In the 21st century body cremation service became popular in many European countries. Despite the general conservative sentiments and the not-so-loyal attitude of the official church, the idea of ​​cremating the bodies of the deceased after death is gradually replacing the old burial traditions. According to statistics, today about 70% of the Western population has a favorable attitude towards this ritual, and over the years the number of its adherents is only increasing.

Cremation of a human body consists of burning it in a special furnace until the skeleton and all soft tissues are completely mineralized. The object of religious rites in in this case becomes the ashes of the cremated person (skeletal remains and ash residue). If we consider this process from a purely technical aspect, the main difference between cremation and simple burial is the speed of transformation of the body. With burning, the complete transformation of the corpse takes about two hours, while with traditional burial, the entire process takes years or even decades.

How body cremation occurs - features of technology

Modern cremation is a complex and high-tech process. Despite their apparent simplicity, the ovens used for this process are controlled by smart electronics. They perform many functions and allow for complete mineralization of the remains.

How do modern cremation ovens differ from old ones?

Unlike outdated models that were in use 20–25 years ago, most modern stoves do not use solid or liquid fuel, but run on gas. The body is burned not in the flame itself, but in a stream of hot air at a temperature of 900–1100C. As a result of the process, only a handful of burnt bone material remains, which, after removing the metal parts, turns to ash.

There are also electric ovens. In this case, the process is also extremely clean and efficient, but due to the high energy costs, the cost of the service can be quite high.

Is it possible to save all the ashes?

Old cremation technologies had several significant disadvantages: mixing of remains with combustion products and the so-called “vent” into the atmosphere, during which burnt organic tissue escaped through the chimney. Today these problems have been completely resolved. Modern ovens do not have powerful exhaust systems. Instead, a loop circulation of hot air is used, so the ashes of the deceased are completely preserved.

Will the resulting ashes be environmentally friendly?

Previously, it often happened that the body burned unevenly and fatty organic clots were found among the remains. And this, of course, is absolutely unacceptable. Such an oversight is not only terrible from an aesthetic point of view, but also carries a potential danger, because any remaining organic matter will continue to decompose.

But in any case, this is already a thing of the past. Modern stoves are controlled using electronic equipment that accurately calculates the duration of the process and the combustion temperature, taking into account the size and weight of the body. Thanks to this, 100% mineralization of all remains is achieved. In addition, as an additional measure, the furnaces are equipped with special afterburning chambers, which eliminate any possibility of incomplete combustion of organic matter. Therefore, obtained after the procedure, it is also suitable for both burial and safe storage in a special urn.

What happens to the human body during cremation

After the final preparation of the body is completed, the sealed coffin with the deceased is placed into the burning chamber using special manipulators. After this point, the electronics come into operation.

• The first stage is the burning of the surface of the coffin. It usually takes up to 3-5 minutes, after which the coffin completely disintegrates and all flammable materials begin to ignite. In parallel, thermal decomposition of body tissue occurs, which triggers the carbonization process.
• Subsequently, the furnace electronics regulate the temperature regime in such a way that the thermal destruction of the body occurs according to certain parameters, since if this process proceeds too quickly or, conversely, too slowly, it will not be possible to achieve 100% mineralization of the skeleton and soft tissues.

Despite the apparent simplicity of the process, there are many factors that must be taken into account. These include the age of the deceased, body weight, the amount of time between death and cremation, as well as dietary features and drug therapy if the person died as a result of a long illness.

These parameters are very important, because, for example, some diseases cause tissue calcification, others - dehydration, others - changes in the density of bone and muscle tissue, and so on. Therefore, organizations that professionally engage in such activities always carefully study this information before starting the cremation process.

Post-processing of ashes

Directly burning the body is not everything. Another integral part of the cremation process is the post-processing of the burned remains. The ashes formed after heat treatment have a heterogeneous shape.

They consist of ash, bone fragments, as well as all kinds of metal parts - screws, coffin handles, nails (prostheses, pins, rods, plates may also remain, if they were once used to treat fractures). The ashes are brought to a homogeneous state using a cremulator - a special machine that carefully kneads the mineral residue to the state of homogeneous ash, screening out foreign objects.

