Ashes
Ashes
⚠️ Some of the information in this entry may be disturbing to some readers.
Ashes is the common term used for the material returned to a family after a person has been cremated. The term is familiar and convenient, but cremated remains are not actually ash in the usual sense of the word. They are primarily the mineral remains of the person’s bones, which have been processed into a fine, granular material.
What remains after cremation. During cremation, the body is exposed to very high temperatures. Most of the body’s soft tissue is consumed by the process, but the mineral structure of the bones remains. After the cremation has finished and the material has cooled, what remains is collected for processing.
The bones are processed. The remaining bone fragments are not simply swept up and placed into a container. They are processed in a machine called a cremulator, which reduces the larger bone fragments into the smaller, relatively uniform particles that families commonly recognise as ashes.
They are not really ashes. The resulting material is therefore more accurately described as cremated remains. It is largely made up of processed bone mineral rather than the fine, sooty ash that might be left after burning wood or paper. The familiar term ashes is nevertheless widely used by families, funeral providers and crematoria.
The colour can vary. Cremated remains are usually light grey, white or a combination of the two, although the appearance can vary depending on the person, the cremation process and the equipment used. They may contain small variations in texture and colour because they are the processed mineral remains of the person rather than a manufactured substance.
What happens to the ashes. Once processed, the cremated remains are placed into a secure container and can be returned to the family. They may then be kept at home, placed in an Urn, buried, scattered, divided between family members or otherwise cared for according to the family’s wishes and applicable requirements.
A word that carries meaning. Although cremated remains is the more technically accurate term, many people prefer the word ashes because it is familiar and feels less clinical. There is no need for a family to use one term rather than the other.
What a family receives after cremation is therefore not simply the ash left behind by burning a body. It is the processed mineral remains of the person’s bones — commonly and understandably called their ashes.