2/24/225 Minutes
A write up of Southwest Durham NC Death Cafe
By Yvonne123
The primary conversation was about burial preferences, cultural practices, and how we can make our burial wishes known and respected. Here are some highlights:
“Sky Burial” is the practice of offering a corpse up to vultures. Historically practiced in areas in Pakistan and Nepal (areas where vultures are now endangered). Traci mentioned that this is possible and legal in a specific area in Colorado. She followed up with your friendly note-taker to share: “ Turns out that Crestone, a small mountain town south of Colorado Springs, is currently the only place in the U.S. to offer legal outdoor funeral pyres.” And shared this link with more information
Our very own thanatology student, Traci, shared an Indonesia practice of displaying the dead body of relatives, sometimes for years, in homes. Despite everything I said about how I wasn’t going to look up extra links for y’all, I did find this one related to the practice. It may not be specifically what Traci was talking about.
Have a clear preference for what happens to your body after you die and/or how you want to be buried? The group consensus was that you’ll need to research and pursue these options, communicate them clearly to everyone, figure out who can carry them out, and foot as much of the bill in advance as possible.