On Choosing Coffins

Choosing a coffin for some one you love is a very strange experience, and sitting in an undertakers office while he recommends a ‘simple, but dignified’ (i.e. cheap and nasty) coffin to put some ones mortal remains in is just weird.

My mother is very practical. She is being cremated because she didn’t want to waste space, and coffins cost money. So we could have put her in a cardboard box if it wasn’t for sentiment, and spent the money saved on the living. We certainly didn’t want her in a chipboard box with a plastic, fake wood veneer (that would release nasty toxins when burnt), and burning up a solid wooden box seems horribly irresponsible.

But we all felt it was important to honour the body that bore us, even if it is not being used anymore. My mother had beautiful natural highlights and freckles and green eyes, and it was an important act of love to choose a fitting container for her mortal remains.

Honouring the dead has always been important for humans, and I have always been touched by the story of the Neanderthal man found buried in a cave full of flowers.

So we found a willow wickerwork basket in the shape of a coffin for her. It is simple, beautiful, natural, a little bit wild, individual and different, and environmentally friendly. We think she would like it.

And when it’s done, we’ll let the sea take the ashes.