CRESTONE, COLORADO, January 31, 2011: Belinda Ellis’ farewell went as she wanted. One by one, her family placed juniper boughs and logs about her body, covered in red cloth atop a rectangular steel grate inside a brick-lined hearth. With a torch, her husband lit the fire that consumed her, sending billows of smoke into the blue-gray sky of dawn.
The outdoor funeral pyre in this southern Colorado mountain town is unique. Although funeral pyres are an accepted practice among Hindus, the practice is largely taboo in the U.S. Funeral and cremation industry officials say they are unaware of any other place in the nation that conducts open-air cremations for people of any religion. A Buddhist temple in Red Feather Lakes, Colo., conducts a few funeral pyres, but only for its members.
The Crestone End of Life Project conducted its first open-air cremation in January 2008, and it has performed 18 since. State and local agencies have given permits to the group to conduct the cremations.