Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/06/13/brazil-now-digging-up-the-dead.html
“Sao Paulo cemeteries to dig up graves for coronavirus space”
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This makes me wonder if cremation and burying cremains would be an alternative. That saves a lot of space.
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Theoretically, but these are likely mostly people from the favelas, the homeless and people in state care/custody. Bolsonaro wouldn’t sacrifice the fuel on them.
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It probably would, but I think that there is no infrastructure to do it now, and it requires a cultural change to adapt the mourning rituals, since going visit the graves is still done regularly.
I’m not sure about that graveyard specifically, but I heard that in my hometown, a town in the countryside of same state, the graves are periodically removed to make room for the new ones.
You don’t buy the lot your relatives are buried, but you “lease” them for a period.
But, it is not so short as the article say, “people who died at least three years ago”, and it usually takes more than a generation to do it.
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Agree with other posts: The whole idea of burying a body, full of toxic chemicals, in a pointlessly expensive box, and reserving that chunk of real estate forever (or until the next revolution) is just plain ridiculous. If people insist on having a memorial spot where they can dump overpriced flowers & talk to ThingsThatAren’tThere™ , an engraved brick in a wall, with or without ashes behind, should be more than sufficient.
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Who’dve thought this would happen in a country ruled by a preening, science-denying autocrat?
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I just finished on an album of quarantine-themed songs with musicians from all over the world. One of my favorites is “Quarantine in Brazil” by Clara of the Oaks. It’s an interesting perspective on what the pandemic is like there and how it’s important to remember the country is still in a political crisis as well. https://docpop.bandcamp.com/track/quarantine-in-brazil-feat-clara-of-the-oaks
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Digging up the dead for space isn’t new, nor is stacking coffins in graves. Multiple occupancy graves, shared headstones (or more than one per grave) occur frequently in London. Ossuaries are a good way to save space too.
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The French did the same in the 18th century, except the bones were placed in tunnels instead of metal boxes, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catacombs_of_Paris
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This seems like an extra step for no reason.
Why not just put the NEWLY deceased in the large metal containers rather than this elaborate switcheroo?
The old ones already decomposed and occupy much less space.
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I still don’t get why people need to be buried with elaborate gravestones and coffins.
My wife and I both have it in our long-term plan to just burn us. I’d love to think that I’d have a pyre on the beach atop logs surrounded by my warrior friends, but I’ll settle for a simple cremation. I don’t care what you do with my ashes. It’s just carbon and water after the synapse stop firing.
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People should do whatever feels best about their deceased loved ones’ remains, respecting their wishes as much as possible.
I have no interest in a plot and casket. My grandfather asked for his remains to be spread in the Bow River, which happened. I love it. Personally I’d like to be dumped in the Georgia Strait, cremated or otherwise - given a choice I’d prefer the sailbag and cannonballs treatment, but it probably isn’t legal.
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Aside from possibly not having enough furnace capacity on short notice; it wouldn’t be remotely surprising if that plan would go over poorly with the (significant) Catholic population.
Yes, it’s now officially doctrinally authorized to burn bodies so long as you aren’t doing it with an intent to disparage the possibility or concept of bodily resurrection; but it was officially off limits for a long time and remains culturally touchy in some quarters.
It may also be easier to make continued burial, with some ‘by “essential” we mean “more expendable than the work you do”’ labor being pressed into service for atypical methods for making space, look like not a total disaster compared to rushing the construction of crematoria or doing an emergency requisition of any local brickworks for conversion or similar.
People dislike alarming changes in any event; and having a thin-skinned authoritarian denialist with strong religious connections around probably doesn’t encourage any strategies that tweak religious sentiment or risk making a dire public health situation look dire.
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Or go green death instead…
Just a plain shroud or simple box, no chemicals, straight into the ground…
But there is nothing wrong with giving people a space to remember lost loved ones. Even if you don’t believe in an afterlife, you still need a means to process the loss of life, and having a grave site can help many with that.
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I quite like the idea of burying urns between the roots of the trees in a forest. There’s growing numbers of forests in Germany where one can do that. Looks like a normal forest, no fence or wall around it, just little numbers on the trees so that you can find the right one. Of course that also means that the forest won’t be cut down. Also a great idea for Brazil…
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Embalming seems predominantly a USA tradition. There’s hardly any embalming done in Europe, as far as I’m aware. In the Netherlands it was even expressly forbidden until 2009.
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I thought she did a video on the history of embalming (which started with the civil war, when people wanted to preserve the bodies of the war dead and ship them home), but I can’t find it… I’ll post it if I come across it though.
[ETA] the process of embalming video has some of that history…
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A few years back I worked a conference for… I guess… funeral services in general. One idea was they’d cremate you, mix your ashes into a concrete block and seed coral on it. People might need to scuba dive to visit you, but you’d very much be giving back, instead of just sitting somewhere.
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My favorite body disposal: on the day a manned mission leaves for some distant planet (hopefully later than Mars), being put facing up just under the boosters nozzles. Best perspective ever, and no need for cleaning afterwards.
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