Cemetery Enchanted, Encore: Natural Burial in France and Beyond

Abstract

Over the past three decades, a silent revolution in funerary practices and cemetery design known as the ‘natural burial movement’ has swept over various national contexts and created a transnational narrative that is embedded in local funerary cultures. Seeking out environmentally-friendly burial alternatives, new cemetery and commemoration concepts take into account the urban lack of space and changing family structures and combine these with a desire for autonomy from economically and ecologically costly burial practices. A salient feature of these new burial sites are their naturalistic design and enchanting appeal. Presenting ethnographic research at France’s first natural cemetery« Cimetière naturel de Souché », which opened in 2014, this chapter examines and reflects on the changes in material as well as immaterial funeral settings within a contemporary European context. The research reveals insights into a heterogenous set of values concerning human body disposal, nature and culture, gift giving and reciprocity, and purity and respect. The main objectives of the cemetery officials originally were geared towards the creation of a place as close to nature’s makeup as possible, a reduction of the ecological footprint of burials, and cost decrease. The most significant aspects for the bereaved and other visitors are, however, an appeal beyond economic and ecologic objectives. Spiritualities, therapeutic death contemplation, and continuous kin care point to an enduring enchantment: meditations veiled in a green hue.