Atheist Ireland Forum

Hi guys, I have maybe a stupid question to ask. I have it in my head that when i die, to be cremated (Not sure on spelling) after all my working organs are donated to people that need them. If i die before my husband he may have a fight on his hands with my family. But,, this is a horrible thought, what if my children die before me??? I've never been to a cremation and hear it's not pleasant, neither is putting someone in the ground to rot. But has anyone else thought on how you would celebrate your childs life if it were to happen.
Sorry for depressing you all, but i was watching Eastenders and it made me think abot it.

well first of all thereare no stupid questions only stupid answers!

I am from Holland and cremation is there very common. Almost no one I knew was buried. My father was cremated and it was a nice calm (atheist) ceremony. You don't see the cofin burn or anything. It just decents into the floor or in some cases in the wall depending on where the ovens are.

I want to be cremated and I would do the same for my kids and wife. It is a unpleasant time and I think the fact if somebody gets buried to rot under the ground or if someone gets cremated doesn't really matter.

My mother was cremated in the crematorium in Kingswood, Tallaght. It's a very nice place, looks like a church without any religious symbology.
A ceremony takes place (can be religious or not depending on the wishes of the family) and once it's completed a curtain draws around the coffin. The cremation doesn't happen then and there. The family return a couple of days later to collect the ashes.
I found the process very dignified.

+1 you worded it much better then me bik. dignified was the wod I was looking for.

Similar experiences for me - a couple of eulogies and a piece of music in the crematorium building then the coffin glides through curtins. I found it much less stressful than the wet hole with the JCB standing by.

I also agree that watching Eastenders would be very depressing.

Thank you all for the replies. I have a better understanding now. it does sound nicer than the wet hole and a JCB lol.
I'm from a catholic family and everything is just decided for you. baptism, communion, how you get married and how you leave when you die. I never thought of all the other options out there without any religion interfering.

My mum was cremated. we had a service in a room in the funeral home. It was beautiful we decorated it with wild flowers colourful candles and my mums art work everywhere. We had tracy chapman and van morrisen songs played on a cd player. We had poems about the importance of life read and a letter from me and my brother read. not religious at all. Everyone said it was the most beautiful service they had ever been to . It doesnt have to be horrible. Everyone left the building and it wasnt until the next day my mums body was cremated and no one was there. So it wasnt in the same place as the creamation room we had the service.
Afterwards we brought all the flowers to the side of a cliff over looking the sea.
My mum wanted her ashes brought to India by her friend Barry. So thats what he did with some friends. Her ashes were in a box decorated with beautiful colourful flower petals and were put into the river in the ganges. The service was in England so and i know things maybe different here but believe me it doesnt have to be like on Tv when you see the body go behide the curtain.
When i think of my mums funeral it makes me smile, it was beautiful and just the way she would have wanted.

Flower, that sounds like the perfect funeral. In Cork we can have that service, I know of a couple of funerals done in a simular way, people whom I wouldn't have known to be Atheists. For people attending such a service they think it's unusual as they're use to the holy-show.

But I think the part that those paying last respects really miss, is seeing the coffin being planted or being incinerated, I know my sister mentioned that after a humanist funeral service.