Many people these days are choosing cremation as the means to put the dead to rest. Cremations are now chosen over burials for over 45 percent of deaths in the United States. This is in part due to the removal of most religious stigma against cremation. Only a couple of decades ago, cremation was barely considered, but after the Catholic Church removed their ban on cremation in the 60s, the…

Nobody likes to think about what will happen when they or their loved ones pass away, especially when finances are tight. Traditional funerals often cost thousands of dollars, which puts many individuals in an uncomfortable position when discussing or planning funeral arrangements. In fact, many Americans are struggling financially to the point that they leave the bodies of their loved ones at funeral homes or coroner’s offices out of fear…

Budgeting for cremation or funeral may be the last thing you want to spend time and money on, especially if you or anyone in your family doesn’t appear to be ill or at risk for passing away anytime soon. While planning ahead for cremation or funeral costs may seem distasteful or eerie to some, the process can actually help your family members to a great extent financially in the event…

Cremation is a relatively new way to say goodbye to your loved one, especially considering funerals have been the traditional way to honor and memorialize loved ones for the last hundreds of years around the globe. Today, cremation is considered the most eco-friendly and economical way to place your loved one’s body at rest, which is partly why many Americans now prefer this practice over the traditional funeral. Do your…

Over 55 million people pass away each year on a global scale. Considering this number can have an adverse impact on the environment if people go the traditional route of burial, having a green, eco-friendly cremation or burial is an ideal way to lower the impact our bodies have on the earth’s resources. While death and dying can be difficult topics to consider and discuss prematurely, making plans now for…

As people become more environmentally aware, cremation and eco-friendly burial options are continuing to multiply across the US and the rest of the world. Artists and environmentalists are starting to embrace the cycle of nature, and are developing products that allow families to turn the cremains of their loved ones into trees. Take a look at the following new ways to convert your loved one’s ashes into a tree that…

If you or your loved one have gold teeth or gold cavity fillings, you may be curious about whether it’s possible to have gold teeth extracted before the cremation process. If your loved one has gold teeth, you may be interested in holding on to them for remembrance purposes, or in having the gold melted and reshaped into jewelry or another keepsake. Or perhaps, you want to trade gold teeth…

Cremation was first introduced to the United States by Dr. Julius LeMoyne, who built the first-ever crematory in Washington, Pennsylvania in 1876. According to the Cremation Association of North America, the earliest cremations in history occurred during the Stone Age around 3000 BC in Europe and throughout the Near East. However, new evidence has recently come to light that reveals cremation could have been around centuries earlier around 5600 BC,…

Cremation allows families to customize their final farewells to loved ones when it comes time to scatter ashes. Families can scatter their loved one’s cremains in the ocean, send cremains off to space in fireworks, or bury cremains in a columbarium niche. Now, a new cremation garden in Oklahoma City allows you to bury cremains and find them later on using satellite GPS. Reflection Pointe Cremation Garden is owned and…

Though the funeral industry has managed to stay more or less traditional for the last several decades, the time has finally come in which the industry is being forced to deal with trends just like any other industry. Now that the American economy is back on the rise, funeral directors are having to battle the popularity of cremation, which has risen within the last few years due to being a…

Cremation offers endless benefits to families of loved ones, including the ability to be as creative as desired when scattering cremains. Most people know very little about how to scatter cremains outside of what they’ve seen in the movies and on television, but fortunately, the sky is literally the limit when it comes to your options. Saying goodbye to your loved one can be difficult, but knowing the difference between…