However, in many crematoria they do without such equipment, proceeding the old fashioned way (processing the ashes with hammers and sifting them by hand). But even here there is no reason to worry. Indeed, in old Soviet-style crematoria, after burning, unburned bones could remain, which the staff of the institution, ignoring moral and ethical issues, simply removed and threw away.

But today this is completely excluded. Modern ovens effectively burn the body, leaving homogeneous ashes. It is absolutely harmless and environmentally friendly, and manual removal of metal particles is quick and easy. After this, the ashes are placed in an urn and given to relatives, who can dispose of them at their own discretion or following the will of the deceased.

What should you pay attention to if you choose cremation of the body?

The choice of coffin and accessories for the deceased must be carried out according to the principle of “beautiful and flammable.” This approach will simplify the cremation process itself and satisfy the needs of the funeral service agency (the main ones relate to safety precautions during the process). In general, all preliminary measures boil down to the removal of medical devices implanted into the body (if any) and the seizure of jewelry.

If, at the request of relatives, jewelry remains on the body of the deceased, you should not worry about the fact that they may be stolen after the end of the process. Gold, silver and gems usually cannot withstand the intense heat of modern ovens and disintegrate into fine particles.

It should be noted that cremation does not necessarily have to be accompanied by a departure from traditional burial rites. Even in this case, you can carry out all the usual funeral events, including saying goodbye to relatives, friends and relatives of the deceased; ceremonial burial of the urn with ashes and organization of a memorial dinner.

Is it true that diseases have psychological causes, what rational basis does this idea have, and what makes it so tempting?

In 1923, writer Katherine Mansfield, suffering from advanced pulmonary tuberculosis, noted in her diary: “A bad day.<...>terrible pain and so on. I couldn't do anything. The weakness was not only physical. To heal, I must heal my self. This is the root of why I am not recovering. My mind doesn’t obey me.” Three years earlier, Franz Kafka, suffering from the same disease, wrote to Milena Jesenskaya: “My mind is sick, and lung disease is only an expression of my mental illness.”

If all diseases come from nerves, then it is not the lungs that need to be treated for tuberculosis, but the diseased will. Thousands of quite reasonable people reasoned approximately this way for decades - until doctors discovered the causes of tuberculosis and learned to treat it effectively with streptomycin and other antimicrobial drugs. Now it is difficult to find a person who would seriously believe that tuberculosis occurs from internal conflicts or excessive passions.

Beliefs change, but many things remain the same. For example, the belief that the roots of diseases must be sought in the human psyche.

Psychosomatics is a word that is commonly used to denote the unity of bodily and mental functions in mammals of the species Homo sapiens . Psychological factors influence the occurrence of diseases, and diseases have the opposite effect on the human psyche: even the most conservative representatives of official medicine will not argue with these simple statements.

But a person who is convinced that “all diseases are from nerves” sometimes goes much further. He will associate stomach and duodenal ulcers with self-dislike, arthritis with indecision and refusal to act. Adherents of alternative medicine can explain any, even the most severe, illness by psychological reasons. How, then, to separate truth from fiction, and real medical facts from empty statements?

“Everyone creates their own illness”

Louise Hay and Liz Burbo are among the most famous apologists of the idea that our thoughts and beliefs are the main source of our psycho-emotional and physical ailments (in Russia their work continues, for example, Valery Sinelnikov). They even developed tables that correlated specific diseases with certain psychological states. Parkinson's disease, according to Hay, arises from fear and the desire for control. Adenoids appear in children when they feel that their parents do not love them. “Anger, dissatisfaction and resentment, accumulated over time, literally begins to eat the body and becomes a disease called CANCER,” she writes in her most famous book"Heal your life."

And this belief has quite serious (and sad) consequences. A person who is convinced that his heart ailments are caused by a denial of joy will rather repeat to himself “I am happy to let the flow of joy through my mind, body, life” (as Hay advises), rather than promptly contact a cardiologist. It is no coincidence that alternative medicine is the most attacked by many scientists and professional skeptics. Even if the treatments offered by alternative "healers" are harmless in themselves, they can cost you your life by ignoring real medical problems.

