[Posted to the Green Burial Council Blog 9/19/2020] by Ruth Faas In 1984 my father died suddenly. Coming from a working class family, we had to use the least expensive casket and I instantly thought—“People will think we didn’t love him!” My brother gets frustrated with me when I tell this story, and I understand that—I would never think this of someone else. Yet, we don’t always know what we’ve internalized. Given that background, it would be unexpected that, at Mourning Dove Studio, I’ve joined forces with Carol Motley to make and sell the cardboard coffins that she invented—but what happened is that I found out about natural burial. Natural burial completely changes the paradigm of linking how much money we spend on a funeral with how much we loved someone! Natural burial also gives us more options in how we can grieve and honor someone. This is especially important[link to read more…]
Mourning Dove Studio Blog
Memorial Day 2020
37,000 flags were set up in the Boston Commons in 2016, the year these photos were taken, inmemory of all the service members in Mass who had died from the Revolutionary War to date.Because of the Covid-19 crisis, this year the people who organize this effort offer a file on theirwebsite for us to print off a flag and display it in our windows. Along with the sheer volume of people from MA who?ve died in the military (a total of 37,309 atthis point), the personalization of a number of the flags made us catch our breath.Now, with the pandemic upon us, we are so restricted in how we can share who our loved onewas and the ways in which we knew them, in in how we can grieve and be comforted throughritual and community. We can still find ways. For example, a recent obituary in the Boston Globe reported[link to read more…]
It doesn’t have to be an endless marathon
When I moved to Boston in 1980 I was quite surprised and pleased to find out that I had a new holiday to enjoy! Patriots? Day is always the 3rd Monday in April. My town, Arlington, was the scene of the bloodiest fighting on the first day of the American Revolution. There?s a parade, a re-enactment of one of the battles, and tours of our historic house. And – Paul Revere and William Dawes ride through town on horseback again. Yup. I love it, and Boston is pretty keen on remembering all the history that took place in our area, Yet, frankly, to most of us around here Patriots? Day is thought of as the Boston Marathon Day. When in college studying for a career in rehabilitation, my friends and I were part of an official group handing water to the wheelchair marathoners. We?d start running as someone approached[link to read more…]
Planning Ahead: Resources
By bringing death out in the open, by witnessing it, talking about it, learning about it, and trying in whatever way we can to accept it as an inevitable part of our lives, we can be better prepared, we can make better decisions when the time comes, and we can change the way we die [AND LIVE]? for ourselves and for our loved ones. -Talking About Death Won?t Kill You by Virginia Morris For this last post of our series Planning Ahead, we’ve gathered all the resources mentioned throughout into one list: Resources 1. Mourning Dove Studio website 2. Mourning Dove Studio Tribute Ideas 3. Post #1 April 21 – Introduction (structure it in) 4. Post #2 April 22 – Planning[link to read more…]