Merry Christmas and A Happy Eternity

[wolfie]

That's really interesting (I'm saying that seriously). I wonder what they do do with the existing body. I guess it doesn't matter to the people now cohabitating, but it does seem a bit odd on this side, doesn't it?!

I know my Grandmother's lease is 50 years so I would assume that by the time her lease is up the body would be mostly decomposed so they would probably just bury on top of her. I wonder if they cremate if they are still there? That would not be a job I would want to have. I think it is really a matter of perspective. When you have as much space as we have in the US then it seems odd to reuse graves. If you have limited amount of space for people to live on then it seems odd to not reuse it when noone remembers the dead. There is nothing stopping you from paying the grave lease for centuries if you wanted to.

[Sharnita]

Even in the US there would sometimes be family crypts where they would move the deceased aside and move in the next  body.  I believe ther was a system to "vent" built up gasses so that there would be no dangerous release then the mausoleum was opened.

[Kiara]

I don't remember where exactly (it was either Austria or Germany), but I saw on a travel video once that they dug up the bones remaining and they went into a special chapel.   

Found it after some Googling - it's a "bone church" or ossuary, and the one I remembered is in Halstatt.

[DottyG]

Kind of a morbid type of education ( ), but I've learned something today! Interesting stuff.

[White Lotus]

For King of all Things and others who have family plots but no desire to see their mortal remains placed there, it is also possible to have a cenotaph -- a memorial stone or engraving on an existing stone, without actually using the plot. I think that would make his late wife's family feel like her life is completely represented because he was a major part of it, without being disrespectful to his second wife or marriage.

[marcel]

That's really interesting (I'm saying that seriously). I wonder what they do do with the existing body. I guess it doesn't matter to the people now cohabitating, but it does seem a bit odd on this side, doesn't it?!

I just checked what they do in The Netherlands (we are one of the most populated western countries, and have been densely populated for centuries, so space is a t a premium here)
Apparently the remains are either buried deeper in the same grave, or buried in a comunal grave.