Criteria for Determining When to Collect Bones
According to the teachings passed down by our ancestors, one can refer to the age at the time of death as a guideline to determine whether the body has fully decomposed and whether bone collection can proceed.
The principle is that every 10 years counts as one year. For example, in the case of a deceased person aged 60, bone collection should occur after 6 years following burial; for someone aged 70, it should be after 7 years; and so forth, following this pattern without further elaboration. However, since each deceased individual’s physical condition during their lifetime varies and the materials used for coffins also differ, the aforementioned guidelines should be adjusted according to the overall subsidence of the grave soil by several inches. This indicates that it is time for bone collection because by then, the coffin has already decayed, leading to an overall sinking of the grave soil. This is an important point to consider in practical application.
Excerpt from Geographic Arena
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