Types of Burial Options
The way you choose to honor and remember a loved one who has passed away is an important decision.
- In-Ground BurialThis is the most common option. A casket or cremation urn is placed into a vault that is placed into a grave and a flat or upright marker is installed at the gravesite.
- Above Ground Burial in a Community MausoleumA public Mausoleum (also known as a Community Mausoleum) is an above ground building memorializing many individuals. Mausoleums provide a secure enclosure that will remain clean and completely dry. The casket or urn will never come in contact with the earth. This mausoleum may be either indoor or outdoors.
- Above Ground Burial in a Lawn CryptAn above ground container that the casket is encased in.
- CremationThere are several Memorialization Options, scattering cremains, keeping them in an urn. Scattering cremains can occur in a cemetery scattering garden, at sea, or places with special meaning (this may be prohibited in certain areas). An urn can also be kept at home, in a community mausoleum niche, urn mausoleum (columbarium) or buried.
- Above Ground Burial in a Private MausoleumAn above ground structure built specifically to entomb multiple family members of a single family. The Taj Mahal is an example of a private mausoleum.
- Natural Burial - Green BurialThe deceased is not embalmed, the body is placed directly into the earth, allowing the body to decompose naturally. Usually the deceased body is buried in a biodegradable casket or in a simple shroud, so as not to inhibit the decomposition of the body. No machinery is used to dig the grave, the graves are dug by hand.
Having a permanent place whether it be in a cemetery, mausoleum, or cremation garden - that can be visited regularly by family and friends gives everyone a special place to go to remember their loved one and commemorate important occasions.
Committal Services
A Committal service at a funeral is a Christian ritual, most commonly associated with Orthodox and Catholic religions, though not exclusively. It follows the funeral and involves a selection of prayers and a farewell to the person who has died. It symbolizes that we are committing the deceased to their final resting place, earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust. In the hope of resurrection onto eternal life. The Committal services may occur at the graveside or in the chapel at the cemetery and are generally 10 to 15 minutes in length. It is during the committal service that military honors are rendered if the deceased was a veteran. Flowers may be placed on the casket by everyone present as their final good bye to their loved one. Burial will take place following the committal service. These are important gatherings to commemorate a life and mark the end of physical closeness. Family and friends gather to commit a loved one to the earth and say final farewells together. A committal service is symbolic and a helpful step in healing.
Burial Vaults
A Burial vault or burial liner is a container, made of concrete and or metal that encloses a casket or urn and is designed to help prevent the weight of the earth or heavy cemetery maintenance equipment from collapsing the casket or urn. Collapsing the earth causes the ground to sink and settle, marring the appearance of the cemetery and making it harder to maintain. Burial vaults are required for burial by most states and cemeteries.
Permanent Memorialization Headstones, Monuments and Gravemarkers
The Headstone is typically a piece of granite that sits erect on the ground, allowing people who walk by to easily identify the individual. It is common to have one headstone for 2 to 4 people.
Monuments are typically larger headstones. A monument might have an icon or image in three dimensional form, ranging from saints and angels watching over a grave site to other figures. (Check with individual cemeteries as to what is allowed)
A Gravemarker is a smaller option of a memorial . A cemetery marker often sits flat, so one can only read it when standing straight above it. (Some markers may have a slight angle designed to it that make it easier to read) Certain cemeteries do not allow slanted markers.