Nepedia
Back to Discover
Independent Reader
📖

Cremation

language culture Maturity 11-13 death dying Next article →

This article covers sensitive topics: death_dying. Parents can manage visibility in Parental Controls.

Cremation is a way to say goodbye.

Hindu funeral
Hindu funeral

It uses fire to honor those who have died. This practice is very old. Some evidence shows it happened 17,000 years ago.

CrematedHumanRemains
CrematedHumanRemains

In places like India and Nepal, people use open fires. This is an ancient tradition. In modern times, many people use a closed furnace. We call this a cremator.

Woking crematorium 1878
Woking crematorium 1878

These machines are often found at a crematorium. This process leaves behind remains called ashes or cremains. These are not just ash. They include small bits of bone. These bits are often ground into a fine powder. These remains are safe to handle. Families can keep them in an urn. They can also scatter them in nature.

Some people even scatter them at sea. In the 1800s, new tools made cremation easier. A man named Charles Siemens made a better furnace. It could reach very high heat. This helped make cremation a common way to say goodbye.

156 words

Where will your curiosity go next?

Keep exploring at your chosen reading level.

🖼️ Images & Media (15)
File:Feuerhalle Simmering Ofen.jpg
Feuerhalle Simmering Ofen.jpg
File:CrematedHumanRemains.JPG
CrematedHumanRemains.JPG
File:The Funeral Rites of Auitzotl WDL6755.png
The Funeral Rites of Auitzotl WDL6755.png
File:Hindu funeral.jpg
Hindu funeral.jpg
File:Woking crematorium 1878.jpg
Woking crematorium 1878.jpg
File:William Price the Druid.jpg
William Price the Druid.jpg
File:Cremation advertisement 1889.jpg
Cremation advertisement 1889.jpg
File:Vrba-Wetzler report sketch (crematoria).jpg
Vrba-Wetzler report sketch (crematoria).jpg
File:Verbrennung eines Toten in einem Krematorium 2009-09-05.JPG
Verbrennung eines Toten in einem...
File:Chan Kusalo cremation 51.jpg
Chan Kusalo cremation 51.jpg
File:Kotsuage.JPG
Kotsuage.JPG
File:Human cremains.jpg
Human cremains.jpg

+ 3 more

More to explore

🔬 Go deeper

More advanced topics to explore

🪜 Step back

Simpler topics to build understanding

What is Nepedia?

A free, ad-free encyclopedia for children. Every article is written at five reading levels, so the same page works for a five-year-old and a fifteen-year-old — use the level switcher above to see this one change. No account needed to read.