Let's give just one example. Many people know that Steve Jobs nine months after diagnosis, he refused surgery to remove pancreatic cancer. Instead, he went on a diet, tried nutritional supplements, acupuncture and others alternative methods treatment. When he finally lay down on the operating table, it was already too late: the metastases had spread throughout the body, and the doctors were unable to save him. Arthur Levinson, Jobs's friend and Apple colleague, later reflected: “I think Steve so passionately wants the world to be a certain way that he forces it to be that way. Sometimes it doesn't work. Reality is cruel." Cancer does not obey our beliefs, no matter how positive and harmonious they may be. Any disease is capricious. She cannot be influenced by persuasion alone.

When Susan Sontag discovered that she had cancer, she decided to write an essay that would rid the disease of its moral and psychological connotations. In the 1970s, many people believed that cancer was caused by certain psychological characteristics patients: suppression of emotions, dissatisfaction with close relationships, pain from recent separation. She compared this disease with tuberculosis, which has also recently been associated with specific psychological complexes and “passions.” Even earlier, such characteristics were attributed to the plague. In the 16th-17th centuries, in London suffering from an epidemic, there was a belief that “ happy man invulnerable to infection." When real treatments were found, these fantasies quickly became a thing of the past. The same thing happened with tuberculosis, and in time, perhaps, it will happen with cancer.

But no matter how far progress in medicine has gone, the mass belief in the psychological nature of diseases does not go away.

On the one hand, there are real reasons behind this belief. The influence of chronic stress on the occurrence of many diseases has been proven by numerous studies. Stress weakens the immune system's responses and makes the body more vulnerable to a wide range of diseases. In this case, doctors resort to the “weak spot theory,” according to which, against the background of stress, those organs and systems that are genetically weakened in a particular patient first fail. But, as Sontag notes, “the hypothesis of an immunological response to emotional shock is hardly identical with—or supportive of—the idea that emotions cause disease, much less the proposition that certain emotions cause certain diseases.”

There is no direct connection between diseases and mental conditions.

The belief that the source of diseases are certain mental states goes deep into the past. Even in the times of Plato and Socrates, the Greek physician Hippocrates argued that the state of the body is closely related to a person’s temperament. Anger causes asthma, lethargy causes gastrointestinal disorders, melancholy causes heart and brain diseases. But Hippocrates still did not exaggerate the importance of psychology: he considered the main source of disease to be an imbalance of fluids (humors) inside the body. Humoral theory defined Western medicine for centuries until more effective theories and appropriate treatments were found. In the time of Hippocrates, many things were forgivable. But today the assertion that cancer is caused by unspoken grievances can only be explained by cynicism or stupidity.

What diseases can be explained by psychology?

The word “psychosomatics” itself appeared only in the 19th century, and classical theory psychosomatic diseases arose already by the middle of the 20th century. One of the founders of this approach, psychoanalyst Franz Alexander, in 1950 gave a list of seven main psychosomatic diseases, which generally remains true to this day. This is the so-called “Chicago Seven”:

essential hypertension;

peptic ulcer of the stomach and duodenum;

rheumatoid arthritis;

hyperthyroidism (thyrotoxicosis);

bronchial asthma;

ulcerative colitis;

neurodermatitis.

Modern medicine does not deny that these diseases often occur against a background of stress and negative psychological experiences. But one cannot consider their psychology the only reason. So, for a stomach ulcer to occur, at least an important component in most cases it is a bacterium Helicobacter pylori.

Another type of disease that modern psychosomatic medicine deals with is disorders that lack a physiological substrate with the undoubted presence of negative symptoms. Symptoms can be very different: pain in different parts bodies; gastrointestinal disorders; skin rashes; uncontrollable cramps and headaches. It is believed that irritable bowel syndrome is one of the most common gastrointestinal diseases in the world, which affects approximately 15-20% of the adult population of the planet. But in recent years scientists are finding evidence that certain types IBS is an autoimmune disease that occurs in people who have had a bacterial intestinal infection.

Chronic fatigue syndrome, or myalgic encephalomyelitis, is a disease that is now undergoing a similar revision. Previously, this syndrome, whose victims experience a lack of energy even with minimal exertion and are often isolated from society, was considered a type of hysteria. Patients were recommended to undergo a course of psychoanalysis in order to work through repressed emotional traumas, which allegedly expressed themselves in loss of energy and other physiological symptoms. The causes of this disease are still unknown (although there are assumptions about the viral nature of CFS). But it is very well known that neither psychotherapy, nor antidepressants, nor a “positive attitude” help get rid of the disease.

