Last week I had a lovely lass as my student in the workshop who I taught how to weave a willow coffin, while I wove alongside her.
She also works in the funeral sector. And on her night shifts, she's one of the important folk who collect people to take them onwards - in her context, towards a direct cremation.
While she brings care and compassion to her work currently, her vision going forward is a beautiful one: to bring more meaning to the point of departure of a family's deceased, when it is a direct cremation.
By in situ helping the family wash and dress their loved one. By placing the person in a beautiful wicker coffin with the family where possible. By adorning the coffin with the family using a dried flower spray. Only then, moving the person into her vehicle and onwards towards the cold storage and cremation. All of these additional goodbye practices will be sensitive to the extent that the family want to be involved, of course.
In a direct cremation context where there is scant opportunity for families to have meaningful goodbye practices (unless they create their own memorial separate to the direct cremation) and 1 in 5 cremations being direct cremation now, I think these ideas could be vitally supportive.
What are your thoughts/ experiences around this topic?
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