Exploring The Burial Plot Selection Process

Posted on: 11 April 2016

If you are of a strong Scandinavian descent and are interested in returning to your ancestral roots, including participation in death rituals, you may be interested in finding out more about a Viking funeral. Separating Hollywood fantasy from reality, you may find that a Viking funeral is little more than cremation with a burial twist. If you would like to know more about a true Viking funeral and how a funeral home can help make it a reality and plan the details in advance to your passing, the following information will get you started.

No Burning Boats, but Funeral Pyres Count

Burning viking boats is a Hollywood thing. True Viking funerals involved cremation by fire, this much is true, but they would not have burned boats because boats were far too valuable to the Viking way of life. Usually, the bodies were just burned until they turned to ash, and only the Vikings that were held with the highest regard were burned atop funeral pyres. In archaeological terms, some Vikings from other countries (not Norway but other Scandinavian countries) may have buried leaders in boats under enormous burial mounds, but only after their leaders were already cremated. Ergo, boat burning is completely off the table, but you can arrange to have your body laid atop a bed of sticks and then conveyed into the crematorium in the funeral home.

A Viking Funeral Procession

If you want to make your funeral procession a little flashy while trying to remain true to the funeral traditions of Vikings, you could place the procession (albeit a short one) within the funeral home. The showing of the body could be just like any other funeral, and then the funeral home's attendants could lift your body out of the casket, place it on the bed of sticks, and then carry the bed of sticks with your body on it into the crematorium. (Since there is no real procession of the body or casket to the grave in any known Viking funeral, this is probably the only time where a procession fits into your funeral ceremonies.) There are different ways you may be able to tweak this when working with your funeral home director.

Burial

Burial is still a part of your Viking funeral ceremonies, even after you have been cremated. While it may be nearly impossible to bury your cremated remains in a Viking long boat (a practice reserved for Viking warriors and leaders), your funeral director might suggest that, when planning your funeral, you agree to have your ashes buried within a burial mound. Most Vikings just buried their boxes or urns of ashes in the ground on family land, but you may have to check with your funeral director regarding the local and state laws regarding the burying of human ashes on private property.

For assistance and more information, talk to a professional like Elmwood Meunier Funeral Home.