Mostly we tend to only hear about regular death rituals here, cremation or burial usually. But, for those people seeking a bit of a different method, there are options out there. Things like the natural burial we discussed in class, as well as the preserved bodies then put on display, are excellent examples of odd methods...
The most bizarre form of treatment of the dead I have been able to find, Cryogenics, is still a relatively undeveloped science - as far as the future of the theory goes.
"Cryonics is the science of using ultra-cold temperature to preserve human life with the intent of restoring good health when technology becomes available to do so." (http://www.alcor.org/).
Corporations, such as Alcor, claim to be the forerunners in a new trend, trying to preserve life (humans). If you could live forever, would you? Most people would automatically reply yes, but with our technology today it is only partly (maybe) possible. These companies are only claiming to be able to preserve the body (you!), the problem I have with it is that is the end of their current scientific ability! Once you, or your remains once you have passed away, have been frozen, they stay that way and will stay that way until the next step of technology is invented.
A select few people (http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/22597), excluding the rumored Walt Disney who was actually buried, have bought in to this futuristic idea - literally. The estimated cost is upwards of $90,000, and that is just an estimate (http://outthere.whatitcosts.com/cryogen-frozen.htm).
Not surprisingly, there are very few people who have decided to go with this burial option, and personally I wouldn't either.
Cryogenics is such a unique type of 'burial' because it seems to allude to the fact that you are not truly dead. As if you have not passed on at all but just in a sleep, prolonged and cold, but to rise again in the future. I wonder how this changed the grief cycle and the ritual of the burial. I suppose you would be prone to give the person things they could use when the "awaken" again. Do you have a burial with this? Does your family stand around talking about how you will be missed and are in the hands of {insert god}? I think I would not want to do this because of all the emotional upheaval that may go with it. How do you say good-bye to someone who it suppose to 'wake' up again?
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