The state of consciousness and psychological attitudes have great power over bodily functions. This proves the effectiveness of the placebo mechanism and its flip side - nocebo. In 2007, a resident of the American city of Jackson, participating in a clinical trial of an antidepressant, quarreled with his girlfriend, swallowed the remaining pills and was taken to the hospital with tachycardia and dangerously low blood pressure. When the trial organizers reported that the patient was in the placebo group and taking pacifiers, all symptoms went away within 15 minutes.

Consciousness is bodily, and the body is perceived psychologically. Stress is not just a set of sensations in our head. This is a specific physiological process that affects performance internal organs. But, in addition to psychological reasons, most diseases have many others - nutrition, lifestyle, condition environment, genetic predisposition and accidental infections. These reasons, as a rule, turn out to be the main ones.

The need to explain illnesses through negative emotions and psychological attitudes speaks less about the illnesses, and more about the explainer himself and the level of knowledge of his era. When people knew nothing about bacteria and antibiotics, they had every reason to believe that the plague was God's punishment, and tuberculosis was a consequence of uncontrolled passions. Any disease, by definition, has a psychological dimension. The way our body behaves affects our internal state and way of thinking, and our internal state affects the body.

What makes this route of explanation so seductive? Firstly, its relative simplicity. “You have an ulcer because you cannot digest someone” - say this, and life will become simple and understandable. It is much more difficult to talk about the interaction of bacteria with the internal environment of the body, diet, lifestyle, stress and many other physiological mechanisms. Secondly, the psychological explanation gives the illusion of control over the disease. Accept your emotions, learn to control them internal conflicts- and you will not be threatened with illness. Needless to say, happiness has never been a sufficient reason for immortality.

In most cases, it is better to get rid of psychological explanations in medicine and look at physiology first. Sometimes a disease is just a disease, without any hidden meanings or subtexts.

A crematorium is a special building in which the bodies of deceased people are burned. For some this sounds scary, others consider this procedure practical. Some even bequeath to scatter their ashes in a place that was dear to them during their lifetime. There are many opponents of this method of destroying the body, because according to the Christian religion it should be buried. But in any case, everyone is free to decide for themselves what is more acceptable for last goodbye: cemeteries, crematoriums or other non-traditional burial rites, in accordance with their beliefs, religion and worldview. Modern technologies allow you to make the process quick and aesthetic.

How it works

A crematorium is a range of services that allow you to say goodbye to the deceased with dignity. Relatives and friends invited to the ceremony should at least briefly familiarize themselves with how all this will happen, because many are frightened by the very thought of what they might see there. Often crematoria are located next to cemeteries. They have their own morgues in which they preserve the body of the deceased for three days. They also provide hair styling, makeup, and dressing services. In addition, they have halls for farewells, as well as hosts who will conduct the ceremony in a solemn atmosphere. After being said last words and flowers and bouquets are laid, the coffin is taken to the oven. Watching him go into the fire is not at all necessary, and not everyone will be able to withstand such a moral load. But there are those who, on the contrary, want to see everything that will happen to the body loved one, as if being with him until the last minute. They are given this opportunity (there is a special window in the oven for this), but for a fee.

How do you get ashes?

A crematorium is not only a building, but also an oven where the body of the deceased is exposed to a stream of hot gas, the temperature of which reaches 900-1000 degrees C. It would seem that everything that is exposed to such thermal effects should turn to ashes. However, the bones remain intact. To obtain ashes for the columbarium, workers grind them in a cremulator. Then, mixed with ash from the oven, a special capsule is filled. With this method of “disposing” of the body, a “product” weighing 2.5-3 kg or a volume of 3 liters is obtained. The process itself takes place within 1-1.5 hours. Unfortunately, according to our laws, you cannot store the ashes of a loved one received from a crematorium at home. It is necessary to bury him in a special columbarium or bury him in the ground in a cemetery. In some cases, if permission from the Sanitary and Epidemiological Service has been obtained, you can disperse it in the chosen location.

