INTHEBLACK April/May 2024 - Magazine - Page 48
Earl & Nazima Kowall/The Image Bank Unreleased via Getty Images
F E AT U R E
Above: The Diamond
Hill cemetery in
Kowloon, Hong Kong,
during the Qing Ming
Festival, April 2016.
Qing Ming is a time
when family and
friends clean and tend
their loved ones’
graves and make
offerings of necessary
items like food and
money for their spirits.
48 INTHEBLACK April/May 2024
“The volume of funerals went down,”
Tobin says. “Not dramatically, but it
was noticeable across Australia.
People were isolating. There were fewer
cases of flu and diseases that typically
affect vulnerable people. The overall
number of deaths declined.”
However, data from the Australian Bureau
of Statistics (ABS) says there was excess
mortality, defined as “the difference between
the total number of deaths in a specified period
and the expected numbers of deaths in that
same period” during some of the pandemic,
particularly during the Omicron stage. The
ABS also notes that COVID-19 is “still a
significant contributor to increased mortality”.
During lockdown, the funeral industry
faced unique challenges. Caps were placed
on the numbers of people who could
attend funerals – at one stage, that figure
came down to 10 per event. This triggered
greater expectation around the online
streaming of funeral proceedings.
Despite this, the notion of the funeral of the
future as a digital celebration of a person’s life
has not caught on, Tobin says. “The general
feedback I am getting now from industry is
that, if anything, it has worked the other way.
“When rules are imposed on people,
when they are told only a certain number
of people can come, it makes people
realise how important funerals are.
“A lot of families wanted to have their
circle of friends around them, and they
were deprived of this, so it has bounced
back quite quickly.”
RADICAL REINVENTION
Change has always reshaped death
care, and this is only likely to accelerate,
Tobin says, albeit at a pace that respects
the wishes of the living and the memories
of their loved ones.
Globally, there has been dramatic
movement in death care in response to
the greater call for sustainability, although
it currently only exists in small pockets.
Dutch business Loop Biotech has
developed the “world’s first living coffin”.
The Loop Living Cocoon™ is grown,
over the course of a week, from “local
mushrooms and upcycled hemp fibres”.
Once in the ground, it biodegrades
in 45 days.
Another product from the same business
is the Loop EarthRise™. This is an urn
grown from mycelium, which are the fungal
threads from which mushrooms typically
sprout. The urn can be used as an ornament
at home, in the garden or in a forest.
