Glossary

Aquamation:

A process that dissolves the body’s tissues using water; the solid remains are reduced and deposited in an urn that may be buried or kept in a columbarium.

Casket (or coffin):

A box usually made of wood in which the body of the deceased is kept before burial or cremation. It can be made of wood, steel, metal, bronze, copper, wicker, biodegradable material: cardboard, fibre material

Cavurne:

Individual vault built in open ground, intended to receive one or more cinerary urns. The cavurne is sealed by a concrete slab which makes it waterproof.

Cemetery:

A place where the deceased are buried. Cemeteries can be administered privately, by the government, or by a religious organization.

Columbarium:

A room or building with niches to receive one or more cinerary urns.

Columbarium bench:

A park bench identified with the deceased’s name, it is built of solid granite and houses a vault designed to accommodate up to four urns.

Cremation:

A funeral technique to burn and reduce the body of a deceased person to ashes. The ashes are collected and deposited in an urn that may be buried in a cemetery or kept in a columbarium.

Crematorium :

A building offering cremation services.

Crypt:

A space in a mausoleum intended to accommodate the casket containing the body of a deceased.

Embalming (or thanatopraxis):

 A technique that preserves a deceased person's body and enables it to be viewed days after death.

Grave:

The place where a body or ashes are buried.

Grave site (or plot or tomb):

Land reserved for the burial of bodies or ashes in a cemetery

Internment rights:

Right of burial in a space (grave, niche, urn vault or crypt) within a cemetery, a mausoleum or a columbarium.

Internment rights holder:

A person who holds the right to sell internment rights and its assigns.

Mausoleum:

A funerary building housing crypts and columbaria that contain niches.

Memorial tree:

 A tree planted and identified with the name of the deceased whose cinerary urn will be buried at its base.

Monument (or headstone or stone):

A work of architecture made of sculpture, of granite, marble or bronze intended to perpetuate the memory of the deceased.

Niche :

A space in a columbarium designed to receive one or more cinerary urns.

Private family crypt:

A dedicated and customized room in a mausoleum for members of the same family.

Reliquary:

A container intended to hold a small amount of ashes.

Scattering of ashes:

Describes the process of dispersal of ashes and/or the place where the ashes of the deceased are scattered. In a cemetery, the deceased can be identified with a granite, brass or bronze plaque which serves as a place of assembly and commemoration.

Shroud:

A piece of cloth in which a deceased is buried.

Tribute tree:

A tree planted and identified with the deceased’s name; however, no burial will take place.