Vince said the health risks beyond 500 meters are negligible and even those in the vicinity don`t take any more risks than with a campfire of the same size. It also concluded that pyres held on forest sites “would not have a carbon footprint.” I don`t care about all this, even though I intend to be cremated when I leave this valley of tears. Perhaps it would be better to go out in a glimmer of glory, with family members adorned with animal skins and makeup, while I raise a jar of honey mead tribute, than to be burned alone and unloved in a cellar oven. A 1778 painting by Jacques-Louis David entitled “The Funeral Games of Patroclus” depicts Patroclus` burial during the Trojan War with his body and Achilles at the foot of the pyre while Hector rests on his chariot. National Gallery of Ireland There is perhaps no funeral cooler than a Viking funeral. There, your mortal remains will be burned and sent to sea. The proposal – GL 1074 – would allow nonprofits to perform pyre cremations as long as the organization owns at least 20 acres. It would also prevent organizations from performing more than one ceremony at a time, but allow cremated remains to be dispersed on the property or in an appropriate and legal manner. The hype also reminded me that Viking-style funerals have a strong impact on our imaginations thanks to popular cultural behemoths like “Game of Thrones” and “The Phantom Menace” from Star Wars.

In both films, the characters are cremated in elaborate ceremonies. If the measurement passes, don`t expect to see a pyre on a boat sailing towards sunset in Penobscot Bay. The bill limits outdoor cremations to a fixed location operated by a nonprofit organization and inside a three-sided structure built to withstand the 1500-degree heat that would be generated. Once an extremely popular way for lay family members and friends to rest, the unique style of burial is virtually unknown in modern America, which may be due to the fact that outdoor cremations are illegal everywhere except in two locations in Colorado. I had a personal interest in this story because I wrote a short story called “A Viking`s Funeral” which, although never published, put me in a graduate program and earned me a national short story award. This was a young boy whose iconoclastic and dissatisfied grandfather began building his funeral boat shortly after the death of his beloved wife, and then convinced his grandson to encourage him after his death. But that could change. Maine is currently considering a bill that would legalize Viking funerals and, quote, “outdoor cremations.” “The people I hear from tell me they should be able to plan their own funerals. Ideally done in collaboration with family and friends. They welcome the opportunity to look at all options, including one that has been practiced in many parts of the world,” said Democratic Rep. Allison Hepler of Woolwich, who co-funded the bill. Unfortunately, Viking funerals are fundamentally illegal throughout the United States.

There are two places in Colorado where you can cremate the remains of people outside, but they only allow 12 funerals a year. A nonprofit cemeteries group called Good Ground, Great Beyond, founded in 2018, is trying to get permission to host outdoor pyres on a 63-acre wooded property it has owned in Dresden in recent years. The US state of Maine is trying to legalize Viking-style funerals, meaning a deceased person could be set on fire as part of an outdoor ceremony Anyone who has seen “Game of Thrones” or “The Phantom Menace” has seen at least one fictional pyre where corpses were cremated on a wooden bed in a sometimes elaborate ceremony. The Nordic ritual has been featured in many movies and TV shows such as Game of Thrones and Star Wars. Typically, this involves getting someone to rest on a boat, which is then pushed out to sea and set on fire by a flaming arrow. Alternatively, they remain on earth and are placed on the stake. According to the Portland Press Herald, Good Ground Great Beyond, founded in 2018, is an organization that aims to hold Viking-style funerals. Lakin said he thinks outdoor pyres offer a more respectful option than the cremations many choose these days, as people can be present at a ceremony they create. He said it could be beautiful. It`s a way of sending the dead back that is still prevalent in some parts of the world, but there are only two places in the U.S. where it`s legal, both in Colorado, only one of them publicly. It is limited to a dozen funerals per year.

A bill in Maine would allow people to opt for Viking batteries instead of traditional funerals. Lawmakers are questioning whether outdoor cremation should be legal in Maine. Maine`s failed “Viking Burial” bill makes you think of what it would be like to go out in a glimmer of glory. The practice itself, which was an integral part of Norse funeral rites, was adopted in part because the Vikings believed that smoke would help transport the deceased to the afterlife. As part of the ritual, the body is prepared and placed on an open pyre and then cremated. The nonprofit`s founder, Angela Lutzenberger, the interfaith minister of palliative care, said she too often sees people without power after a death and passes the details on to a funeral director instead of getting involved together. Reports suggested it was a serious proposal inspired by a nonprofit cemetery group called Good Ground, Great Beyond. The group asked for permission to burn outside on a large wooded property in Dresden. Had the proposal passed, Maine would have been only the second state in the Union, after Colorado, to allow these Viking-style burials.

You can imagine them competing with the Fourth of July celebrations and Christmas tree lights across the state. “Hey, Molly, let`s skip the fireworks, I heard they lit Old Man Cummings on Mount Abram tonight!” The Mainers may soon be able to leave this life in a glimmer of glory, as a new measure would allow for a Viking-style funeral ritual. If passed, Maine Colorado would become the only other state to allow funeral ritual associated with Nordic culture, the Sun Journal reported. Last spring, the Maine legislature flirted with the idea of legalizing “Viking funerals” in Maine. Not surprisingly, this bizarre bill has attracted a lot of media attention. Not surprisingly, the proposal was quickly defeated in the Senate. The official death knell reads: “Should not occur in accordance with Common Rule 310.” From ashes to ashes, from garbage to garbage cans. Maine would join Colorado in allowing outdoor cremations as part of a bill before the Legislature`s Health and Human Services Committee.

Although sometimes referred to as the “Viking Burial” law, the measure would impose restrictions on where and how cremation could be performed. The Viking pyre was popularized by television series and cult classics, but is not widely used in the modern world. As we get older, the prospect of death becomes more real. I`m not afraid of death after having a good long run, but the whole thing comes to mind from time to time. Our family tradition is cremation, followed by the deposit of the deceased`s ashes in a beloved body of water such as San Francisco Bay or the Gulf of Maine. In his veto message, Parson said, “The burial of our loved ones or the disposition of their mortal remains is deeply personal and should be treated with the utmost care and respect.” The only requirements are that you have to do them through nonprofits that have at least 20 acres of space. The pennies are currently in a wheelbarrow in the garage in Flaten. The wheelbarrow wheelbarrow would be flattened under the weight of the greasy parts. Flaten worked every night to clean the pennies with a solution of dish soap, vinegar and water.

It takes about an hour to clean several hundred. Yes, sometimes truth is stranger than fiction. Several posts that dismissed my news about the family responded with mixed comments like, “Beautifully done, but not terribly believable.” Obviously, my story was way ahead of its time. Little did these risk-averse literary magazines know that in a few years, Colorado families would reenact scenes from “The Long Ships” and Maine lawmakers would consider getting on board. The woman was identified as Lyndsey Kennedy, who had been reported missing by her boyfriend on March 3 — nearly three weeks earlier. Kennedy told police that day that she went swimming near her boyfriend`s house and came across a door that led to the sewer. She said the gate led to a tunnel that she began exploring. After a while, she realized she was lost and couldn`t find a way back. Chuck Lakin, a carpenter and green burial advocate who sits on the nonprofit`s board of directors, said one of the real benefits is that families and friends can come together for cremation instead of relying on a store to push a body into a cremation plant and press a button. Outdoor cremation is an idea that has surfaced in other states.