re: What is the purpose of burial in today's times?

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I don't tell you that you can't grow weed on your land, don't tell me I can't bury grandpaw in my back yard.

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no one is telling anyone how to do anything. its just a discussion.

i get the impression that the reason for burial dates back to ancient traditions. i get that. the point of the thread was, why do we still do this in the 21st century given our advancements in sanitation, disease control, etc etc. the best answer i've seen is:

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It's psychological

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im surprised the psychology on this hasnt changed in modern times. theres something creepy to me about letting a body rot in a box for all of eternity, then periodically visiting the place where the body is rotting as a memorial. i dont visit the gravesites of family members at all. it feels morbid to me. i pay my respects by revisiting memories of loved ones and sharing them with others. to each his own though, and i get that.

I want to be stuffed and mounted in my favorite chair, with a look of disdain on my face so future generations will know how disappointed I am in them.

I'm saying that if you do that, which would be your right, you are fricking stupid. Has nothing to do with commie. If I'm a commie, what are you, some kind of religious nut?

If you want to be buried on your own land, more power to you.

Just make sure to legally document it.

TD documentation is sketchy, at best.

Modern burial practices evolved from earlier burial practices with a lot of help from the funeral industry.

Looking back over the course of American history, the modern burial rites started to really catch on in the early 20th Century. People used to simply wash, clothe, and bury their own, usually in wooden boxes constructed in house. The "wake" or "sitting up with the dead" dates back to making sure the deceased were really deceased. Getting buried alive happened a little too often apparently. That got replaced with the whole funeral home visitation thing which originally imitated the home parlor.

Modern embalming began to gain traction during the War Between the States. Transporting bodies home from distant battlefields became possible with embalming and sealed coffins (although only the wealthy could afford to do it).

The flowers masked unpleasant odors. People used to build rock piles and place covers on graves to keep animals from digging them up.

The modern funeral industry has simply taken those things and modernized them. They basically take all the nasty details and functions out of the hands of the bereaved and sanitize the whole process, at a sizable profit. The funeral industry keeps a lot of it going.

to stop the stink?

In my will, I specifically stated that I wanted to be cremated.