The high cost of getting goods into Earth orbit (thus the small amount of ashes actually launched) and the strict regulations and permits necessary to conduct this novel business have helped to limit competition. In addition, as the space memorial service itself is new and unusual, it requires increased public knowledge and acceptance for the industry to grow.

Factors that encourage the growth of space memorials include the rising numbers of cremations worldwide. According to the Cremation Association of North America, almost seven million cremations a year take place in industrialized nations, and that number is increasing. Canada experienced a 25 percent increase in cremations from 1996 to 2000, and the United States had a 24 percent increase in the same time period. Presently, 45 percent of all deaths in Canada, 26 percent of all deaths in the United States, and almost all deaths in Japan (99 percent) lead to cremation.

There are several reasons for the increase of cremations over burials. The 1995 Wirthlin Report, sponsored by the Funeral and Memorial Information Council, states that one-fourth of survey respondents would choose cremation because it is less expensive than a traditional burial. The next reason cited, by 17 percent of the respondents, was for environmental considerationscremations use less land, which could be better used, for example, for agriculture to feed the world's population.

One might wonder about the space environment and all the memorial satellites in orbitare they a type of orbital debris cluttering space? The memorial satellites do not remain in orbit forever. They are eventually drawn by gravity back to Earth, where they burn up harmlessly in the atmosphere.

see also Roddenberry, Gene (volume 1); Space Debris (volume 2).

Charles M. Chafer and Cynthia S. Price

Internet Resources

Celestis, Inc. <http://www.celestis.com>.

Cremation Association of North America. <http://www.csofna.com>; <http://www.biomed.lib.umn.edu/hw/cremstats.html>.

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Chafer, Charles M.; Price, Cynthia S.. "Burial." Space Sciences. 2002. Encyclopedia.com. 11 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

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burial services

burial services. Burial is the traditional Christian method of disposing of the dead. At first burials were occasions of joy; from about the 8th cent., when the prevalence of nominal Christianity made such joy not always fitting, the service became ‘black’ and the prayers petitions for speedy purification. By the later Middle Ages the burial itself, with committal prayers, was preceded overnight by Vespers, after which Mattins and Lauds (Dirge) were said in the night, and in the morning a Requiem Mass. The 1969 RC Ordo Exsequiarum provides various alternative forms, in some cases allowing all the funeral rites, including the Mass, to take place in the house of the deceased. In the BCP the Dirge in a modified form (sentences, Psalm, and lesson) is ordered, followed by committal prayers at the graveside. Modern Anglican liturgies make changes in phrasing, allow different Psalms and lessons, and provide for an (optional) Eucharist. They also recognize cremation and sometimes include a form for the burial of ashes. In the Orthodox Church the burial service includes the contakion ‘Give rest, O Christ, to Thy servant’ and an epistle and gospel. The coffin is normally left open and those present kiss the body. See also DEAD, PRAYERS FOR THE, and REQUIEM MASS.

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E. A. LIVINGSTONE. "burial services." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. 2000. Encyclopedia.com. 11 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

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burial

burial Because of the high temperatures in Palestine, it was desirable to dispose of dead bodies as soon as the appropriate customs could be organized. The corpse was washed, anointed, and wrapped in linen cloth and carried in procession on a bier to the grave or tomb. There could be professional mourners and even flute-players (Matt. 9: 23). For some, graves were dug, but caves were also convenient, and Abraham's family are said to have been buried in the cave of Machpelah at Hebron (Gen. 23: 19). Wealthy individuals arranged for their tombs to be cut out of the rock in a garden, as did Joseph of Arimathaea (Matt. 27: 60), and sealed with a stone which rolled on a kind of track. Cremation was not practised by the Hebrews. In the NT era ossuaries made of limestone were used in Palestine; after bodies had disintegrated, the bones were collected and stored in chests, sometimes giving the name of the deceased.

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W. R. F. BROWNING. "burial." A Dictionary of the Bible. 1997. Encyclopedia.com. 11 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

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burial

burial disposal of a corpse in a grave or tomb . The first evidence of deliberate burial was found in European caves of the Paleolithic period. Prehistoric discoveries include both individual and communal burials, the latter indicating that pits or ossuaries were unsealed for later use or that servants or members of the family were slain to accompany the deceased. Both practices have been followed by various peoples into modern times. The ancient Egyptians developed the coffin to keep bodies from touching the earth; this burial practice was continued by the Greeks and Romans when they used the burial form of disposal. The word burial has been applied to funerary practices other than interment, such as sea burial, or tree burial (which usually precedes later interment). Secondary burial frequently occurs to terminate a period of mourning (see funeral customs ). See also cemetery .

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"burial." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. 11 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

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Burial

63. Burial

See also 99. CORPSES ; 112. DEATH

cerement, cerements
the cloth or clothing in which the dead are wrapped for burial or other form of funeral.
columbarium
a vault where the remains of cremated bodies are kept, usually in one of a number of recesses in a wall.
exequy
1. a funeral procession or cortege.
2. funeral rites or ceremony.
hydriotaphia
a burial in an urn.
necropolis
a cemetery, especially one attached to an ancient city.
obsequies
a funeral or funeral ceremony. Sometimes obsequy .
sepelition
Obsolete, burial or interment.
sindology
the study of funeral shrouds.
taphephobia, taphiphobia, taphophobia
an abnormal fear of being buried alive.
taphophilia
a love for funerals.
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"Burial." -Ologies and -Isms. 1986. Encyclopedia.com. 11 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

