Interment
Interment
Interment is the term used in the funeral industry for the act of placing a person who has died into a grave. In simple terms, interment is the burial itself.
The act, not the ceremony. Interment describes what physically happens to the coffin or casket when it is placed into the grave. It is different from a Graveside, which describes the funeral ceremony or gathering that may take place at the grave.
Interment can happen with or without a funeral. A family may attend a graveside funeral before the interment takes place. Alternatively, a Direct Interment can take place without family or friends attending, with only the people required to carry out the burial present.
A service provided by the cemetery. Interment is a practical service carried out as part of a burial. It can involve preparing the grave, placing and lowering the coffin or casket, completing the burial and arranging for the grave to be backfilled.
Different from reserving a grave. The right to use a particular grave or burial plot is a separate matter from the act of interment. For example, a cemetery’s charges may include a fee for interment in the grave and a separate fee for reservation or purchase of the plot. The interment is the service of carrying out the burial; the plot relates to the allocation or right to use the land.
The word you may see on an invoice. Because interment describes a service rather than the land itself, it may appear as a separate item on a funeral or cemetery invoice. This is one reason it is useful to understand the distinction between interment, a grave or plot, and a graveside funeral.