In India, the average open-air cremation requires six hours of burning and over a half-ton of wood. Environmental Concerns: The effects of pyres on the environment are significant.Imagine coming across the remains of a body that was set adrift down a river or creek! In the case of a pyre on water, it’s likely that the partially burned body would end up floating or washed up on shore somewhere. Fires don’t burn hot enough or long enough to fully cremate a corpse. Body Disposal Laws: Many countries have strict laws on how bodies should be disposed of.Even with modern crematorium practices, it’s still necessary to grind the bones afterward into powder. It is difficult to generate fire with that intensity for a pyre. Heat Needed: To properly cremate a body, you need to get it to a temperature of 2012 degrees Fahrenheit (or 1110 degrees Celsius) for at least two hours.Historically, these types of funerals were frowned on in European societies, but there are practical reasons as to why pyres are usually not allowed: Open-air cremations are generally considered taboo and are illegal in most locations. If you’re wondering if that’s an option today, the short answer is often no. Often these are shown as a body being set adrift on a raft to burn while floating away. You may have seen pyres depicted in media as part of ancient cultures, such as that of the Vikings or Romans. Large quantities of livestock, especially those infected by disease, have been disposed of using these open-air cremations. Pyres have been used historically to cremate large numbers of bodies in some of humanity’s darkest moments, such as concentration camp prisoners in Nazi Germany.

Bonfires, for example, are often part of modern-day remembrances or acknowledgments of those who have passed on. While Hindus and Sikhs still conduct funerals using pyres, this cremation approach has been used in secular contexts. For several thousands of years, adherents to the Hindu and Sikh faiths have executed pyres to honor the deceased, and they still do today.

Historically, these death ceremonies have been a part of Roman and Viking cultures. In ancient societies, these rituals were used for offering burnt animal sacrifices to various deities. The word “pyre” itself is an anglicization of the ancient Greek word for fire. Often the structure is made of wood, which is generally flammable. In effect, this ceremony is an open-air cremation. Strictly speaking, a pyre or funeral pyre refers to the structure on which a body is placed to be set on fire and burned. While burials and cremations are common ways of tending to the body, historically pyres were also ways to “send off” the dead in various cultures.

The details of a funeral or last rite tend to become the responsibility of surviving family members or as specified by the dead person while alive. They provide opportunities for those who knew and loved the dearly departed to not only celebrate that person’s life but also grieve together and comfort each other. University and funded by the Mellon Foundation.Funerals are primarily how we honor the lives of the deceased. The work presented here was developed by David Mimno under theĬybereditions Project, an effort led by the Perseus Project at Tufts

This page shows papers published in 1952 that contain words associated with

Pyre taboo