Having a family grave in the cemetery is connected with the payment of fees. Usually every 20 years you have to pay for the lease for the following years. Sometimes, however, it is not extended and the tomb is to be liquidated. The remains are then exhumed and sent to the ossuary. What is this place?
It is estimated that 20 years is sufficient time for the decomposition of the body and all human tissues after death. This is also how much we usually buy a place in the cemetery. After this time, in the event of failure to pay the fee for the following years, the grave may be liquidated. Of course, this does not happen immediately. First, the family is summoned by the cemetery administrator for payment. But in the event of non-payment of the amounts due for a long time, the grave is liquidated and prepared for re-burial.
And here the question immediately arises: what happens to the remains in the event of liquidation of the grave? She explained it on Instagram “The Lady of the Funeral Home”. This is a profile where the author discusses various topics related to death.
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What is an ossuary?
«If there is a situation when the grave has to be liquidated, the remains of the deceased will be exhumed and placed in a so-called ossuary» — writes “The funeral home lady”. “It is worth finding out which quarters have been allocated for this purpose and symbolically light a candle or lay flowers there” — advises.
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The ossuary is a free-standing mass grave in almost every cemetery. It is in this general tomb that human remains from liquidated graves are deposited.
The word ossuary (ossarium) comes from Latin. Ossuarius means ‘bone’, ossua — “Bones, skeleton”.
As the death expert adds, it sometimes happens that there is no ossuary at the cemetery. “In this situation, the remains are buried in the same place, but below the prepared and cleaned floor” — writes “The funeral home lady”.
Ossuaries are created not only in the case of the liquidation of unpaid graves. They are used, inter alia, when a new one is erected on the site of the old cemetery. They were also built in times of epidemics and battles.
The famous Polish ossuary is the chapel in Czermna. It contains the remains of the victims of the epidemics and wars of the XNUMXth and XNUMXth centuries.