Maine Might Allow Firey Viking-Style Funerals

Maine would be ony the second state to let Mainers leave this earth in a pretty memorable way.

According to the Bangor Daily News, only Colorado right now allows people to have a Viking funeral pyre. Something that is associated with the Norse culture and really only seen on TV and not very popular in the modern world.

The ritual is definitely something to not be forgotten. The body is ladyed in an open-air pyre. I had to look up pyre:

a heap of combustible material, especially one for burning a corpse as part of a funeral ceremony

Then the body is cremated, as anything would be placed on a pyre. The Vikings started this because they thought the smoke would help carry the passed into the afterlife. Maine has a proposal that would let nonprofits do this as long as they have at least 20 acres. And you would be limited to only one funeral at a time. You would then be able to scatter the remains on the property or another appropriate and legal way.

This is backed by Good Ground, Great Beyond, in the midcoast area. They have 60 acres and they would love to be able to offer open-air cremations. On their website they say that their mission...

...is to gather minds and hearts together in ongoing and active support of making open air cremation an option available to the community.

 

Right now there isn't a hearing scheduled. Would you want a Viking funeral?