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Wherever you spread the ashes, please take the box when you go.
Even though it's illegal to toss ashes off the Golden Gate Bridge, the boxes often wash up on shore nearby. The deceased's name is frequently still legible. Tacky tacky tacky.
I asked my wife to sprinkle my ashes on my Mothers grave. Thinking while maybe doing so, might help me to get to see her again on the other side.
Then maybe again, I may be all wrong. She may just show up with a broom and dust off her grave while saying out loud what she did to me, when I was kid 60 years ago...
" Now there you go again son, just making a big a mess for me to clean up"...
My family spread part of my mom's ashes in a State park in Wisconsin. It never occurred to me to inquire about a permit. We just did it where out cottage used to be, years ago. I have also spread ashes in a Green Belt area in California, also without a permit. True, you could get fined, I guess. But often this is done in a quiet, isolated area, and few people would be around to notice. I think if you are going to do it in a campground, a popular site for visitors, or a well known landmark, a permit might be in order.
Look, use a bit of common sense here. Obviously if you choose a secluded seldom-visited patch in a park or other public place to scatter ashes you could do so undetected. There are places popular for memorializations where staff keep an eye out for such things. If you are caught the fines can be pretty severe. Its one thing to walk out into the middle of a Civil War memorial visitor area and dump them but quite another to hike 2 days into Denali National Park to do the same. Depending on the area there are regulations prohibiting depositing human remains on public property or private property without permission. There's the gross-out factor and technically it IS waste dumping; not much different than dumping/burying a body, your compost or the contents of a camper holding tank (yeah yeah, don't start...I know cremains would be sterile). One family doing so isn't going to matter much. Two thousand families doing it in the same area every year will matter. If you want to take ashes out to sea for example you usually have to go out beyond the 3 mile coastal zone limit to do it legally.
Also you may not realize it but most if not all states keep strict records on the disposition of all human remains; cemetery, mausoleum, scattered, in the hands of a relative, etc. If you wish to be respectful not only of your relative and of the place that was so special to them you follow the rules of the place. Seems pretty ironic and self-serving to go to such lengths to fulfill such an important wish but do so in a furtive, skulking, and illegal manner.
Last edited by Parnassia; 05-05-2019 at 01:10 PM..
With my dad, I just went for it. Who's going to know?
And next time you're watching a Packer game from Lambeau Field, when you see the team come out of the tunnel onto the field, my dad is right there waving them past. In a manner of speaking.
Very cool! I will remember that now!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Parnassia
Look, use a bit of common sense here. Obviously if you choose a secluded seldom-visited patch in a park or other public place to scatter ashes you could do so undetected. There are places popular for memorializations where staff keep an eye out for such things. If you are caught the fines can be pretty severe. Its one thing to walk out into the middle of a Civil War memorial visitor area and dump them but quite another to hike 2 days into Denali National Park to do the same. Depending on the area there are regulations prohibiting depositing human remains on public property or private property without permission. There's the gross-out factor and technically it IS waste dumping; not much different than dumping/burying a body, your compost or the contents of a camper holding tank (yeah yeah, don't start...I know cremains would be sterile). One family doing so isn't going to matter much. Two thousand families doing it in the same area every year will matter. If you want to take ashes out to sea for example you usually have to go out beyond the 3 mile coastal zone limit to do it legally.
Also you may not realize it but most if not all states keep strict records on the disposition of all human remains; cemetery, mausoleum, scattered, in the hands of a relative, etc. If you wish to be respectful not only of your relative and of the place that was so special to them you follow the rules of the place. Seems pretty ironic and self-serving to go to such lengths to fulfill such an important wish but do so in a furtive, skulking, and illegal manner.
Showing my complete ignorance -- is "ashes" actually that? I hear the term "cremains" which perhaps implies that there might be something more than ashes left after the process. Archaeologists sometimes uncover cremated remains so something identifiable seems to be left over in some cases. A lot of us have metal body parts these days.
When my sister in law died, we had a meeting with the priest. Every time a family member mentioned her ashes, the priest would correct them with "cremains". I guess the family didn't appreciate his corrections, because "ashes" got mentioned more and more frequently.
I think cremains is a tacky, trendy mashup word that feels disrespectful.
Showing my complete ignorance -- is "ashes" actually that? I hear the term "cremains" which perhaps implies that there might be something more than ashes left after the process. Archaeologists sometimes uncover cremated remains so something identifiable seems to be left over in some cases. A lot of us have metal body parts these days.
Usually they'll grind up/crush anything that's left. You can Google "how does cremation work?" if curious.
It depends on where you are. For example, in Asia cremation is not usually as hot as in the U.S. (especially if just in a temple foven rather than something industrial like a Western crematorium would have) and there will be more larger bone pieces left over. I think I recall that they're less likely to crush the bones into powder? But don't quote me on that.
This is likely the case with what you mention in archaeology-- in the past, cremation fires would not have been as hot (and thorough) as modern furnaces.
Beautiful day. Got to the main gate and had to turn around. Seems someone deposited ashes on the X. We were told that they had to call the EPA, the Tribal Council and the Medicine Man. The park was closed for the day.
(IMHO, it was closed because they had to get the dust out of the jewelry that they were trying to sell)
Anyway, we made the executive decision to visit another site that day and come back the next. We were not on the time clock
There was an older couple crying that they had to get to airport and this was on their bucket list. Still couldn't get in
The next day, it was pouring, but we saw it.
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