Changes

Cremation is one of the most common forms of death rituals. For eastern cultures, including Indo-Aryan derived groups, cremation has long been practice for the departed. More recently, cremation has also emerged as a way to conserve space and was used to prevent the spread of disease in crowded countries such as in the UK. There are both scientific and spiritual reasons for its emergence.

The first evidence of cremation emerges at least 20,000 years ago in Australia, although very likely it is even older than that and occurred somewhere in Africa or Asia. It is not clear why cremation first emerged but it could either be due to emerging ritualistic practice or even the removal of bodies from a community so as to avoid the spread of disease. In fact, both reasons could be true.<ref>For more on the origins of cremation, see: Jessica Cerezo-Román, Anna Wessman, & Howard Williams (eds.) (2017) <i>Cremation and the archaeology of death.</i> First edition. Oxford, Oxford University Press.</ref>

The longest, continual practice of cremation does appear to be in the Indian sub-continent, where early Indus cultures and later ancient Indian societies continued to bury their dead even before the full emergence of Hinduism and Buddhism. Ancient China and Japan appeared to have buried their dead, although this practice would later change.

Up until the Roman period, cremation was common in Europe, including southern Europe. With the rise of Christianity, cremation began to die out as a practice throughout Europe as Christianity spread. In fact, Christians began to associate cremation as a pagan act, sometimes even seeing it as a type of fire sacrifice to the ancient gods rather than as a burial practice. Judaism had a strong prohibition regarding cremation and this likely influenced Christianity's prohibition that the church adopted. This is also true for Zoroastrians, which originated with Iranian cultures. In their case, bodies were left for birds to eat. Cremation, for Zoroastrians, was seen as corrupting the sacred fire. For Christians, cremation was seen as desecrating the body during the day of resurrection. With the influence of Christianity, cremation largely disappeared after the 1st millennium CE in Europe. Islam also had derived from Semitic origins, which meant it had also prohibited cremation since it was seen as desecrating the body.<ref>For more on the prohibition on cremation in monotheistic faiths, see: Beard, M., North, J.A. & Price, S.R.F. (1998) <i>Religions of Rome.</i> Cambridge ; New York, Cambridge University Press, pg. 18.</ref>

On the other hand, cremation spread in East Asia as Buddhism influenced Han Chinese and Japan. Thus, while cremation began to disappear from Europe and the Middle East, it now spread in East Asia to areas where it was previously prohibited, such as in China (Figure 2).<ref>For more on the spread of cremation in East Asia, see: Michael Dickhardt (ed.) (2016) <i>Religion, place, and modernity: spatial articulations in Southeast Asia and East Asia.</i> Social sciences in Asia VOLUME 40. Leiden, Brill.</ref>

Meanwhile, cremations began to be practiced in Germany in 1878, with the town of Gotha adopting the practice. In the United States, the practice began also at about the same time in 1876. In the United States, cremations became increasingly legalized as people argued that dead bodies began to contaminate water systems, thus it became necessary to cremate in high density locations (Figure 2).<ref>For more on cremations in the United States, see: Prothero, S.R. (2001) Purified by fire: a history of cremation in America. Berkeley, University of California Press.</ref>

While cremations increasingly became accepted in the Western world in the late 19th century, what finally made it even more acceptable to more religious populations was the Pope lifting the Catholic Church's ban on cremation in 1963. This, in some way, was also due to pressure from poorer Catholics who often could not afford normal burial and thus found cremation as a cheaper alternative. For Protestants, most denominations became more accepting of cremations after World War I. Modern crematoriums were considered different in how they burned bodies, thus they were no longer seen as being part of pagan ritual by those who were more religiously inclined.<ref>For more on the lifting of prohibitions against cremation by major Christian denominations, see: Douglas James Davies & Lewis H. Mates (eds.) (2005) Encyclopedia of cremation. Aldershot, England ; Burlington, VT, Ashgate, pg. 383.</ref>

Cremation, at its origin, seems to have been a practice that was done along with inhumation of the deceased. By the early historical periods in the Bronze Age, we begin to see some cultures having more specific burial practices, often only selecting inhumation or cremation. Some societies, such as in Europe, often switched between the two. By the Christian era, a stark divide emerged between Western regions in the Middle East and Europe and East Asia. In East Asia, cremation practices spread with Buddhism, as that religion spread, while in the Western cremation became prohibited and sinful, with rare exception performed on those seen as criminals or against Christianity. It was only in the late 19th century, with high population growth and the desire to prevent disease spread, that authorities slowly relaxed laws prohibiting cremations. Soon after, cremation facilities throughout Europe and the United States opened.