# where would you be buried



## deesam56 (Jun 18, 2013)

Sorry if this is grim but being that I am over 60 and thinking of moving to Spain next year, where do UK expats get buried? I notice in Spain locals have lovely burial grounds in walls, it is beautiful and mostly they are catholics, which I am not.
I am concerned that if I wanted a traditional burial as we do here that I would have to be repatriated costing a lot of money. On the costa del sol are there any expats cemetaries? I am not going to be cremated.
Strange question I know but something that is bothering me
Dee


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## deesam56 (Jun 18, 2013)

sorry title should read BURIED , not sure to edit the thread title


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

If you concerned about where you will be buried I imagine the best people to consult would be church members here, so find out where there is a British church in the area you want to live in and take it from there.


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

Do people get buried in Spain, buried as in hole in the ground?


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

mrypg9 said:


> Do people get buried in Spain, buried as in hole in the ground?


I've never seen a cemetery of that kind in Spain, only the niche in the wall type.

I didn't think the cemeteries here were affiliated to the Church as such, unlike being buried in a churchyard in the UK, but rather are administered by the local Councils. If that is indeed the case, and the OP doesn't want to be cremated, it wouldn't matter if they were Catholic or not. They'd need to purchase a niche, of course, and presumably that's more expensive than a cremation. I believe your "lease" runs out after a certain period anyway, you don't actually own the niche for ever unlike a cemetery plot.


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

Most Brits that i know of are cremated and their ashes taken to where they wish to rest - UK, elsewhere in Spain, so even leave instructions for their ashes to be taken to a place and scattered. I believe that there are sometimes restrictions on that in Spain.


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

Lynn R said:


> I've never seen a cemetery of that kind in Spain, only the niche in the wall type.
> 
> I didn't think the cemeteries here were affiliated to the Church as such, unlike being buried in a churchyard in the UK, but rather are administered by the local Councils. If that is indeed the case, and the OP doesn't want to be cremated, it wouldn't matter if they were Catholic or not. They'd need to purchase a niche, of course, and presumably that's more expensive than a cremation. I believe your "lease" runs out after a certain period anyway, you don't actually own the niche for ever unlike a cemetery plot.


There certainly are "hole in the ground" cemeteries in Spain (remember the opening scene of Almodóvar's "Volver" where the women are scrubbing the graves?) I think the niche ones are more common in the south though, maybe because of the difficulty of digging into rock or the shortage of land near to churches, which tend to be central.

AFAIK it isn't possible to have a burial without going through a church. Though cremations are now increasingly common and ash-scattering is possible in many places, despite the Pope's recent attempt to ban it.

https://elpais.com/elpais/2016/11/01/inenglish/1478007780_500515.html


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## Overandout (Nov 10, 2012)

I would ask for my ashes to be used to clean up an oil or diesel spill on a road somewhere. That way my death may save another life.

Not sure that my family would agree with that though.


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

Thankfully I'm not in the slightest concerned about what happens to me post-'mortem and thankfully that disinterest is mutual between me and OH. Cheapest and quickest despatch method.
If public health regulations and good neighbourly relations didn't come in to it, we'd both be content to be disposed of on a funeral pyre in our back garden.
Tbh I'm more concerned about what to do with our beloved dogs when they die.

If anyone bothers with any kind of ceremony for me, I'd like someone to read a few selected verses of Gray's Elegy.
Music ..I'd like 'Ernie the Fastest Milkman in the West', Benny Hill. Seriously.
But as I won't know I won't be insisting.


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## Overandout (Nov 10, 2012)

mrypg9 said:


> Thankfully I'm not in the slightest concerned about what happens to me post-'mortem and thankfully that disinterest is mutual between me and OH. Cheapest and quickest despatch method.
> If public health regulations and good neighbourly relations didn't come in to it, we'd both be content to be disposed of on a funeral pyre in our back garden.
> Tbh I'm more concerned about what to do with our beloved dogs when they die.
> 
> ...


As for music, I would like the Emmerson, Lake and Palmer Pictures at an Exhibition Medley from the re-issued album to be played as I get toasted.

Not sure it's fair to expect the few who might attend to sit through 15 minutes of prog rock though.


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

Overandout said:


> As for music, I would like the Emmerson, Lake and Palmer Pictures at an Exhibition Medley from the re-issued album to be played as I get toasted.
> 
> Not sure it's fair to expect the few who might attend to sit through 15 minutes of prog rock though.


That's why I wouldn't go for Brunnhilde's immolation, last Act of Wagner's 'Twilight of the Gods'.

We are thoughtful types beyond death, you and me....


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## Bodega (Apr 20, 2016)

*The edit process*



deesam56 said:


> sorry title should read BURIED , not sure to edit the thread title


A side note. Go to advanced edit to change the title, but you only have a short window (15 min or so) to prove and edit)


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

No burial for me, I'm for "gone with the wind" from a high place for maximum distribution.


