For life and death are one
    even as the river and sea
    are one.
                          Kahlil Gibran

Your Choice Of Urns & Memorials

Following Cremation, you have five basic choices about honouring the deceased.    

1.  An Urn Or Not

The cremated remains or ashes will be returned from the crematorium to the funeral provider.  

You may accept the ashes in  the container from the crematorium (normally of sturdy cardboard) or you may purchase or supply an urn of your own.  

The urn is a container normally made of hardwood (cherry, mahogany and oak are traditional) or metal (brass, bronze, copper and pewter) or stone (granite, marble and cultured marble).

The size of an urn is normally about 200 cubic inches in capacity.  

2.  Personally Scattering The Ashes

Ashes legally may be personally held or scattered.  Ashes may be scattered on land (with permission of the property owner), by sea or by air.

With some Planning, a private ceremony with friends and relatives scattering ashes in a significant location can be made a memorable event.  Some things to consider:

• Is the location accessible enough for you or someone else to revisit?  

• Does it provide any permanence as a memorial for other friends and family members to visit? 

• Are these things important to you?

• Does it appropriately honour the memory of the deceased?

Once the ashes are scattered, your decision is irrevocable. 

3.  Burial Of The Urn

The benefit of securing a permanent place for the ashes is that it provides somewhere friends and family can return to visit.  

One such place is a cemetery itself.  Many public and private cemeteries offer small plots where an urn and the ashes can be buried.  A marker can be purchased and inscribed.  In many cases, you have the option of burying these remains near other family members buried within the cemetery.

Very much like visiting a traditional gravestone, the buried urn provides a final resting place where you and others can leave flowers and remembrances, and revisit.

4.  Urn Wall

A Columbarium or Urn Wall is an above-ground monument, usually in a public or private cemetery or a mausoleum where an urn and its ashes can be sealed and safe kept in perpetuity.   

At the columbarium, a plaque or marker can be created and inscribed to denote the location and serve as a permanent remembrance.

5.  Scattering Gardens

Some public and private cemeteries offer Scattering Gardens (often Rose Gardens) where you may, for a fee, scatter ashes.  You may also have a plaque or marker inscribed there to serve as a permanent remembrance.

For many people, revisiting the garden with its renewal of life provides a fitting and beautiful memorial.