From green living to the green after-life
In this age of green living, it is hardly surprising that people are starting to think about a green after-life. In Germany, that translates to forest funerals, which are becoming more popular right across the country.
What is an eco-burial anyway?
In this age of green living, people are starting to think about a green after-life. In Germany, that translates to forest funerals, where no flowers or wreaths are allowed and where nature is left to tend to the "graves" as it sees fit. Bodies must first be cremated and are then buried in a sealed biodegradable urn at a depth of between 80 and 120 centimeters.
A discreet form of remembrance
Those buried beneath a tree can have a small name plate nailed to the trunk of their resting place. As many as ten people can be buried beneath each tree – these can be so-called "family trees" or "community trees" for people who never met in life.
Death and life
It is hard to escape the fact that young green plants are growing up through the thick layer of fallen leaves and other rotting foliage that constitute the forest floor. New life quite literally sprouts from that which went before.
Gazing up at the heights above us
Thomas Weber, ranger of the Hangelsberg Friedwald near Berlin, says trees automatically draw the eye skywards, thereby opening the chest and helping those who have lost a loved one to grieve.
A life cycle
From squirrels at play to butterflies in flight, there are visible signs of animal life in the Friedwald. A plot here is bought for 99 years from the time the site first became a woodland cemetery. But the biodegradable urns and the ash within has been absorbed back into the ground within three years.
A perfect resting place
Friedwald rangers select trees that best lend themselves, in terms of size, health and location, to the burial of urns, and mark them with different colored ribbons to denote whether they are family, community, partner or all-female trees. When the tree is leased, the ribbon is removed.
A cemetery ending
In German cemeteries, where by far the majority of people are still laid to rest, a plot is generally leased for between 20 and 30 years. It is expected of the family that they tend the grave, and failure to do so, can be expensive. Once the tenure is up, the site is cleared and reused.
No individual grave
There is a growing trend even at regular cemeteries not to have an individual plot, but to share one with others and have the name of the deceased added to a wall of remembrance. This means there is no grave to tend.
Returning to the roots of burial traditions
Recent German history has placed the business of funerals squarely in the hands of undertakers. Forest burials, which require greater input from the friends and relatives of the deceased, are helping to change the relationship with death.
Status in death
Even in cemeteries there is a clear societal hierarchy. Families with money have traditionally chosen grand graves with space for generations to come. Although any such order is less obvious in the forest, a thicker trunk costs more than a thin one.