People know so much more about cremation services in Yonkers, NY than they used to. As recently as the year 2000, most people were still choosing to be buried as opposed to cremated, and as a result, many Americans didn’t know a whole lot about cremation. That has changed now that the cremation rate has risen up over the 50 percent mark in recent years. But there are still some things that people might not realize about cremation services. Check out a few of these things below. 

Cremation has been around for a long time now. 

It might seem as though cremation is a newfangled idea thanks to its sudden popularity in the U.S. But in reality, cremation has been around for centuries now. In fact, most experts believe that cremation dates back to the Stone Age with the earliest cremations taking place around 3,000 B.C. After people started using cremation in Europe, it spread throughout the world with many cultures incorporating cremation into the systems they had set up for dealing with bodies after deaths. 

Cremation wasn’t available in the U.S. until the late 1800s. 

Although cremation was first used way back in 3,000 B.C., it didn’t catch on in the U.S. right away after the country declared its independence. It actually took about 100 years for cremation to become a viable option for Americans. The first crematories didn’t pop up until the late 1800s in Pennsylvania. But shortly after crematories started to arrive on the scene, they also spread to other states like New York, Michigan, and even California. It wasn’t long before the cremation rate started to go up. 

Cremation is no longer frowned upon by most major religions. 

One of the reasons why cremation didn’t spread even more than it did over the years was because so many of the world’s major religions taught people not to consider it. This stopped a lot of people from choosing Yonkers, NY cremations over burials. But over time, religions slowly evolved and started to become more accepting of cremation. Today, there are only a few religions, including Judaism and Islam, that have not come around to allowing cremation. 

Cremation is expected to become even more popular in the coming years. 

You might think that cremation is as popular as it’s going to get right now. But in fact, those within the funeral industry think it could grow in popularity even more than it has over the next 20 years. They think that, one day, about 80 percent of people are going to be requesting cremations over burials. It’ll be interesting to see if that ends up being true. It could completely change the future of the funeral industry. 

It’s clear that cremation is here to stay. If you want to take advantage of it by pre-planning cremation services for yourself or scheduling cremation services for a loved one, Riverdale-on-Hudson Funeral Home, Inc. can help. Visit our Yonkers, NY funeral home to get more information on setting up cremation services.