What is a Burial Blanket?
A Burial Blanket is first and foremost a beautiful piece of handwoven cloth, crafted for a lifetime of reflection and enjoyment. Before they are used as shroud, these memento mori (reminders of death) are meant to serve as a blanket, bedspread, wall hanging, altar piece, shawl, or other important cloth in your home or your spiritual practice. Most Burial Blankets are custom commissions, designed collaboratively with the artist.
Made from natural fibers, these heirloom quality textiles are fully biodegradable for “green” or natural burial. They can also be used during cremation and conventional burial. Shrouding (wrapping the deceased in cloth for burial) is a practice that dates from time immemorial around the world, and can be done with any material large enough to fully wrap the body. Pall Blankets are used to cover a casket or shrouded body in a single layer of decorative or sacred cloth. Burial Blankets come in different sizes, mostly depending on how you want to use it during life, and there are endless possibilities for colors, patterns, and fibers.
The cloth can be tailored to requirements and traditions of Judaism, Islam, Christianity, Ba-Hai’, and other faiths. Your family or congregation can also commission a Burial Blanket to be draped over caskets during funeral services and used over and again, uniting many generations under one sacred cloth.
Finally, Burial Blankets are meant to bring people together around the subject of mortality with care, comfort, and beauty. While your cloth is on the loom, you and your loved ones are welcome to visit my studio in Chicago to see how it is made, weave a portion, and observe any meaningful rituals.
Your commission can also include small additional pieces of the shroud to be given away as memorial keepsakes, sewn into a wall hanging or baby blanket, or another idea you might have for this precious cloth.