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Burial Alive

91. Burial Alive

  1. Antigone condemned to be buried alive, she thwarts Creons order by killing herself. [Gk. Lit.: Antigone ]
  2. Fortunato walled up in a catacomb by the man he had wronged. [Am. Lit.: Poe The Cask of Amontillado]
  3. Lafourcade, Victorine found alive in her tomb by her rejected suitor. [Am. Lit.: Poe The Premature Burial]
  4. Sindbad entombed, by custom, upon his wifes death, he manages to escape. [Arab. Lit.: Arabian Nights ; Magill II, 50]
  5. Usher, Madeline breaks out of vault in which she had been buried alive. [Am. Lit.: Poe Fall of the House of Usher]
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"Burial Alive." Allusions--Cultural, Literary, Biblical, and Historical: A Thematic Dictionary. 1986. Encyclopedia.com. 11 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

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burial metamorphism

burial metamorphism A term first used by D. S. Coombs in 1961 to describe metamorphic recrystallization during epeirogenic as opposed to orogenic earth movements. Sediments and volcanic rocks in a developing basin gradually become buried during sagging of the crust in response to the weight of the accumulating rock column above, so that temperatures, even at great depth, are much lower than those experienced during plate collision, when forcible depression of the rock mass to regions of much higher temperature and pressure cause metamorphic changes characteristic of regional metamorphism. See METAMORPHIC ROCK.

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AILSA ALLABY and MICHAEL ALLABY. "burial metamorphism." A Dictionary of Earth Sciences. 1999. Encyclopedia.com. 11 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

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Burial with Feet to the East

Burial with Feet to the East

It was an early custom for Christians to bury their dead with the feet toward the east and the head toward the west. Various reasons were given for this practice, some authorities stating that the corpse was placed thus in preparation for the resurrection, when the dead would rise with their faces toward the east. Others think this mode of burial was practiced in imitation of the posture of prayer.

A possibly related custom is the belief that a body must be carried into a churchyard or cemetery "with the sun," that is, in the direction of sunset, from east to west.

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burial

bur·i·al / ˈberēəl/ • n. the action or practice of interring a dead body: his remains were shipped home for burial. ∎  a ceremony at which someone's body is interred; a funeral: [as adj.] burial rites. ∎  Archaeol. a grave or the remains found in it: [as adj.] burial mounds.

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"burial." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Encyclopedia.com. 11 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

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burial

burial †grave XIII; interment XV. ME. buriel, biriel, spurious sg. of buriels, OE. byrġels = OS. burgisli :- Gmc. *burżisli-, f. *burż- (see BURY) + *-isli-; see -AL2.

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T. F. HOAD. "burial." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. 11 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

T. F. HOAD. "burial." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. (February 11, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O27-burial.html

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Burials

Burials: see FUNERAL RITES.

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JOHN BOWKER. "Burials." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. 1997. Encyclopedia.com. 11 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

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burial

burial •beau idéal, ideal, real, surreal •labial • microbial • connubial •adverbial, proverbial •prandial • radial • medial • mondial •cordial, exordial, primordial •custodial, plasmodial •preludial • collegial • vestigial •monarchial • Ezekiel • bronchial •parochial • pallial • Belial •familial, filial •proemial • binomial • Nathaniel •bicentennial, biennial, centennial, decennial, millennial, perennial, Tenniel, triennial •cranial •congenial, genial, menial, venial •finial, lineal, matrilineal, patrilineal •corneal •baronial, ceremonial, colonial, matrimonial, monial, neocolonial, patrimonial, testimonial •participial • marsupial •burial, Meriel •terrestrial •actuarial, adversarial, aerial, areal, bursarial, commissarial, filarial, malarial, notarial, secretarial, vicarial •Gabriel •atrial, patrial •vitriol •accessorial, accusatorial, advertorial, ambassadorial, arboreal, armorial, auditorial, authorial, boreal, censorial, combinatorial, consistorial, conspiratorial, corporeal, curatorial, dictatorial, directorial, editorial, equatorial, executorial, gladiatorial, gubernatorial, immemorial, imperatorial, janitorial, lavatorial, manorial, marmoreal, memorial, monitorial, natatorial, oratorial, oriel, pictorial, piscatorial, prefectorial, professorial, proprietorial, rectorial, reportorial, sartorial, scriptorial, sectorial, senatorial, territorial, tonsorial, tutorial, uxorial, vectorial, visitorial •Umbriel • industrial •arterial, bacterial, cereal, criterial, ethereal, ferial, funereal, immaterial, imperial, magisterial, managerial, material, ministerial, presbyterial, serial, sidereal, venereal •mercurial, Muriel, seigneurial, tenurial, Uriel •entrepreneurial •axial, biaxial, coaxial, triaxial •uncial • lacteal •bestial, celestial •gluteal •convivial, trivial •jovial, synovial •alluvial, diluvial, fluvial, pluvial •colloquial, ventriloquial •gymnasial • ecclesial • ambrosial

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"burial." Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes. 2007. Encyclopedia.com. 11 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

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Free newspaper and magazine articles

Reforming the burial system.
M2 Presswire; 4/7/2006
Indigent burials, and cost to public, on rise; The economic downturn has...
Newspaper article from: Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN); 12/28/2009
For military burials, 'we only get one chance to get this right'.(Local)
Newspaper article from: The Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk, VA); 11/15/2010

Facts and information from other sites

burial images
burial. Wikimedia Commons (Public Domain)