‘Grave Matters’ shows how funeral industry has changed
Carrol County Times
Walking through the bucolic countryside of New York’s Finger Lake region offers the hiker a wide variety of trees, wildflowers and native birds, and one of the latest trends in the funeral industry, Greenspring Natural Cemetery Preserve.
In “Grave Matters: A Journey Through the Modern Funeral Industry to a Natural Way of Burial,” Mark Harris provides a fascinating look at current practices and alternative ways of dealing with this final part of life’s adventure. At Greenspring, no vault or embalming is allowed. Caskets must be basic and biodegradable; fieldstones may mark a grave site, but natural plantings are welcomed. The idea is to allow the body to rejoin the earth, from dust to dust, using what remains of the end of life to create new life.
The first natural cemetery was opened in 1998 in South Carolina by Dr. Billy Campbell, a family physician; more are in the planning stages. Their growth can be attributed to the search for a more meaningful, more fitting and, finally, more natural alternative to the traditional funeral done by your local undertaker. There is a growing concern about the environment and for humans to become better stewards of the Earth. While the result benefits the Earth, natural burial practices are not the bailiwick of avid environmentalists but of “regular folk.” People who wish to return to what used to be regular practice are exploring alternative options to the 20th-century “traditional funeral.”
The contemporary funeral industry arose during the mid-19th century when the social, cultural and economic forces that shaped that time period were in full force. Wanting to emulate British upper-middle-class civility, the U.S. elite tried to live according to the popular conduct manuals. With more money to spend, the middle class worked to provide a refined lifestyle, which included all the trappings of a tasteful funeral, including a metal casket appropriate to the occasion. The use of the metal coffin grew out of the metal stove industry and later grew to include a protective vault.
Natural burial consumes fewer resources; caskets, when used, are simple, and embalming is almost always avoided. By becoming more simplified and less complicated, funeral costs become considerably lower, in the hundreds rather than thousands, and the family is more closely involved.
Harris then continues to follow a number of burials, from the “traditional service” using a funeral home, cremations and memorializing a death in a variety of ways (some quite creative and unique), until at the end of the book, where he discusses burials on one’s own rural land or a green cemetery. He explains each of the occasions without sensationalism, following each process carefully. Some of them are quite different, to say the least. One family added its loved one’s ashes to fireworks that were shared; another incorporated the ashes into a concrete sphere submerged into a man-made reef; another was buried at sea.
“Grave Matters” is an intriguing, thought-provoking book. Harris explains each event carefully, clearly and reverentially, even including resources for those interested in learning more. He handles the entire topic with respect as well as curiosity, providing much for further contemplation and discussion with family and friends.
“Grave Matters” was reviewed by Kris Peters of the Carroll County Public Library’s North Carroll branch. It can be reserved at any CCPL branch or bookmobile. Library patrons with a current borrower’s card and PIN number may place reserves from the CCPL Web site (library.carr.org). The next review, appearing in two weeks, will be of “Artifacts” by Mary Anna Evans.
Book information
Title: “Grave Matters: A Journey Through the Modern Funeral Industry to a Natural Way of Burial”
Author: Mark Harris
Publisher: Scribner, 2007
10/18/2007, 9:07:56 AM