TABLE OF CONTENT
Ashes to Ashes
Ashes Turned into a Diamond
Diamond Burial
Death is not the end, not the transience, and it is only the turning point, the beginning of eternity. Death and mourning are basic experiences of human life. What will happen after the death of a person? There is a formula that can answer this question, which is: ashes to ashes, dust to dust. Everyone wants a special way to remember their loss. In the weekly magazine DER SPIEGEL, 20/2005 published an article "Grandpa on the ring finger". Hundreds of family members had already carried their loved ones with them: as diamonds made from the ashes of the deceased.
Ashes to Ashes
"Ashes to ashes" is a very philosophical point of view. What is the connection between ashes and death? What is the ethical explanation for this opinion?
What Does "Ashes to Ashes and Dust to Dust" Mean?
The idea of "ashes to ashes, dust to dust" is that man should go back to where he came from. The concept that the deceased will return to earth, ashes, and dust thus finds its origin in the Creation Story - Genesis. The story described how God created the first man - Adam - from clay.
How Do Human Bodies Become Ashes?
Cremation is a form of burial in which the body is burnt down into ashes. A cremation includes the burning of the body and the subsequent burial of the ashes.
What Happens to the Body during Cremation?
In a cremation, the body of the deceased, including the coffin, is cremated in the crematorium. Cremation leaves behind about 2.4 kg of remains, also known as "ashes" or "cremains". The remaining ashes are then put into an urn.
A burial usually includes a religious or secular funeral ceremony. Marked differences exist between various burials.
Ashes Turned into a Diamond
Having the ashes of a deceased person transformed into a diamond is a fancy and personal way to memorialize a loved one who passed away. There are companies like LonitéTM who provide this kind of service. The transformation of the deceased's cremation ashes into a memorial diamond is done with the utmost care and respect. LonitéTM cares deeply about the dignity of the deceased.
How Can You Make a Diamond from Ashes?
In order to produce diamonds from ashes or hair in a lab, we have to create the same conditions that create natural diamonds. Natural diamonds are formed in extremely high pressure and high temperature (HPHT) environments deep underground. Similar conditions are also provided in LonitéTM's laboratory in order to turn ashes into diamonds.
To create cremation diamonds in the same way as natural diamonds, the carbon is firstly extracted from the ashes or hair of the deceased, then transformed into graphite, and finally grown into a diamond. This is done by precisely inducing and controlling extremely high temperatures (about 2700°C) and extremely high pressure (60,000 bar) to replicate the optimal environment, which resembles the natural environment. In this way, carbon from hair or ash can be transformed into diamonds.
Is a Diamond Made from Ashes a Real Diamond?
Natural-mined diamonds are pure carbon, and so are lab-grown diamonds from ashes. They have the same chemical structure and share the same physical properties. The only difference between natural diamonds and diamonds out from cremation ashes is their origin. Professional institutions like GIA and IGI accept memorial diamonds from ashes or cremation diamonds and certify them as real diamonds.
Diamond Burial
A diamond out of ashes is also called a diamond burial. It is not a burial in a traditional way. It is called so because the ashes obtained through cremation are transformed into a diamond. Diamond burial offers an alternative to the traditional casket or urn burial. More and more people are becoming interested in this special type of burial.
Diamond burial needs the cremation ashes of the deceased. In this type of burial, A portion of the ashes is processed into a rough diamond, and the remaining portion can be buried in a regular manner.
Advantages of Cremation Diamonds
Because of numerous advantages, diamonds made from ashes become more and more popular.
More Options for Burial
Diamond burial, as a variant of cremation, provides more options for people to choose. After the deceased has been cremated and a small amount of ash has been processed into a diamond, the residual ash can be scattered in the sea, buried under the roots of a tree, in a litter meadow or in a classic grave. This makes diamond burial a particularly versatile burial option.
Personal and Memorial
Cremation diamonds allow for the creation of a very personal and individual memento of a deceased person. Such a jewelry item often gives comfort to the bereaved, as the loved one accompanies a grieving relative even beyond death.
The Memory in Your Hands
While tradition often plays a role during mourning and death, memorial diamonds from ashes are a new and also successful way to comfort the loss of a loved one. The beautiful piece of jewelry with its special meaning is something valuable that expresses appreciation to the deceased. The fact that the costs are comparable to or even lower than other forms of burial is another positive point for this type of keepsake. Thus, the diamond out of ashes with its value and its immortality is a wonderful way to always carry the memory of the deceased person with you and make it visible to others - in a beautiful piece of jewelry that enchants everyone around you and brings out the beauty inside.
HPHT treatment of diamonds has been around for many years. Unfortunately, in the beginning, the treatment could only produce yellow, green, and orange colors. In the meantime, new processes and techniques have been developed and it is now possible to produce pink and purple hues. Pink diamonds are one of the most valuable colored diamonds.
Critical Opinions on Cremation Diamonds
The International Cremation Federation (ICF) and the Federal Association of German Undertakers (BDB) are opposed to lab-created diamonds from ashes because in German culture, a person's ashes are fundamentally indivisible. Nevertheless, it is natural to respect the wishes and ideas of the relatives and the deceased. Since cremation diamonds are only an additional form of burial, the traditional burial is still carried out, and the diamond can then be kept as a memento.
Strictly speaking, cremation diamonds are not an individual type of burial. What’s more, it is further processing of a portion of the ashes after cremation. The diamond is a very personal memory of a person who passed away. In Germany, there is a cemetery obligation, and therefore it is not allowed to completely turn all the ashes into a diamond. One can always have only a small part of the ashes to make into a diamond. A larger portion of the ashes is buried in a cemetery, for example.
A cremation diamond can be combined with all variants of burial, such as urn burial, tree burial, lake burial, rock burial, and alpine meadow burial. In Germany, it is not allowed to turn ashes into a diamond. A memorial diamond is not made in Germany but in the surrounding foreign countries, such as the Netherlands, Austria, or Switzerland. For this, a portion of the ashes must be shipped abroad.