Funeral Homes Illustrate Cremation And Burial Differences

There are a variety of different services at funeral homes in Worcester, MA and many of the big decisions have to be made soon after someone dies. You have to decide, for example, whether to go with a traditional burial or a cremation service. Some of the differences between those two methods are obvious while others are a little more hidden. You need to know all of the details included with both so you are able to go the right direction.

The Obvious

Even if you know very little about cremation and burial, you know the obvious differences. Cremation means the body is turned into an ash-like form under high heat and burial means the body is kept intact and placed in a casket and into the ground. Those are the most obvious differences between the two methods. Cremation allows you to do a variety of other things with the final resting place, if you so choose, while traditional burial has only one route after the funeral service.

The Services

Traditional burials are almost always preceded with a funeral service and sometimes also a visitation. Those are some of the rituals that people generally pair together, but that doesn’t always have to be the case. You could have a direct burial that skips the funeral and visitation, if you so choose. But the burial portion of the process is always a must. With cremation, the services are so varied that it is hard to find two services that are run in identical manners. Sometimes there’s a memorial service that feels somber, like a funeral. Other times, there’s a celebration of life. Or, there might just be an ash scattering service or other such small, intimate services.

The Resting Place

A traditional burial takes place in the cemetery without question. That’s the resting place of choice though, of course, you get to choose which cemetery and even which plot is best for your loved one. With cremation, you can choose the resting place from a much longer list. You can choose to bury cremated remains in a cemetery, but you can also scatter them in a number of locations or even keep them. The options are wide open and can give you a great deal of variety.

Place To Visit

There is always a place to visit later, no matter what you do for your loved one, but some placed are more obvious than others. With a traditional burial, you visit the cemetery, see the grave, and look at the headstone. That could be the case after cremation as well if you bury remains in the cemetery. But you could also visit the location where the remains were scattered, though there would not be a headstone present.

The Costs

One thing to consider between the two methods is the cost and what you can afford. Funeral homes in Worcester, MA are completely open with their price lists so you will quickly be able to find out that burial is generally much more expensive than cremation all the way around.