The Quiet Rise of Cremation

When we think of saying goodbye to someone we love, images of green lawns and granite gravestones often come to mind. Yet for many families today, a small urn placed on a mantel holds just as much love and personal meaning. Once rare in America, cremation is now chosen by more than half of families.

As early as 20,000 years ago, our ancestors laid their loved ones to rest on pyres beneath starlit skies, believing the smoke carried the departed spirits’ home. The ancient Greeks honored their heroes this way too, and Hindu families still walk to the banks of the Ganges, where flames release the soul in a ritual unchanged for millennia. Fire is not always about destruction, but rather transformation.

For many centuries in Europe and early America, burial was the preferred method of disposition. The early Christian church taught that the body must remain whole for resurrection, and so the idea of cremation could not emerge. By the 1800s, overflowing churchyards posed real health concerns, something no one wanted near their children’s playgrounds or wells.

In 1873, an Italian professor named Lodovico Brunetti demonstrated a dignified cremation chamber at the Vienna Exposition. Soon after, in 1876, America’s first modern cremation took place in a small Pennsylvania town. The early crematories were built like chapels with soft lighting, wooden pews, and flowers all around. The process was slow and respectful, much like a church service. By 1885, England opened its first crematorium where families attended, said prayers, and left with a small urn the size of a teacup. The Catholic Church lifted its ban on cremation in 1963, asking that cremated remains be treated with the same reverence as the body.

Nowadays cremation is chosen out of love. Some projections say that by 2045 more than 80% of all funerals will be cremation. Not only can it be more affordable, but many families find cremation appropriate for modern life, where family members can be spread out geographically (for example, cremated remains can be separated and kept by various family members).

If you’re considering cremation for yourself or a loved one, rest assured that it’s not the end of tradition, but rather a continuation of one of the oldest traditions.