Editing Pyre (section)

==Uses==
[[File:Chan Kusalo cremation 04.jpg|thumb|The funeral pyre of Chan Kusalo (the Buddhist high monk of Northern Thailand) at [[Wat Chedi Luang]], Chiang Mai, Thailand]]
[[File:Pa-Auk Village Burmese Buddhist Monks Funeral Temporary Building Side.jpg|thumb|left|The tiered funeral pyre of Burmese Buddhist Monk at Pa-Auk Village, [[Mon State]].]]
Traditionally, pyres are used for the cremation of the dead in the [[Hinduism|Hindu]] and [[Sikhism|Sikh]] religions, a practice which dates back several thousands of years.<ref name="Times">{{Cite news |last=Norfolk |first=Andrew |date=2006-07-13 |title=‘Illegal’ funeral pyre burnt in secret |url=https://www.thetimes.com/article/0a9de858-b0e9-45c2-b870-06c547eece70 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250422222234/https://www.thetimes.com/article/0a9de858-b0e9-45c2-b870-06c547eece70 |archive-date=2025-04-22 |access-date=2025-04-22 |work=[[The Times]]}}</ref> Funeral pyres were also used in [[Germanic culture|Germanic]] and [[ancient Romans|Roman]] culture.<ref name="Guardian">{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/g2/story/0,,1820024,00.html|title=The question: Why are funeral pyres illegal?|last=Fernando|first=Shehani|date=14 July 2006|work=The Guardian |location=London|access-date=19 January 2011}}</ref>

===Secular===
Pyres and bonfires are used in celebrations and remembrance in services. Examples of these are [[Guy Fawkes Night]] in the United Kingdom and some [[Commonwealth of Nations|Commonwealth]] countries, where the 'Guy', either seen as an effigy of [[Guy Fawkes]] or the Pope, is burned.

Funeral pyres were used by the Nazis to cremate the bodies of 1,500,000+ prisoners in [[Belzec extermination camp|Belzec]], [[Sobibor extermination camp|Sobibor]] and [[Treblinka extermination camp|Treblinka]] extermination camps, in contrast to the [[cremation|crematoria]] used in other camps. Pyres have also been used to dispose of large quantities of livestock in agriculture, particularly those infected with disease.<ref name="Guardian" />

Pyres are lit around the clock in [[Varanasi]], India as it is considered one of the oldest standing cities. Hindus believe that by resting the ashes of the dead in the [[Ganges|Ganges river]] in at Varanasi, the dead will achieve [[Moksha]]. Hindus will travel great lengths in order to perform [[ritual]]istic duties such as praying, attending to their dead, or to die.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://proof.nationalgeographic.com/2014/08/07/the-pyres-of-varanasi-breaking-the-cycle-of-death-and-rebirth/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140922234833/http://proof.nationalgeographic.com/2014/08/07/the-pyres-of-varanasi-breaking-the-cycle-of-death-and-rebirth/|url-status=dead|archive-date=22 September 2014|title=The Pyres of Varanasi: Breaking the Cycle of Death and Rebirth|last=McBride|first=Pete|date=2014-08-07|website=Proof|access-date=2017-04-24}}</ref>

=== Sati practice in Nepal & India ===
Some [[Hinduism|Hindu]] groups practiced [[Sati (practice)|Sati]] (also known as suttee). [[Sati (practice)|Sati]] is the act of volunteered self immolation of a widow of the deceased husband with his corpse or remains. This involves volunteering oneself (and generally being in state of samadhi<ref>{{Citation|title=(12472) Samadhi|work=Dictionary of Minor Planet Names|year=2007 |pages=783|place=Berlin, Heidelberg|publisher=Springer Berlin Heidelberg|doi=10.1007/978-3-540-29925-7_8607 |isbn=978-3-540-00238-3 |doi-access=free}}</ref>) to be burnt alive on the pyre with the remains of her husband for higher state of life.<ref name="Hawley1994">{{cite book|author=John Stratton Hawley|title=Sati, the Blessing and the Curse: The Burning of Wives in India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w_VbHItKQjYC|date=8 September 1994|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-536022-6}}</ref>