Today is All Saints’ Day, the public holiday when people traditionally visit the graves of their loved ones. But there are far fewer graves that serve as resting places than there once were in Flanders. Natural burials are also gaining in popularity.
Every 1 November marks Allerheiligen, or All Saints’ Day, the day honouring all Christian saints. Flemish people traditionally visit the final resting place of loved ones on this day to pay their respects and leave flowers, lit candles or other small gifts that are placed on the grave.
More and more, however, families and friends are visiting a columbarium – a collection of niches that hold ashes – as 78% of people in Flanders are now cremated rather than buried in a coffin. “Cremation offers more options,” explains Thomas Heiremans, director of the funeral service provider Sereni. “A traditional burial means the final resting place is, per definition, a cemetery. With cremation, the ashes can be kept in a columbarium, but they can also be kept at home. They can event be scattered at sea.”
Figures lower in Brussels
The same figures do not hold true for Brussels and Wallonia, where only about half of the deceased are cremated. There are several reasons for this: Brussels has a higher population of Muslims, who do not use cremation, and there are fewer crematoriums in Brussels and Wallonia than in Flanders. The latter has to do with the population in Flanders being centred in cities, where cremation is more popular than in rural areas.
The figures also don’t tell the entire story as many Brussels residents are cremated over the border in Flanders. These occurrences become part of the Flemish figures and not the Brussels figures.
Antwerp, meanwhile, reports that its natural burial forests are becoming ever more popular. Some 200 people a year are now buried in such a forest.
In Flanders, natural burial refers to ashes being scattered or cremated remains being buried in a designated forested area. If an urn is used, it is biodegradable. The urns break down, leaving the ashes buried in the earth.
The exact burial place is not marked and – in order to maintain the integrity of the natural area – visitors cannot enter the forest except for during the burial service. While not being able to return to the exact place where a loved one is buried is too difficult for many people, others take comfort in knowing their loved one has returned to the earth.
‘One with nature’
“We buried my grandmother here with the thought that she then becomes one with nature,” a visitor to the Schoonselfhof burial site told VRT this morning. “A gravestone gives you a totally different feeling. For her, this was a much nicer way to be buried.”
Antwerp is home to six natural burial sites. There are many more across Flanders, with new sites being designated every year.