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## danboy20 (Jul 10, 2017)

I went to a Spanish funeral once, where when it came to interment - no word of a lie - a group of workmen dressed like satellite engineers turned up, cleared the old bones out of the hole in the wall with a shovel, then proceeded to boot shut the lid, as the coffin wouldn´t fit properly!! They were booting it for about 10 minutes - in front of mourners - until it shut, then filled it over with concrete.


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

danboy20 said:


> I went to a Spanish funeral once, where when it came to interment - no word of a lie - a group of workmen dressed like satellite engineers turned up, cleared the old bones out of the hole in the wall with a shovel, then proceeded to boot shut the lid, as the coffin wouldn´t fit properly!! They were booting it for about 10 minutes - in front of mourners - until it shut, then filled it over with concrete.


That is why, in Spanish, it is called a "Cementerio" rather than "Cemeterio" - they concrete them in to stop them coming back to haunt those that are still alive.


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

baldilocks said:


> That is why, in Spanish, it is called a "Cementerio" rather than "Cemeterio" - they concrete them in to stop them coming back to haunt those that are still alive.


Thankfully my son isn't reading this. He might want to find out details.


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

mrypg9 said:


> Do people get buried in Spain, buried as in hole in the ground?


Yes, as someone else said, they do, and there are cemetaries in most towns, usually on the outskirts, but the vast majority are cremated. The only burial I have been to was of a very old lady in a family plot purchased many years previously.


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## chrisnation (Mar 2, 2009)

mrypg9 said:


> That's why I wouldn't go for Brunnhilde's immolation, last Act of Wagner's 'Twilight of the Gods'.
> 
> We are thoughtful types beyond death, you and me....


Emerson Lake and Palmer? Oh dear. I used to see Keith Emerson frequently in the '60's, days pre ELP, as The Nice. I was only 20 and knew no better. All that sticking knives into the keyboard to hold down notes, then vaulting over it and setting fire to the backing material ...

No. I favour P.Floyd's "Comfortably Numb" What could be more appropriate?

"Hello? Hello? Hello?
Is there anybody in there?
Just nod if you can hear me
Is there anyone at home?"

Clearly not, so ...

"The child is grown
The dream is gone
You [sic] have become comfortably numb."


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## Megsmum (Sep 9, 2012)

chrisnation said:


> Emerson Lake and Palmer? Oh dear. I used to see Keith Emerson frequently in the '60's, days pre ELP, as The Nice. I was only 20 and knew no better. All that sticking knives into the keyboard to hold down notes, then vaulting over it and setting fire to the backing material ...
> 
> No. I favour P.Floyd's "Comfortably Numb" What could be more appropriate?
> 
> ...




This was at our friends funeral, he died aged 49. This too is other half’s choice. Me I’m going for


Always look in the bright side of life.....


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## Williams2 (Sep 15, 2013)

I often wonder whether when Donald Trump is finally dead and buried and no longer haunts the White House, like he
does today.
Wouldn't it be strange if Donald Trump still manages to twitter from 'beyond the grave' 
I have no doubt that he'd still be asserting ( via twitter ) that my inauguration was bigger than Obama's back in 2017 !!


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

Some people will always think the UK/ USA/ China whatever as "home" and will want to be buried there. I don't think it really has a lot to do with how long you've been here or whether or not you consider yourself (famous word coming up) "intergrated". I think it's more a state of mind.
Music is quite the thing in the UK now both coming in and going out. Not so in Spain.
At the moment I'm not fussed about music or words.Maybe I'll be more concerned about that as time goes on. The only thing I'm clear about now is that religion will be off the menu!


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## Isobella (Oct 16, 2014)

Megsmum said:


> This was at our friends funeral, he died aged 49. This too is other half’s choice. Me I’m going for
> 
> 
> Always look in the bright side of life.....


Your choice comes in at no1 in some funeral lists. I quite like Time to say Goodbye. Although not thought about it much, don't cope very well with death. A friend who is very jolly and outgoing has planned everything. She saves those silly brochures given out at funerals now with a photo of the dead one and telling us how they liked to do...whatever. She is looking for ideas for her own :twitch:

Some music ideas here.

https://www.iscafunerals.co.uk/news/100-songs-play-funeral/


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

Megsmum said:


> This was at our friends funeral, he died aged 49. This too is other half’s choice. Me I’m going for
> 
> 
> Always look in the bright side of life.....


We had that played at my husband's funeral. To the horror of his sisters..... though even they could hardly resist smiling and almost skipping to it 

That, & 'Another one bites the dust' were among his favourites for blasting out while driving...... We - my daughters & I - wanted to have that played too - he'd have appreciated it - but we relented on that one.


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

I would like a proper New Orleans jazz funeral: six plumed black horses drawing the hearse and a rollicking Dixieland band bringing up the rear, followed by a three-day p1ss-up.

If that proves too difficult to organise in rural Andalucia, cremate me and put the ashes on the compost heap. Then have the three-day pi1ss-up.


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

Musically, if I had a choice, mine would be "Where sheep may safely graze"


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## Gran Erry-Bredd (Nov 1, 2016)

At my funeral, as my body in an Amazon cardboard box gradually goes through the curtain for cremation, a recording will be played. It will be the sound of knocking and a muted voice shouting "Help, get me out of here."


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