Burial Services

What is Burial?

Burial is the act or process of placing a deceased person's body into the ground, typically in a grave, as a form of final disposition in many cultures and religions. Burial has been practiced for millennia throughout human history.

Why Choose Burial?

Burial has been a fundamental part of human rituals for thousands of years, offering a sense of closure and permanence. Here's why many families opt for it:

Cultural and Religious Significance: For many faiths such as Christianity and Judaism, burial aligns with spiritual beliefs about returning to the earth or preparing for the afterlife. It symbolizes respect for the body and provides a physical site for remembrance.

Memorialization and Gathering: A gravesite serves as a dedicated space for family and friends to visit, reflect, and honor memories. Cemeteries often allow for personalized headstones, monuments, or plantings, fostering ongoing connections across generations.

Emotional Comfort: The ritual of burial can bring solace during grief, as it follows familiar customs that emphasize dignity and finality. In a fast-changing world, it offers stability, familiarity, and a tangible way to celebrate a life well-lived.

Increasing Options: Burial continues to evolve, with options like green burials emphasizing simplicity and sustainability to minimize environmental impact, appealing to those seeking eco-friendly alternatives.

Current Practices and Types

Traditional burial remains common, involving embalming to preserve the body, placement in a casket, and interment in a cemetery plot, often preceded by a viewing or funeral service. This practice, dominant for much of the 20th century, includes rituals like eulogies, processions, and graveside ceremonies, influenced by religious and cultural norms. To many, this is a familiar and comforting process.

As cremation becomes the preferred method of disposition throughout the United States, many components of a traditional burial service are still chosen, such as a viewing and funeral service, with cremation following. The cremated remains may then be buried at a later date.

Throughout the United States, there is a growing preference for green or natural burial, which is an environmentally conscious approach to death care that emphasizes simplicity, sustainability, and allowing the body to decompose naturally.

Options for green burial are largely dependent upon individual cemetery regulations. Local cemetery options remain limited for green burial, however, this is slowly evolving. Depending on your wishes, we can help create a burial service that incorporates green options, such as foregoing embalming or eco-friendly casket options.