Positive aspects

A crematorium is a place for a dignified farewell to the deceased. For many people, it is psychologically easier to bury ashes than to think about what happens to the body of a loved one underground. In addition, in some cases, for example, if a person died in another country, cremated remains are easier to transport to the funeral site. Also, the possibility of storing ashes for a long time is a big plus when, for some reason, it is necessary to postpone the farewell ceremony for some time.

There is no need to be afraid that during the cremation process there will be bad smell. Nowadays, improved stoves are used, so that relatives will not even see smoke. In addition, the ashes are sterile, making burial a hygienic procedure. After all, sanitary services often receive complaints that harmful substances are released into the water and soil, formed during the decomposition process underground of bodies buried in cemeteries.

Is this acceptable

The Christian religion condemns cremation as a pagan rite. Therefore, in our country it is not as widespread as abroad. But at the same time, several crematoria were built, equipped with everything necessary. Also in these buildings, unidentified corpses or the bodies of those people whose relatives refused to bury them are burned.

For example, it has been operating in Moscow for 31 years. Address: 6th kilometer of Pyatnitskoye Highway. It is located next to the cemetery, has its own morgue and a hall for the farewell ceremony. This is a crematorium where prices are affordable and depend on what kind of coffin and funeral accessories are ordered. The economy option will cost only 18,500 rubles.

Some people do not want to know what will happen to their body after death. Others, on the contrary, want to be aware of everyone possible options, so that it is as comfortable as possible. Be that as it may, cremation is a worthy and, with the right organization, a solemn ceremony, which for some peoples is the only possible way burials.

IN European countries cremation is an old practice, and in some Asian countries residents are required to cremate their deceased. According to surveys, only 15% of Russians could say that they know how cremation takes place. However, in those Russian cities where there are crematoriums, the cremation rate reaches 61.3%.

Traditionally, we highlight pros cremation +

As many people know, traditional graves do not have a very good effect on the ecological situation of the city, often polluting groundwater. In addition, the state is forced to constantly allocate new plots of land for burials. An urn with ashes takes up little space in the columbarium, and the ashes, without embalming substances getting into the soil, do not pollute the environment in any way.

An urn with ashes is allowed to be placed in an existing grave (for example, the ashes of a husband in the grave of his wife). To do this, according to sanitary standards, 20 years should not pass from the date of the last burial, as for a regular burial. It is also worth saying that taking into account the cost of places in the cemetery, the cost of cremation is usually an order of magnitude lower.

Cons– or how does the church feel about cremation?

The Orthodox Church has an ambivalent attitude towards the rite of cremation, believing that the body should be buried in the earth, not in the fire. However, in our time, when cemeteries are increasingly overcrowded, church ministers began to conduct funeral services right in the crematorium.

Not all cities have crematoria, and transporting a body is a rather complicated and costly task, which stops people and forces them to opt for a conventional burial. Whether to cremate a person or give him land, everyone answers this question (if there was no wish of the deceased himself). Some people think that this is not Christian and a person deserves to be buried, while others, on the contrary, think that with our ecology, when the coffin is flooded in the spring inland waters, it is better to get rid of the rotting process in the swamp and immediately burn the body, leaving only ashes.

How is a person cremated?

When you go to the crematorium you will be given invoice, which will need to be provided on the day of cremation. Relatives, if desired, can immediately arrange both cremation and the subsequent placement of the urn with ashes in the columbarium.

You will be warned in advance that the pacemaker and other devices should not be present in the body. You must decide for yourself whether to remove the deceased wedding ring, cross and other things left on the body. In any case, the high temperature of the furnace is capable of melting any of these metals.

Nails, metal prostheses, and other inclusions remaining in the oven are removed using an electric magnet. The coffin must be made of flammable materials, preferably wooden. Just before cremation, the coffin is sealed, the handles and cross are removed, and a metal plate with a number is placed on it, which guarantees that the ashes will not be mixed up.

Urns for cremation

You will be asked to choose an urn for the ashes. In addition to the aesthetic component, Urns come in all shapes: angel, ball, cross, heart, birds…. There are so-called biourns, they are specially created for burial in the ground. Thanks to their biodegradable material, they will quickly dissolve into the soil.

