Cremation: Facts

Categories: Death customs > Incineration > Fire

graves in Singapore are exhumed 15 years after burial, and the remains are cremated or re-buried?
Swiss illustrator Albert Lindegger was responsible for murals at the headquarters of the cantonal police and the crematorium in Berne?
Hindu sadhus live in the cremation grounds of Tarapith as they believe that goddess Tara – who is attracted to bones – dwells there?

Facts on topics related to Cremation

human sacrifices were once offered in Chitpur, now home to Kolkata’s latest railway passenger terminal?
Chamunda (pictured), a fearsome aspect of the Hindu Divine Mother, was worshipped by ritual human and animal sacrifices along with offerings of wine?
La Amelia, a small Maya archaeological site in Guatemala, features hieroglyphic panels describing the ritual sacrifice of a bound captive who is rolled into a ball and thrown to his death?
archaeologists discovered bones of at least seven people sacrificed by druids in Havránok, Slovakia?
during a Viking funeral (pictured), human sacrifice was performed with sexual rites?
in 1066, the Lutici sacrificed the head of a captured bishop to their deity?
the Jews of Massena, New York, were falsely accused of the kidnap and ritual murder of a Christian girl in September 1928 in an incident known as the Massena blood libel?

burials took place for almost 60 years at the site before Monfort Cemetery in Port Washington, New York was officially set aside for that purpose?
graves in Singapore are exhumed 15 years after burial, and the remains are cremated or re-buried?
Etaples Military Cemetery is the largest Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery in France, with over 11,500 burials?
the megalithic Niedertiefenbach tomb in Hesse, Germany has at least ten discernible layers of burials from the New Stone Age?
the events in the novel The Dig take place during the excavation of the Anglo-Saxon burial ship at Sutton Hoo, in Suffolk, England?

in Mesoamerican folklore, it is believed that a dog (mythical dog pictured) carries the newly deceased across a body of water into the afterlife?

Tang Dynasty general Li Baozhen, in search of immortality, consumed over 20,000 pills made by an alchemist, which eventually killed him?
in Greek mythology, Arion (or Areion) was an extremely swift immortal horse that could talk?
the Tang Dynasty chancellor Li Fan sought to dissuade Emperor Xianzong from seeking immortality by citing the failed examples of Qin Shi Huang, Emperor Wu of Han, and Emperor Taizong of Tang?

Arya Samaj spearheaded the 19th-century cow protection movement, Hindu opposition to Muslim cow sacrifice, leading to violent riots spreading all across India?
Chamunda (pictured), a fearsome aspect of the Hindu Divine Mother, was worshipped by ritual human and animal sacrifices along with offerings of wine?
Tirggel, traditional Christmas cookies from Switzerland, are said to have originated as pagan offertory cakes, cut in the shape of sacrificial animals?
a legend ties the name of the late Roman Elenska Basilica (pictured) in west central Bulgaria to deer sacrifice which predated its construction?
both Christians and Muslims ritually sacrifice lambs during the Feast of Saint George in the Palestinian town of al-Khader near Bethlehem?
when Tang Dynasty general Zhang Yi signed a peace treaty with Tufan, he made an offering of goats instead of the customary cattle and horses because he was embarrassed to be dealing with "barbarians"?

prosector's wart is a skin lesion caused by contamination with tuberculosis of a diseased cadaver during its preparation for autopsy by a prosector, a preparator of dissections?
the autopsy depicted in Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp, an oil painting by Rembrandt, was a real event which took place on 16 January 1632?

4th century martyr Emygdius is said to have carried his own severed head away after being decapitated?
José María Robles Hurtado, a martyr during the Cristero War, placed the noose that would be used to hang him around his own neck, telling his executioner "Don't dirty your hands"?
Luis Sotelo was a Spanish friar who died as a martyr in Japan in 1624?
Rhipsime and her companions are venerated as the first Christian martyrs in Armenian history?
Thomas John McDonnell consecrated Marist College's altar with the relics of two martyrs?
Uncle Tom (pictured) was a virile Christian martyr in his original depiction in the novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin?
Varvara Yakovleva, a nun of the Russian Orthodox Church, was canonized as a martyr after she was killed with her former mistress, Grand Duchess Elizabeth Fyodorovna?
Walerian Łukasiński, a 19th century Polish Army officer, was sentenced to 14 years of imprisonment by the Russian Empire, and died in prison after 44 years, becoming one of the martyrs of the Polish struggle for independence under the partitions?
William Marshall produced an engraving (pictured) of Charles I of England as a Christian martyr for the Eikon Basilike, published ten days after the King was executed in 1649?
Reverend John Chilembwe is celebrated as the first Malawian nationalist, and was a martyr for his cause?