Cooling with grass
You may have heard of it before, the possibility of cooling a body using grass. How does it work, and what do you need?
Alternative ways of displaying the deceased
In the Netherlands, more and more new alternative ways of displaying the body are appearing. There are also many developments in the cooling of a body. Where a deceased person could previously only be cooled by means of cooling elements, there are now various sustainable methods. Nowadays, it is possible to cool with ordinary patches of grass and earth.
Cooling with grass, how does it work?
Grass, or turf specifically, has a beautiful and ecological way of cooling a room. How does it work? In two ways: firstly, grass uses heat from the environment to grow. The second effect is that the water that is sprayed on the grass evaporates, which cools the air. This spraying is to be done two to three times a day, so that both processes take place optimally. In this way, grass regulates the room temperature.
Natural cooling
No special material is needed to cool your room with grass, you can simply get the grass from your own garden. You place this grass in a bowl with raised edges, after which you place it under the elevation of the stretcher. After the funeral, the grass sods can also be placed back in the garden, where the grass will continue to grow. The best material to spray the sods with is water, mixed with liquid silicon and a rosemary scent extract. Liquid silicon can be purchased from shops that sell sustainable health products. Usually, an essential oil or bath milk is used for the scent. The best ratio is to use about 10 drops of liquid silicon per litre of water, and half a cap of oil or bath milk.
A beautiful revelation
The great thing about cooling with grass is that it enriches the appearance of the wake with a small garden. You can also dress up the grass with moss and flowers, for example. There is also less noise nuisance, since a cooling plate, besides the fact that it costs energy, also makes a lot of noise. Together with a carrier and a shroud, this makes the wake a peaceful whole, which offers a beautiful ground to say goodbye to a loved one.
What should I take into account?
Cooling a room with grass is not always sufficient to preserve a body. This has to do with the amount of moisture in the body, which can be higher due to various reasons, such as surgery or abrupt passing. In that case, separate cooling elements should be used. It is also important to ventilate the room well and ensure that flies cannot reach the body, using a mosquito net, for example. Often, since grass cools less intensively than a cooling plate, post-mortem smells are more likely to occur. This is important to discuss with the surviving relatives, since using this natural form of cooling requires a more open attitude towards the natural proceedings of death. Usually, it's best to prepare a body bag inside the shroud, and have a cooling element close by.