If you are going to bury the ashes in a columbarium or store them at home, you usually choose urns made of hard and durable materials (stone, porcelain, ceramics...) The urn, especially if you plan to store it at home, is often engraved with the dates of death and the names of the deceased.

There are also special urns that have a compartment that makes it easy to scatter the ashes in the wind.

As a rule, on the 3rd day, crematorium workers deliver the body from the morgue to a special farewell hall of the crematorium, where the funeral service takes place, and relatives say goodbye to the deceased. After this, the coffin is moved to another room for direct cremation, and the relatives disperse.

The cremation process takes about 2 hours. Sometimes after cremation, relatives go to the funeral. After the body has burned, the ashes are hermetically placed in an urn, which relatives have previously chosen when placing an order for cremation. You can also order an engraving on the urn. An urn with ashes is usually issued the next day, sometimes on major cities The issuance process is delayed by 2-3 days.

There are crematoria that allow you to be present during the cremation and release the ashes on the same day.

To receive an urn with ashes, in addition to your passport, a certificate issued on the day of cremation and a stamp of death certificate, you will need to provide a certificate of paid services from a cemetery or columbarium for burying the urn. However, if you, for example, want to scatter the ashes to the wind, then you can write a statement that you want to bury the urn in another city. If the urn with ashes is not collected within a year, it will be buried with other unclaimed urns. Remember that many crematoriums require money for storing urns unclaimed for 40 days.

What is done with the ashes after cremation?

The urn with ashes can be buried in a new place, in a cemetery. In fact, this burial method is no different from a regular burial; you can also order a cross or monument with the dates and photograph indicated on it. The only difference is the size of the plot, which is smaller and may cost you less.

If desired, you can bury the urn with ashes in a family grave with relatives. In this case, you will only need to ask the cemetery workers to dig a hole. Usually, either a cross or a full-fledged monument is also placed at the burial site of the urn. However, most often a place for the urn with ashes is purchased in columbarium or wailing wall.

In Russia, such walls are not yet very popular and are mainly present in large cities. Columbariums can be open (outdoors) or closed (indoors). However, for busy metropolitan residents this becomes a salvation. The columbarium does not need to be looked after, it always looks neat. You need to understand that, as in the case of burial, the urn with ashes is placed in the columbarium forever and covered with a slab. There is no option to open the cell.

After closing the cell, loved ones receive a burial certificate. The slab itself is no different from the gravestone. Dates, epitaphs, and a photograph of the deceased are also written on it. Also, special fastenings are often attached to the stove so that loved ones can light a candle or lay flowers.

In the West, it is not uncommon to see how relatives keep an urn with the ashes of the deceased in their home, but this is not always suitable for our mentality. Also, before dying, some people ask that their ashes be scattered to the wind. But by law you must provide certificate of burial place of the urn, so you can either write a statement that you are going to bury the urn in another city, or negotiate with the cemetery employees (administration) to issue this certificate without providing a place. Of course, for a certain amount.

During a burial or when laying an urn in the columbarium, those closest to you are present; instead of throwing a handful of earth into the grave, before burial, everyone lays their hands on the urn with ashes, saying goodbye to the deceased there.

How much does cremation cost?

The cremation itself today costs about 4,000 rubles. However, this price does not include the urn and engraving on it, the provision of a farewell hall, musical accompaniment, coffin, bus from the morgue to the church or crematorium and after cremation to the wake.

In addition, many funeral companies organize turnkey cremation. Each company has its own list of services and its own cost of such packages. On average, a complete contradiction necessary services for cremation, with the purchase of a simple coffin and minimal attributes will cost you 20,000 rubles.

How much does a space in a columbarium cost?

The price of a cell depends on the location of the columbarium. Closed columbariums located indoors, as well as carousel-type columbariums (they look beautiful) are more expensive. The price also depends on the height of the cell. The first and last floors are the cheapest, since the first is located right next to the ground, and the second is too high, at a height of up to 2 meters. While the middle floors are more comfortable and are located near the face.

The cheapest place in St. Petersburg will cost you 4,000 rubles, and the average price of a columbarium cell in the center of Moscow will cost no less than 50,000 rubles. But this is only a place; you will also need to pay separately for the memorial plate, for the engraving on it and for the burial procedure itself.