The shroud is as important as anything else we put in the grave, because the remains of decomposition are being considered in the overall ecology of the burial site. Creating a shroud used in green burial means we commit ourselves to thinking about where the fiber comes from, how it is grown, milled, woven, dyed, transported, marketed, used, reused, up-cycled, recycled, etc. ![]() As a thought experiment, start with the concept of a watershed, and then think cloth, and then meander from field to harvest, processing to production, and finally delivered into your hands for use. In the fabric world, being genuinely green means gaining an understanding of the 'fibershed' we are a part of. A burial shroud is generally made of textiles of some kind. In green burial we carefully consider our choices for final disposition within the context of our ecological relationships, in life and in death. Almost every burial shroud I have seen and touched has been essentially green. The action of shrouding creates a chamber for the metamorphosis a body needs to become reduced again to the star stuff (science tells us) that all of creation is made from.įirst off, it is cloth. We know the shroud is a temporary cocoon, even as we know our loved one has died and that their body is now empty. Shrouding allows us the time to honor the body of the person who has died and offers the comfort of protecting their body a last time, even as we release them to the disassembling elements of physical transition: time, soil, microbes, water, or fire. In most shrouding cultures the shroud is a culminating facet of ritually washing and preparing the body for a journey to the chosen place of disposition, so that the spirit is free to journey as well. It never occurred to me to bury the bird in a box. When I tipped myself over in that Ray Bradbury way, a leaf shroud made from what was close at hand seemed like the most natural and sacred way to honor a life. The trick is, knowing how to tip ourselves over and let the beautiful stuff out." Why did I wrap that little dead bird in leaves tied with grass when I was eight years old? No one taught me to do that, although I'm sure by then I'd seen burials in old cartoons and westerns on TV. The author Ray Bradbury wrote: "We are cups, constantly and quietly being filled. It is a loving kindness that human beings have shared through collective memory over time. No one culture, group, or custom originated shrouding. Shrouding customs are practiced in significant world religions and cultures (widely by Hindus, Muslims, and Jews, in African communities, and by some Christian sects), each with its own rules and specifications. From ancient art to fine art to photo montages of a modern day pandemic, we are not strangers to seeing images of shrouded bodies. ![]() That instinct to protect the remains of the beloved, and to make the body easier to transport for disposition, has many cultural and historical expressions. I have learned many words for shrouds since my first personal shrouding experience in childhood, when I wrapped a dead bird in leaves tied securely with long grass before burying it in the meadow. ![]() We also call them winding sheets, grave clothes, cerecloth, Tahara, Kaffan. ![]() A burial shroud is a wrapping for a deceased being's body.
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