Today is a great day. I actually get to use the term “German Ash Holes” as my title secure in the knowledge that it is 100% accurate. I am serious.
A growing number of people in the Federal Republic of Germany are choosing to be buried in the woods. The phenomenon had a subdued and understated beginning nearly ten years ago. The Germans have always loved and taken pride in their woods and forests, their relationship with these stretches of trees. Burials in cemeteries and blooming gardens and trees has always been part of their culture and Northern European Christianity…
In practice, those who want their post-mortem abode in a forest choose a tree, at the feet of which their ashes are buried in biodegradable urns. It is forbidden to leave flowers or candles, much less headstones, tombstones, or other such markers. The tree itself is the burial marker; at most, a small plate may be hung on its trunk, according to the wishes of the deceased person or family members. Many burials take place without a sign to mark the spot, but the FriedWald company keeps a detailed map of all the places where an urn was buried….
We said that churches are taking a more conciliatory attitude toward this kind of ceremony than in the past. FriedWald does not keep a list of its “customers” according to religious beliefs, but the company believes that at least half the graves in the forest contain Christians, both Protestant and Catholic. And apparently this kind of burial is also gaining popularity among Buddhists. According to Pastor Strege, Christian funerals in the forest are gaining favour, for economic reasons as well: the prices for such services are reasonable, and FriedWald ensures that the “grave” remains undisturbed for 99 years, while traditional cemeteries ensure this for only a quarter of a century. The Council of Protestant Churches in Germany has created a committee to investigate the issue. Reinhard Mawick, a committee member, visited a site in the Reinhardswald forest, which is said to have been the setting for many of the Brothers Grimm fairy tales. He said that the alternative offered by FriedWald is “much more consistent now with Christian culture, from which the initiative first arose, because a burial in the woods is no longer equivalent to an anonymous burial.”
Not my cup o’ tea. They mention growing acceptance among Christians, but this definitely has a neo-enviro-pagan vibe to it. What do you think?
April 24, 2012 at 5:55 pm
It does have a bit of a neo-pagan vibe to it, but then again, one of my friends, quite a devout man, wants to have his ashes scattered over his favorite fishin' hole. Not sure I see too much difference. But, as my mother said, "I won't care what you do with the body. I'll be gone. I'll have other things going on…"
April 24, 2012 at 6:12 pm
"Lay this body anywhere. Remember me at the altar of the Lord". St. Monica? Catholics must be buried in consecrated ground. I suppose if the ground was made holy, the burial might be OK. In Europe, many graves are not marked and the graves are reused after 60 years. On the cemetery property is a charnel house which houses the bones unearthed when digging a new grave. Oh, how anonymous. Of course, relics of those proclaimed saints will be lost.
April 24, 2012 at 6:14 pm
Reminds me a little of Evelyn Waugh's The Loved Ones
April 24, 2012 at 6:17 pm
Well, the thing is that this does make sense for Germany. They actually "rent" their graves over there, rather than having "perpetual" graves as we do in the US. German bodies are not stuffed and preserved in order to avoid the unsightly appearance and reality of death, rather they are laid to rest so that nature may take its course and then the grave can be used for the next family member.
The difference in this story is having a 'traditional' grave vs. a woodland grave, it appears. Mind you, the Ordo Exsequiarum provides for burial in blessed ground (Catholic cemeteries) or in graves blessed site-by-site. I can see how the novelty in this story can happen totally inside the conventions of a good and holy Catholic faith.
Yes, to Americans this definitely has the smell of environmentalist wacky-ism. Indeed, to receive this kind of treatment of your remains here in the States you typically have to go to a "green cemetery" (or a "green section" of a regular cemetery) which has all sorts of crazy rules and regs, or go through the trouble of belong to a religious order where the practice is integral with their way of life, it seems. While I hope it may be many years, I am looking into funeral perparations for me which will allow my body to dissolve into the earth just as soon as it can… not cremation, not "green", not contempt for American funerary practices… just a healthy Christian understanding and relationship with death.
April 24, 2012 at 6:33 pm
My urn is going into the family graveyard up on a mountain, back in the woods after a bit of it is consecrated. I don't see much difference here. It's where I want to lay down – it's where they want to lay down. Difference is I love the old headstones from the 1800s so I may have one made to match those that are already in the grave yard.
April 24, 2012 at 7:13 pm
I am shocked that innocent trees are harmed!
"The tree itself is the burial marker; at most, a small plate may be hung on its trunk…"
How intrusive to the trees! Suppose the hung a small plate around your neck Mr. Archbold? Egads! Will the flowers be next? Save the trees!
April 24, 2012 at 11:37 pm
Dad, Mom, my wife,my kids and I will be sprinkled into the fire pit at deer camp, first year after we die on the last night of Labor day weekend. Simple, cheap and we will all be together in a place we love.
No trees will be harmed except the dead ones we burned in the days proceeding Labor day weekend.
Rover.
April 25, 2012 at 1:05 am
Respect for a soul's body continues after death. It is an intrinsic part of the person. As Christians, we believe in "the resurrection of the body". That is why Christ's Church does not permit the scattering of the body's ashes or any other treatment not compatible with the sacredness of the body.
April 25, 2012 at 1:58 am
It is my understanding that the church forbade creamation for centeries becase it was a pagan practise that denied the afterlife and the resurrection of the body. It was only around the time of Vatican II that it was allowed. Interestingly enough, the pioneers of modern cremation were all infidels who rejected the Christian view of the last things.
April 25, 2012 at 10:42 pm
When I miscarried at 4-months, my unborn child was cremated, and our parish priest (a good and holy priest, not a rebel at all) offered to consecrate some parkland for the burial. Sadly, after cremation, there was nothing left to bury. Why should this be wrong if (1) it's consecrated ground and (2) the resurrection of the body means God makes our bodies new again? Can't the burial be holy, simple, and natural, without being neo-enviro-pagan?
April 29, 2012 at 2:53 pm
If you don't account for it being a way for your kids to have a chance at being dead before your body is removed from the grave, it sounds neopagan– when that point is added, it goes from "a bit odd, but not troubling without other bad stuff" to "a bit odd, but beats how the normal way is screwed with."
Just had a sudden mental image of a place that's set up like a post office, with each little cubby holding the ashes of a different person, carefully labeled and assured to stay there for at least 200 years….
April 29, 2012 at 3:54 pm
Foxfier, your "mental image" of the resting place of cremated remains is actually how it's done if the remains are not scattered or buried. A columbarium, where cremated remains are placed, if they are not scattered or buried, does look like the letter boxes at post offices. See this picture of the resting place of W C Fields. http//:www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=1148