Lighting up the sky

Our research into putting a loved ones ashes into a firework really got me thinking, especially as Guy Fawkes night has just passed.
 A family friend lost her 26 year old son this year and as a fitting celebration of his life, the family put his ashes into a firework and shot him up into the sky.

Commercially, this probably isn't a viable option as I can't imagine firework manufacturers would be too happy at having to deal with human ashes.

But as I was watching numerous firework displays this weekend I found myself thinking what a wonderful send off it would be. I think it has similarities with the burning on a pyre rituals that are famous with Viking cremations.

I would find it a wonderful and very emotional sense of closure for the loss of someone.

It would also solve problems of space as there would be no need for a cemetery.

That said, I think people do still need to have a place for mourning. A place where you can go to remember specifically the person gone.

Looking at the first world war cemeteries in France, they serve a purpose so that we never forget the sacrifice of the soldiers who died, but also for generations of families who go to pay respects for a great grandfather whom they never knew.