If the urn can hold water, use it as a vase for live flowers; or create a dried floral arrangement from flowers you received at the funeral or ceremony if the urn is water-soluble and won't hold water. Biodegradable urns for land can be buried during the ceremony, recycled later or composted.
Ashes have no expiry date
You can keep them in the container from the crematorium for as long as you need.
Answer: There are several legitimate reasons to respectfully open the urn. These include opening the temporary urn to transfer the ashes into a permanent urn, scattering the ashes, dividing among family members, or using a small amount of remains into a keepsake such as a cremation necklace.
Cremation occurs at such a hot temperature all micro-organisms are destroyed, and the remaining ashes are inert. After cremation there are no public health risks associated with handling ashes.
However, in most cases, funeral providers will keep the ashes within a plastic bag if possible. Additionally, most will not seal the urn permanently. This is often the preferred option because it makes it easier for families to transfer ashes if need be.
To create a permanent seal, add a small amount of clear, silicone epoxy or metal glue to the threads before closing the lid. Take your time, and be sure to wipe away any overspill quickly. Sealing cremation urns that are made of metal — bronze and brass, for example, is usually not necessary.
The ashes should be in an air-tight non-metallic container – ideally just keep them in the container you received from the crematorium. If you plan to put them in an urn, then bring the urn separately for the journey, as some urns are difficult to x-ray and may not pass through security screening if they contain ashes.
If you are concerned that the ashes will smell after the cremation, the answer is no. There is no odor emitted from ashes that have been properly cremated. Even over time, you shouldn't expect any particular smells to develop. If anything, certain cremation containers will simply emit a slight incense-like smell.
If a person who has recently deceased is cremated their body will be burnt to ashes and therefore no DNA samples can be extracted from the ashes. There may be instances where there are some remating bone shards but, the rate of success in extracting DNA is low.
While wood ashes are considered nontoxic, they contain alkaline material in the form of potassium carbonate and potassium hydroxide, often referred to as pearl potash and potash, respectively. These compounds are very soluble in water and react with water to release hydroxide ions which can produce a pH as high as 12.
Your loved one's ashes don't have to stay together either. Families can choose to split the ashes of the deceased among the wider family, where the individual families can choose what they want to do with them.
You can scatter ashes by casting them into the wind from a scattering tube. Other options include creating a colourful garden feature or scattering the ashes at the beach and letting the tide wash them away.
The best method of opening these containers is to use a tool in order to pry open this circle. A flathead screwdriver is a preferred tool for this endeavour though any tool that you have lying around can be used to pry open the circle provided it is done so in a safe manner.
Prepare the cremains for transferring
Some cremation providers will deliver the cremains to you in a plastic bag, whereas others may provide you with a plastic container that has been sealed with a plug. If you prefer to keep your loved one's cremains in the plastic bag, you may do so.
While we might think that having the loved-one's ashes in a plain box or beautiful urn, displayed in our home, might be honoring, according to Feng Shui, it is not appropriate, because the energy of the deceased, which is held by their ashes, is Yin. It needs to be returned to the earth, or to water (Yin with Yin).
Cremation Urns
However, even in the best conditions heat and moisture will creep in. The only damage this will do is to cause the remains to harden together and "clump" to some extent inside the urn.
During the process of cremation, the body's remaining energy is converted into heat energy, which is then distributed into the atmosphere. What little energy remains in the ashes is, again, “rest” or dormant energy.
The body parts that do not burn are bone fragments. Teeth usually burn during cremation, but not entirely. Teeth are made up of four different kinds of tissue—the soft tissue (pulp) is burned during cremation, while the toughest tissue (enamel) may survive the cremation.
Most cremation chambers will not mix the remains of your loved ones—they'll usually leave that up to the family to do. In those cases, crematories will return cremated remains in a temporary urn so you can transfer the remains into an urn of your choice.
The soft tissues, muscles, skin, and hair are burned and the bones are calcified until they break into small pieces. Any gases are released through an exhaust system, so there is rarely any smell associated with the cremation process.
A common question that we find in the cremation diamond industry is do ashes have an expiration date? The short answer is they don't; at least not in our lifetime. It would take around one million years for ashes to dissolve since they are made solely of inorganic material.
Bones are made of various acids, minerals, and salts, which means they're heavier than many people expect. How heavy the ashes are will depend on the person who's died. Men and young adults have the most solid bones. Women, children and elderly people's bones are usually less solid.
They're also permitted to make their own decisions about when and how to remove the ashes. Many Catholics leave the mark on all day but wash it off before bedtime.
Ashes (cremated remains) may be carried as checked or carry-on baggage. Ensure that the container used to hold the ashes is free from contaminants such as soil.
A container designed to hold the ashes or “remains” after cremation is called an urn. Specifically, a cremation urn (to distinguish it from other types, such as an urn planter or a coffee urn).