Culture, History & Rituals – How We Say Goodbye Across Time

Long before we had urns, cemeteries, or even written language—we had ritual.We gathered. We wept. We placed a stone, lit a fire, buried the body, or left it to the sky.Not because we had to. But because we felt something.

Grief has always needed expression.And from the earliest burials to today’s memorial forests, every culture has found its own way of asking:“What now?”

At TURN, we believe these cultural rituals aren’t just relics of the past.They’re living echoes—offering us insight into how we can reimagine the future of death.

The Origins of Ritual: From Caves to Cosmos

Archaeologists trace burial practices back over 100,000 years. In ancient Mesopotamia, people were buried with food and tools—gifts for the next world.The Egyptians built tombs that mirrored eternity. The Greeks placed coins on the eyes to pay Charon, the ferryman of souls.

These weren’t just logistics—they were acts of care. Each culture faced the unknown by creating meaning from matter.

Modern Times, Ancient Threads

Today, our lives are faster. Our grief, more private.But still, the rituals remain—some evolved, some quietly disappearing, and others reborn in new ways.

• In Tibet, sky burials reflect a return to nature, where the body is given back to birds and mountains.

• In South Korea, ashes are compressed into colorful beads and displayed at home—a ritual turned art.

• In Latvia, songs are sung for the dead, and forests often carry memory far longer than marble ever could.

• In Germany and France, sanctuary forests are becoming sacred spaces, where ashes are buried under trees—roots instead of headstones.

These aren’t trends. They’re reminders:That death has always been a dialogue between the body, the earth, and those who remain.

So What Can We Learn?

That how we say goodbye is a reflection of what we value.Do we believe in return? In remembrance? In continuation?

Some cultures emphasize release.Others focus on legacy.Some want eternity in stone, while others choose a wildflower in bloom.

And maybe the truth is—we don’t need to choose just one.Because grief is not a fixed script. It’s a deeply personal language.

Where TURN Fits In

TURN doesn’t replace ritual. It makes space for it.

Our urns don’t dictate how you must say goodbye.They invite you to choose—with simplicity, sustainability, and soul.

• You can keep it at home, as a quiet reminder.

• You can plant it in soil, and watch life return.

• You can scatter ashes, or pair the urn with a tree, a letter, a moment of stillness.

TURN is rooted in today—but shaped by everything that came before.

From Tradition to Transformation

We believe in Better Death—not because old ways were wrong, but because the world has changed.And in that change, we’re rediscovering something timeless:

That death, at its core, is a mirror of life.And just like life, it deserves intention.It deserves beauty.It deserves choice.

Let your ritual be yours.Let your goodbye reflect your story, your culture, your heart.Because the history of death is long—but your memory can still grow from it.

Let’s keep the roots. And grow something new.