What follows isn’t market research. It isn’t based on AI modelling, demographic projections or hours spent staring at spreadsheets trying to extrapolate trends into colourful graphs. It’s based on conversations, joining up dots and a healthy sprinkle of imagination. In other words, it’s the professional equivalent of licking your finger and sticking it in the […]
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How Direct Cremation Funeral Plans Could Reshape the Funeral Industry
There Is a Storm Coming — Not Tomorrow, But It Is Coming Then I read a very brief snippet in the Funeral Service Journal. The article said that 68,886 funeral plans had been sold in the first quarter of 2026 and that around 70% of those were for direct cremation. I read it once, then […]
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Keeping Ashes in a Columbarium: What are they, Why use them, and What do they Cost
Keeping Ashes in a Columbarium: What They Are, Why Use Them, and What They Cost A columbarium is a wall or structure designed to hold cremation urns — also known as cinerary urns. Think of a stone wall with small niches (cavities), each large enough to hold one or more urns (typically up to four). […]
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New Ashes Scandal in Glasgow
Over 20 Ashes Containers Recovered in Glasgow Funeral Parlour Investigation Police in Glasgow have recovered more than 20 ashes containers as part of an ongoing investigation into A. Milne Independent Funeral Directors, which had branches in Springburn and Dumbarton. The investigation, named Operation Koine (quite like this operation name), began after reports of missing ashes […]
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Where in the World is Cremation the Most Common Choice?
Where in the World is Cremation the Most Common Choice? Cremation is now the most common choice in much of the developed world — but where is it most popular, and why?The answers say as much about culture and belief as they do about land, law, and modernity. This comparison draws primarily on data from […]
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Changing Funeral Traditions: EastEnders and the Evolving Practice of Scattering Ashes
Changing Funeral Traditions: EastEnders and the Evolving Practice of Scattering Ashes At Scattering Ashes, we’ve long believed that soap operas reflect real-life changes in society, and when it comes to funeral traditions, they can provide a fascinating insight into cultural shifts. A recent storyline in EastEnders has beautifully highlighted the evolving way in which Sikh […]
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Scattering Ashes at Machu Picchu in Peru – Don’t do it!
Scattering Ashes at Historic Sites: A Lesson in Cultural Respect Scattering Ashes at Machu Picchu Oh dear: Outrage – a lady has got into hot water for scattering ashes at Machu Picchu: the stunning mountain site in Peru. The act was captured on video, sparking a wave of condemnation and an investigation by Peruvian authorities. […]
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Ashes are stolen before a Scattering Ashes Ceremony
In an unexpected turn of events, a heartbroken widow has been reunited with her late husband’s ashes after a burglar, initially branded as a ‘scumbag,’ stole them from her car. However, this situation raises important questions about the precious nature of ashes and whether the burglar may have had some sympathy upon discovering what was […]
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The Vatican and the Pope have Changed their stance on Ashes Jewellery
The Catholic Church has always been against Ashes Jewellery or splitting of ashes for any reason for that matter, however the situation now seems to have changed. They set out there reasoning and what this means for the faithful. We have gone through it and tried to make sense in plain English, I apologies if […]
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What are the Laws relating to Scattering Ashes in Europe
Many of you want to scatter ashes aboard – a favourite holiday destination, where your beloved proposed or any number of heartwarming reasons. Over the years I have tried to find out what is the law covering scattering ashes is in other countries, this has proved remarkably difficult. Mainly due to the fact I don’t […]
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I want an Anglo-Saxon Funeral
Re-creating Anglo-Saxon cremation and burial traditions in the modern age According to the archaeological evidence, Anglo-Saxons practised both burial and cremation. Broadly speaking, it appears that the Angles—those who settled more in the east of England—favoured cremation, while the Saxons tended towards burial. Yet the picture is far from simple: graves containing both cremated remains […]
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Ashes are PRICELESS
Ashes Are Priceless – The Emotional Value of Cremated Remains Ashes are priceless – this is true, pretty much one of the only things that can said to be truly priceless. When the expression is used more generally say a family heirloom – there is a price, because when they are lost insurance companies find […]
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The Lost Generation: the problem of scattering ashes in the modern era
At Scattering Ashes we get calls on a daily basis from people wanting to know where their loved one’s ashes were scattered. We have never been able to say anything other than: ‘Sorry we don’t know and we don’t know how to help you.” We started thinking about what the scale of the issue might […]
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South African National Park impacted by Inconsiderate Memorials and Scatterings
South African National Park – Impact of Inconsiderate Memorials The issue of people scatter willy-nilly in public places is not restricted to Britain. The Parks Authority on South Africa has needed to issue a statement telling people what they can and cant do when it comes to ashes and memorialisation. Table Mountain National Park (near […]
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How NOT to Scatter Ashes – A daughter’s farewell goes wrong
How Not to Scatter Ashes – Daughter’s Farewell Goes Wrong We have been writing on the subject of ashes for over ten years. We have thousands of people who come to the site every day looking for advice and guidance on how to this very final act of farewell. We talk about tide times, landowners’ […]
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Agony Aunt: My Mum Wants to Steal Her Ex-Boyfriend’s Ashes
Agony Aunt: My Mum Wants to Steal Her Ex-Boyfriend’s Ashes Dear Prudence, Question: My mum’s first love died recently. The plan for his remains is for them to be cremated and then for his current wife to keep them in an urn. My mum wants to take some of his ashes from the urn and […]
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Exhumation of Ashes, Rounders & Drug Dealing – Strange Story
If you have buried ashes and you want to move them it can be difficult if not impossible, particularly if they the ground they are buried in has on blessed (consecrated ground). In which case it is up to the Church of England’s court to decide whether they can be removed. And they don’t like […]
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Woman sunbathes in the middle of a Scattering Ashes Ceremony
This image surprised and saddened me. It appeared on the website Reddit and it shows a woman sunbathing in the middle of an ash scattering ceremony. The story comes from Hungary, the son had started to clear a space of debris etc in preparation for the ashes ceremony early that morning, as it was his […]
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Ashes Jewellery & Grief – Why It Helps Us Heal?
