Ashen-faced at Taranaki’s hottest ticket
The weight of the dead woman’s ashes was a surprise.
Encased in a brown paper bag, the remains would have been no more than about three kilograms.
It was a weird feeling to hold the last traces of one woman’s life in my hands. And also hard to believe that this was all that was left over.
Last year, she had been reduced to a pile of pearly white ash and carefully scraped out of the bottom of one of the two machines on site at the Taranaki Crematorium before being packaged up. However, her ashes had yet to be claimed.
The idea of cremation had never appealed to me.
It has always been my plan to be buried and laid to rest in the cemetery of my hometown when I die.
Cremation always seemed so impersonal and to be honest, scary. Being left in a small box to be consumed by fire? Um, no thank you.
However, understanding the cremation process and what happens at each stage provided me with a chance to take a more practical view of the option.
This week, I joined a dozen people who attended a walkthrough of the Taranaki Crematorium, which is on New Plymouth’s Junction Rd.
The event is part of a series of tours promoted by the New Plymouth District Council, which runs until February 26.
Along with the crematorium, a behind the scenes look at Yarrow Stadium, the Colson Rd resource recovery facility as well as other guided walks are on offer to the general public.
The operation of the Taranaki Crematorium is not a complicated one but it is performed in a professional and respectful way.
After the body is lowered from the chapel’s stage, it is placed into one of the incinerators.
Once the body has been completely consumed, the remains, including pieces of bone, are collected up using a long rake and then put through a cremulator which grinds the bones up into ash.
The only items which survive the 1000-degree heat are things such as surgical steel hip joints, plates and screws.
Since the first cremation at the site in May 1961, following the crematorium’s construction, more than 21,200 people have been turned into ash.
On average, 365 people a year are cremated at the site, one body at a time.
Death is one of the things which scares us the most and is a subject people don’t openly talk about, even within their own families.
However it is something which touches us all so having an opportunity to talk openly can help break down the taboo.
The next behind the scenes tour of the Taranaki Crematorium will be held on February 2 and booking is essential.
For more information on this and the other walks visit www.newplymouthnz.com/ guidedwalks.