For most Pagans, a green funeral is an obvious choice, due both to the respect it shows to the natural world, and to the creative freedom involved in the ceremony. To those of you who haven’t heard the term, let me explain what a green funeral is.
At its most basic, it is about minimising the use of harmful chemicals that can be involved in conventional funerals. These can include embalming fluids and plastics used in coffins. By chosing not to be embalmed, something that is both intrusive and unnecessary, and by using a biodegradable coffin, we can continue to make good choices for the planet, even beyond our time here. Cremation is increasingly untenable; it produces toxins such as mercury gas and uses huge amounts of fossil fuels in the process, and most cemeteries and churchyards are full.
But the woodland / green / natural burial movement is growing, and there are over 200 of these sites in the country. Some of these are dedicated sites, like those listed on this website, while others are extensions to ordinary cemeteries and churchyards. Most are fields which become burial sites with trees planted instead of headstones, creating much needed wildlife havens, providing a much more soothing place to remember our dead, and insuring that not all of the countryside is concreted over.
The environmental aspect is just part of the story, as the green funeral movement has a strong social side. A green funeral directors makes sure the family has the opportunity to be much more involved in the whole process. This can mean helping them create the ceremony together, perhaps washing and dressing the body, at the very least spending time with the person who has died. Good grieving begins with acceptance.
For many people a funeral can be something that you are an audience at: an outdated and irrelevant ritual they no longer believe in. There are opportunities within the framework of a green funeral to reinvent these rituals. Obviously Pagans are ahead of most people with this, but there is still much for us all to learn.
Have a look at our website to find out some more.
http://www.thegreenfuneralcompany.co.uk
Rupert and Claire Callendar
October 2007
LIST OF GREEN FUNERAL COMPANIES
ENGLAND
North East
http://www.peacefunerals.co.uk/index.html Sheffield
North West of England
http://www.naturalendings.co.uk Manchester
South East
http://www.greenendings.co.uk/index.htm London
South West
http://www.memorialwoodlands.com/index.php Bristol
http://www.thegreenfuneralcompany.co.uk Cornwall
SCOTLAND
http://www.naturalwayburial.org.uk/page3
