Everyone’s heard of scattering ashes, but just how do you do complete the task in a dignified way? Finding ash scattering services is not hard – the firms are springing up all over the place and searching Google or the Yellow Pages should return several in your area.
Here is a list of the most popular ways of effectively and sensitively dealing with the problem:
Air scattering
Ashes are cast from a private plane. Some firms will arrange your ceremony to fly over a specified place at the time you want. On clear days, the ash cloud is visible from the ground.
True story: A deceased man’s colleague was a private pilot. After a farewell ceremony on the ground, two friends took him for a last flight over the Essex countryside. At 2000 feet, the window was opened and his ashes were tossed into the slipstream…where some attached themselves to the fuselage and the rest blew into the backseat. His final resting place was a vacuum cleaner.
Casting
Casting is simply an individual or a group gathering in one place and throwing the ashes in to the wind. One or all of the people can take part. Just make sure you stand upwind and throw the ashes downwind so they don’t blow back.
Green Burial
Burying ashes makes a shrine for your friends and loved ones to visit for contemplation and remembrance. Ashes can be poured in to a hole or placed in an urn and buried. The spot can be marked by a headstone, memorial or even by planting a tree.
Raking
Ashes are scattered on loose soil and raked into the ground, at the conclusion of the scattering ceremony. Many cemeteries and crematorium have scattering gardens.
Trenching
Trenching is popular on beaches. With a small hoe, dig a shallow trench in the sand. Many people write the deceased’s name. Pour in the ashes, and if it’s a windy day, mix in a small amount of wet sand to hold the ashes in the trench. When the tide turns, the ashes will be washed out to sea.
Water scattering
For people who want their ashes scattered at sea, water scattering urns, shells and pillows are special urns that float and gradually melt in to the waters gently releasing ashes as they dissolve. Several models of water scattering urns and pillows are available from Cremations Solutions.
Is it legal to just scatter ashes?
The answer is yes, with a few exceptions. In the UK, ashes may be scattered anywhere – providing you have permission if the land is private and beware of water scattering in the North Sea as European Community laws govern what can be put in to the water.
Other points to consider for scattering
- Don’t spread ashes upstream of a drinking water supply;
- Don’t spread ashes in water used for commercial activity or recreation
- If you are on a bridge – watch out for people in boats passing beneath
- Don’t scatter in windy weather or close to buildings to avoid the ashes being blown over others
- Don’t bury or scatter non-biodegradable materials
The bullet points are sensible precautions as well in the US. You should always check before scattering ashes in the US as many states and authorities, such as parks, have special regulations that limit or prohibit the spreading of ashes.
