When you meet with a funeral home in Rockford, IL. to make arrangements for your loved one, there may be some terms you hear that you are not familiar with. This is normal as every industry has it’s own vocabulary and the funeral business is no different. However, not knowing some of these terms can leave you feeing confused or simply overwhelmed. To help you make more sense of everything and understand some of the lingo better, we have put together a list of commonly used terms and what they mean.
Cemetery Terminology and Their Meanings
- Committal Service – This is the final service held after a funeral. It is here when the casket will be lowered into the ground. This service is much shorter in length than a funeral service.
- Commercial Cemetery– These cemeteries are for-profit and non-denominational spaces that are typically owed by corporations rather than religious entities
- Community Mausoleums-These mausoleums allow most anyone in the public to be held there.
- Companion Plot– This is when two plots are sold in a cemetery that are side-by-side. This allows for each space to hold one casket and be beside one another.
- Crypt– A crypt is a space for a casket. These are most often found in mausoleums.
- Double-depth burial – Rather than side-by-side, this term refers to when two caskets are buried one on top of the other.
- Easement– This is the contract that is created between the cemetery and the person purchasing the rights if interment.
- Entombment-This is the process of placing a casket in a mausoleum
- Exhumation– The process of removing human remains out of the grave
- Grave depression– A sink-hole in the ground directly over a grave, caused by the degradation of the coffin.
- Grave liner-Also called a gave vault, this is a vessel that holds the casket. Its purpose is to help support the ground above the casket so that it does not cave in or sink
- Green burial– This refers to a burial that is free of chemicals from the embalming process and the materials used are eco-friendly
- Interment– This is the term that refers to the burial of human remains in a grave
- Inurnment– This is the term that refers to the placing of an urn inside a niche
- Outer Burial Container– This is another term used for a grave liner
- Perpetual care– This is money set aside for future and continued care of the grave site and the grounds
- Single plot– A single plot is one plot designed for burial of one single casket
- The Right of Interment– This gives the purchaser of the burial plot the right to bury their loved one in the space. This
means they own the plot but not the actual land itself.
As directors of funeral homes in Rockford, IL., we understand how difficult of a time this is for you. We hope this list of terms and their meanings will be useful and give you a little more confidence and piece of mind when meeting with the funeral directors. Our caring staff is ready to help if you need more information for service option you need.