Burial

This page, and the one on cremation, may be especially difficult for you, yet deciding between burial and cremation is one of the first choices you must make. It's your decision!

"Disposition" is the term used by the funeral industry to describe the final handling of the deceased's remains. Although your initial decision for the disposition of the body is between burial and cremation, there are several variations on each.

Whichever choice you make, the body will eventually return to its natural elements.

Burial Choices

• Earth burial
• Entombed in a crypt within a mausoleum
• Buried at sea

Reasons For Choosing Burial

1. Burial is traditional within your family, religious group, or geographical area. 
2. You do not like the idea of the body being "burned"
3. You prefer to have the body slowly return to the elements.
4. You want to erect a monument on the grave
5. Perhaps you want to visit the grave in the days to come, and you find a graveyard more appealing than say, a columbarium.

Decisions You Must Make If You Choose Burial

• Whether or not the body is to be embalmed
• Which kind of casket will house the body
• What type of vault or grave liner you want
• Which cemetery to use
• What to put on the gravestone