What Happens When the Curtains Close at a UK Crematorium?
In a crematorium where the curtains close around the coffin, or we leave the chapel, what happens to that coffin? Behind the catafalque, which is the thing the coffin was placed on, are hidden doors, or some mechanism by which the coffin could be transported on rollers through into another building, which is called the crematory.
Within the crematory are the cremators, and the coffin is put in front of the cremator, the doors will open and a hydraulic ram on the trolley will push the coffin very quickly into the cremator. The door closed behind it, and the process, which is computerized, then takes place. Now, for many religions, Hindus and Sikhs in particular, witnessing that charging, is important to them as they would normally in their own religion, have the cremation take place on an open pyre. That can be accommodated by most crematoria with limited numbers of people.
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