Losing someone you love is difficult, most of want a connection to that special person. The question is how to make that connection, that memory bond, so it is not surprising to me that funeral or mourning jewellery (ashes jewellery as we think of it now), is now a popular choice. Mourning Jewellery has been […]
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Freddie Mercury’s ashes – secret location kept by his ex
How Mary Austin honoured Freddie Mercury’s wish to keep his final resting place private Mary believes he was worried his final resting place would be targeted by vandals. In an interview with Mary in 2013 she said: “He didn’t want anyone trying to dig him up as has happened with some famous people. “Fans can […]
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Swaminarayan Hindu leaders want a special place for scattering ashes on the shores of Lake Windermere
Hindu Ashes Lake Windermere Lake Windermere is a special place to scatter ashes of a loved one. And it has become an important one for the members of the Swaminarayan sect. The sect is a rapidly growing branch of Hinduism which is popular in the western world. Why is Lake Windermere important for Hindus? Lake […]
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Instagram, Tina Turner and Scattering her Sons Ashes
The musical icon Tina Turner has recently (28 July 2018) scattered the ashes her son at sea off the coast of California (USA). Very sad, her son apparently took his own life earlier in the month. How did she let people know? Instagram, (see picture below) adding the following comment: “My saddest moment as a […]
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Have I been wrong about Resomation / Alkaline Hydrolysis
Burial and Cremation are the time-honoured ways to dispose of a body, since prehistoric times cultures have been either been burning or burying them (some have been leaving them on the top of mountains for the vultures – but let’s not go there). Well there /is a new kid on the block – Alkaline Hydrolysis […]
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Regional variations in our relationship with ashes
Regional Variations in Our Relationship with Ashes Most of us in the UK aren’t wildly different in how we think about cremation and ashes. Age, gender, politics, geography… the big picture is fairly consistent. One clear drift is this: the older we get, the more likely we are to prefer cremation.After that, the differences are […]
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So what are ashes worth? Morton hall case settled out of court
One thing we constantly hear is ashes are “Priceless”. But money is money and when the solicitors get involved the only language is hard cash. The Scottish Morton hall scandal has been widely reported: the ashes of stillborn or very young children were not returned to the parents, they were told there were not any […]
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Dear Film Industry – stop misleading people
Ashes should be used realistically In the past few weeks I have watched a couple of cracking films, but as always the producers or directors fib about the ashes to increase cinematic impact, in a way I get it, the ashes are symbolic they don’t need to be ‘real’ but it just perpetuates this myth […]
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The Facebook generation has no problem with the ashes of a former spouse
Survey Shows Most People Don’t Mind Cremation Keepsakes from a Previous Partner You may think that the urn or cremation jewellery of a former spouse may freak-out prospective new partners, and they would want the widow or widower to removal all traces of a former partner. Not so. Respondents on Facebook survey conducted by OneWorld […]
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Should I take photos at a scattering ashes ceremony?
The rise and rise of capturing every moment of our lives appears un-reversible, from the moment a new baby comes into the world they are captured in almost every aspect of their life. However there still appears to be certain taboos: funerals are an obvious example. As someone recently expressed to me: why would anyone […]
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Choose to inter ashes at a family grave – but whose family?
