underused: an illustration of a collared trogon,  a type of tropical bird (Default)
underused ([personal profile] underused) wrote in [community profile] wotd2017-06-30 05:08 pm

promession

I came across this word browsing the index at Michael Quinion's World Wide Words:

[Promession] is an ecological alternative to cremation or burial. The corpse is frozen in liquid nitrogen and then shattered into powder by ultrasonic vibration before being buried in a biodegradeable box in a shallow grave...


Ms Wiigh-Masak created promession from the Italian promessione, to swear to the truth. The place where the funeral is held and the process takes place has been named promatorium, a blend of promession and crematorium.


If you're interested in the exact process, you can read more here and here. The specs sound kind of aggressive, but the concept is quite beautiful in a "dust to dust" sort of way. 

At the time the above was written, the first promatorium was set to open in Sweden in 2006. Naturally, I went to confirm that it happened. That's when I fell into an internet hole.

Half an hour later I know only that, as of now, Wiigh-Masak's company Promessa has partnered with a number of organisations, including one in Portland, Oregon.

But while according to their website they have "developed and offer the environmentally friendly and ecological funeral concept of promession," I cannot determine if promession is actually available anywhere yet.


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