OK, this subject creeps me out just a bit. A web site that recently
popped up sells jewelry that is designed to contain some of the
cremated ashes of a deceased family member or loved one.
Quoting from the web site:
Cremation jewelry is the latest in a line of memorial traditions that societies have followed since the dawn of mankind. For centuries, there has been a desire to remember, to memorialize, loved ones and members of one’s tribe, village, region or country, and cremation jewelry is an easy and a personal way for modern families to do that. Cremation jewelry is, like the remaining treasures of antiquity, meant to memorialize loved ones for eternity.
Cremation jewelry is a modern take on cremation, an old practice, dating back to the days of the Vikings, the ancient Hindi societies and others who cremated (and still do cremate) their honored dead.
Cremation jewelry and other cremation keepsakes mirror a change in society. Cremation is no longer reserved just for the famous and powerful in a society, and cremation jewelry has played a role in that transformation. With the rise in popularity of cremation, cremation jewelry has become an important aspect of the memorial industry.
Traditionally, cremation memorials were simple vase-like pieces of pottery in which a cremated person's ashes were stored and displayed for generations. Such traditional cremation memorials are still common, but cremation jewelry is an important new compliment to these memorials.
Families will often store most of the loved one’s ashes in a more traditional memorial, such as an urn, but then use cremation jewelry to share the remainder of the ashes among far flung relatives. Cremation jewelry, filled with tiny portions of a loved-one’s ashes assures that family memories will always be nearby for those wanting to preserve them.
I think I will pass on this one. However, if you are interested, take a look at http://www.cremationjewelry.net.