Conflicts and questions over burial plots and family heritage Cremation is the common choice in the UK and becoming so in Canada and the US, therefore you can fit more ash caskets onto a family plot. But whose family? I came across an interesting think piece by Ken Gallinger in the Toronto Star about where […]
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The changing trends towards cremation in the USA
How Americans’ attitudes and practices around cremation are evolving Here is an interesting article from USA Today which has looked at changing trends in death rituals in the US and greater adoption of cremation. The article points to six noticeable changes in culture: More people are personalising cremation The articles points to the fact that […]
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Bremen is the first state in Germany to allow the Scattering of Ashes
Bremen, the smallest state in Germany, has voted to allow the scattering of ashes. To be honest I knew the name, but I was not aware where it was – and it is small, really small in fact it is two cities that are separated by the larger state of Lower Saxony. You might not […]
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Utah Veterans have a new columbarium and scattering site
Utah Veterans Cemetery Columbarium and Scattering Garden for Ashes Military veterans form the US state of Utah have had their cemetery facilities enhanced and improved. The US Department for Veteran Affairs awarded a grant of $4.5million for improvement to the Utah Veterans Cemetery & Memorial Park in Bluffdale, Utah. The cemetery now includes a new […]
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Even TripAdvisor is Joining In!
How public reviews now shape funeral and scattering experiences Well sort of, I came across someone last week asking for tips for a location to scatter their mothers ashes “Good place on Lewis to scatter ashes My mother sadly passed away in October and the family is hoping to have a get-together next July to […]
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Cremation over takes burial in Australia
Okay I can’t speak for the whole country as this article comes from the Brisbane area. So I am going to generalise and say without any statistical rigor that this is the trend across the country. So what do they say is causing it? They say – Religion, space and economic rationalisation In the Brisbane […]
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Crematoria Opened in the UAE
Cremation in the Middle East – A Rare but Growing Need The opening of a crematorium isn’t normally headline news in the UK — we’re used to well-established facilities and predictable demand.But in the Middle East, it’s quite a different story. In the United Arab Emirates, cremation is unusual for one simple reason: Islam prohibits it. Muslims […]
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Scattering Ashes on Radio 4 – Feed Me To The Wind
Scattering Ashes on Radio 4 – Feed Me to the Wind The BBC BBC Radio 4 documentary Feed Me to the Wind explored the growing cultural trend of people choosing to scatter cremated ashes in meaningful places. The half-hour programme featured a range of voices — from bereaved family members to service providers — discussing […]
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Cremation Tourism: Germans travel Holland to avoid cost and red tape!
Why some Germans choose Dutch cremation and return ashes home The thing about cremation is that it is not the end of the journey; it would appear that people don’t consider the crematoria to be the final resting place. Why would you need a connection with where you are cremated – it is the cremation […]
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Theft of an Cremation Urn: What a Crime?!
When stealing cremated remains becomes a criminal offence Every week I have a look through material that appears on the Web looking for stories and developments in societies relationship with cremation ashes and memorialisation. And every week I discount at least two reports of heinous thefts of urns and caskets from grieving relatives. It actually […]
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Cremated Ashes Down the Gutter
Unusual Ashes Scattering in Times Square In the United States, the family of a murdered Portuguese journalist chose to honour his final wishes in a way that startled even New York’s most jaded observers. Following his cremation, the ashes of Carlos Castro were quietly tipped down a subway grate in Times Square. There was no […]
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Promession the Alternative to Cremation?
Promession – the Alternative to Cremation? There are plenty of alternatives to burial and cremation, but Promession is one of the more unusual — and one worth a brief revisit. Promession was developed in Sweden as a heat-free alternative to cremation. Instead of using fire, the body is: Frozen Immersed in liquid nitrogen Vibrated until it becomes […]
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Cremation Trends Odd Geographic Distribution
Cremation Trends: A Curious Case of Geography and Culture I’m about to generalise — apologies in advance — but in this case the broad brush is actually quite useful. Cremation rates across Europe (and, interestingly, across the United States too) follow a pattern that is too striking to ignore. In Europe, cremation is most popular in: […]
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Raoul Moat’s Ashes and the Rothbury Controversy
Local Opposition to Scattering Ashes Near Site of 2010 Manhunt The family of the gunman Raoul Moat, want his ashes to be scattered near where he killed himself on the riverbank in Rothbury. However the locals see things different and have no desire to be associated with the man and don’t want their village to […]
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Society’s Attitudes to Memorialisation in Church
Shifting Comfort With Church Rituals and Secular Commemoration We are told our society is becoming less religious, it appears there is often a grating between cultures when it comes to remembering a secular person in a religious establishment. The vicar or priest may be called upon to speak about a loved one – someone they […]
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Where have all the ashes gone? Changing social trends for cremation ashes in the UK
Here is a superb article from the Guardian written by Emma Cook concerning a study from 2006 entitled – Where have all the ashes gone? You may not be able to see them but they are all around us – dispersed upon the remote peaks of Snowdon and Ben Nevis, scattered behind trees in national […]
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