Cremation is when someone who dies is burned to the point that all that remains is just ash. Since a high temperature is needed to cremate a body, only certain furnaces are used to cremate a body. Once crematorium has been decided by the family, the cremation becomes fairly straight forward, there is some times a service, the cremation, the showing of the cremation urn, and the scattering of the ashes.
In the States, only certain crematoriums are allowed to run commercially because of both the wants and wishes of the family. Some of the funeral homes have crematoriums, while some cemeteries also provide a cremation proses services. There are some crematoriums, but outside of some cities and areas without crematoriums attached to them, they are far between. The choice of crematorium is very important to some if they wish to watch them be cremated, as they would need to use a place that has a viewing access to the furnace.

Funeral services can take place either before or after a person is cremated, if it is done before, there may be a visitation and then an actual funeral, minus the burial. If it is done after cremation, the urn will be on display for the ceremony. Sometimes, due to the wishes of the family, the urn may be buried, in this case a nice wooden urn would be recommended due to its ability to decompose.
During the actual cremation of the body, the furnace technician is responsible for making sure the entire body is reduced to ashes, in many crematoriums,

 once the body is put in, the door is locked to make sure that the body cannot be seen again until after it is turned to ash. This process can take anywhere between 1 to 4 hours depending on the persons body weight, and allowing the furnace to cool down enough to open to retrieve the ashes.Care must be taken in order to prevent contamination of the ashes with other ashes, or other materials that may be around the furnace.

Once the family is given the cremation urn, they may want to either scatter the ashes of the loved one, or keep the cremation urn in a home or somewhere else. Ashes are usually scattered somewhere that they enjoyed being, or wished they could be. Often times there will be a place in the will that specifically tells where the ashes should be spread. When the ashes are kept in the cremation urn, most of the time a small child will choose to keep it in their home, usually on a shelve for other people to see, next to a picture of the loved one. However, there are times when an cremation urn will be placed inside a cemetery, which makes it easier for the public, or the person’s family, to pay their respects.