Objects to take with me

Hmm.. I'll admit I have thought about how I wanted to be buried; preferring a large ornate pyre set a light as the sun starts to dip below the skyline, but I have never really thought of what I would take with me. What objects would I adorn my body? What momentous do I wish to be transformed with me? The question is a lot harder to figure out once I as down to ponder it.


My wedding ring could go with me, a symbol of my love, the life I have shared with the person I hold most dear. And yet, there is something about sending it forth to another generation; having a grandson use the ring to purpose to his intended. So no, I think I will not take it with me, it can hold so much more meaning and purpose among the living. I guess I would feel the same of all my jewelry, except perhaps the necklace my now husband bought for me in Okinawa. It is a simple piece, pretty, but not worth much (if anything), but it was the first piece of jewelry he bought me, right on the spot at a touristy shop. I had set my eye on the beautiful mix of blacks, blues and whites in the glass bead center. He caught me lusting after it and encouraged me to put it on. He smiled as I fell in love with it, and before I could even sadly take it off, because I just didn't have the money, he told the shop lady that we would take it. That I will take with me, for it is most valuable with me.

I think it best if I have a shroud covering the entirety of my body, as my body is placed on on the pyre. I can just imagine the trauma that could come out of seeing a body, a person set to flame. I think the shroud would create a distance, a safe vale for those attending to be kept from further dark thoughts. But under that shroud, I want my hair loose and cascading around me, flowing over my shoulders, and I want to be in a dress. It shall be of medieval-esk style, maybe white, and loose, with gold or silverish trimmings.

This Image of the Lady of Shallot has always inspired me

Part of me wants to be decked out in a circlet, a fantastic woven belt, necklaces and a small simple, but beautiful sword. That part of me wants the opulence, the grandeur of a big ostentatious event. Over the top with a giant feast and laughter to fill the night. I think I will always want the laughter and joy to follow my wake. It is a sad thing to loose someone, but it will happen to us all, and I hope in that moment my loved ones will be able to celebrate live, mine and theirs. The other things I don't know that I will need. I don't truly need a gold band upon my brow or a sword at my side, so I think in the end I will forgo those things.


In the end I think what I wish to be buried with most are those objects others want to be with me. The photos of happy times, a watch that meant something more than the ticking of time. Those things are what I want to be with me. A connection of love and life.

To burn in a dark cave or Blaze among the stars?

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Years ago, for reasons I have utterly forgotten, I was asked what I wanted to happen to me when I died. While I concluded I had no real control on my placement in the afterlife, it did get me thinking about coffins, burial plots, etc. After watching far too many 'medieval' movies, I came to the passionate conclusion I wanted to be placed upon a pyre, shroud in a vivid shroud (at the time I was obsessed with deep purples and thought this would be a great accent to the wood and fire). I wanted that open-air burning, powerful and noble. Then I was told, sadly, that Canada does not allow funeral pyres; that if I wanted to be cremated I would have to do so in the privacy of a furnace.

I was heart broken, and have been for many a year, at the loss of this awesome ritual at my death. That was until this week's assignment came around. I guess I should slow down a little, open-air cremations are still illegal in Canada, but this could change.

Early last year a small town in Colorado passed measures for open-air burnings to be legal.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/the-hot-button/colorado-town-offers-its-dead-options-of-funeral-pyres-green-burials/article1889944/

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I doubt my future family (all those individuals not yet born or made into the family, because I have no plans on dying quite yet) will bother to trek my body across the boarder, especially with all that red tape. Instead what makes me happy about this decision is that it has occurred in the USA. This opens the lines of communication for the practice to be adopted here. People can start arguing:  "See it works in the USA, an industrial Western country. It will work here too!"



So maybe one day, far off in the distant future, my family will surround my body with love and watch it light up the night sky.

Intro to ME

Ok, so I'm Maria and I am a Anth/Psyc double major.
I needed another upper level arch course to complete the reqs for graduation. When I saw the chance to be in another one of Erin's classes I jumped at it. I am looking forward to learning more interesting things about graves, burials, etc.

So there's a short start. ^_^