Responses From The Mourners For A Cremation Committal

Ruth Burgess

Into the freedom of wind and sunshine

Response - We let you go

Into the dance of the stars and the planets

Response - We let you go

Into the wind's breath and the hands of the star maker

Response - We let you go

We love you, we miss you, we want you to be happy
Go safely, go dancing, go running home

Ruth Burgess

As this is a cremation committal and the mourners will be well spread out within (and perhaps without) the crematorium chapel these words of committal are best used when all the mourners have, or share, an Order Of Service sheet to refer to, and are thus better able to follow the service.

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Although we have never spoken this as part of our words of committal during a cremation ceremony, we have used it successfully "informally" after the ceremony in an open area outside the crematorium  chapel.

The following simple act was carried out as a symbolic gesture of 'release' and 'letting go' of the deceased and was very much appreciated by those present.

In order to set the scene we will tell you that the deceased was an elderly lady, she died of so called "natural" causes (old age), her only daughter was present along with her grandchildren, she was a well respected lady who had many friends, all of whom were present at her farewell funeral ceremony.

After the coffin had been positioned on the catafalque we attached various coloured helium balloons to the six handles of the coffin.

Each balloon was attached to a heart shaped weight and each balloon also had separately attached to it a tag with the deceased name and a personally written message, some of the balloons also had their own message on the balloon itself, ie; "Simply The Best", "Worlds Greatest", "We Will Miss You" and "Greatest Grandma", these remained attached to the coffin during the whole ceremony until just prior to the committal when they were removed and returned to the appropriate person.

After the funeral we all gathered at an open area close to the chapel, the weights were cut free from the balloons and kept by the holders as a keepsake, we repeated Ruth Burgess's words as written above, (several members of the group were briefed on the words and were easily able to lead the remainder to follow in response).

All the balloons with their personal messages attached were released in response to the final line, "Go safely, go dancing, go running home".
This simple act which took no more than a minute of time led to an exceptionally powerful moment which in turn led to a lot of hugging and tears, but it was at the same time somehow joyful in it's release......... and although probably no one else was aware of it, we knew that at this time the cremation process would have started and the very slight wisp of smoke that was emanating from the tall crematorium chimney and rising with the helium baloons was significant.