Where does the idea of natural burial come from?

Many choices around natural burial seem modern to us, but really stem from traditional practices that are more closely related to the way humans have been dealing with death for millennia. It’s only in the last 150 or so years that the funeral industry became an industry. Before then, funeral care was almost always done in home, by the family, often the women of the family.

Options that are now labeled “green burial” and “natural burial” are really more in line with these age-old practices. Burial quilts fall in the tradition of burial shrouds which has been used for centuries to bury the dead. When made of all-natural fibers, quilts decompose full and return organic matter back to the earth that can be recycled into new life. 

Making decisions about end-of-life care is a deeply personal subject. If you’d like to talk more about burial quilts, I’d love to hear from you. Feel free to email me.

Photo Credit: Larkspur Conservation, Nature Preserve for Natural Burial