Rainbow Urns

A rainbow appears only under very specific conditions. The rain must still be falling in front of you, and the sun must be back out behind you. It shows up during a passing shower rather than after everything has dried out, catching that exact moment where the storm meets the light. Families often choose this image because it captures a very particular transition.

For a family that lived through difficult years, that person may have been the sudden light. They were the bright thing that arrived after a long, hard stretch, much like that sun breaking through a heavy downpour. They were the color that appeared just when the world felt grayest.

This design is often chosen for hope rather than as simple decoration. It is also tied to a way of living: plainly and openly, without pretense. There is comfort in the song that gets played at these services, too, because what it promises is a somewhere, without ever naming it as heaven. It provides a sense of what comes next without requiring a specific religious conviction.

For the person who was always plainly themselves, this collection is a way to honor that identity. They were not working their way toward it. They were simply themselves, in front of everybody, for as long as anyone knew them. That was a plain fact about them, and a memorial that says so is the same plain fact, kept where the family can see it.

Each piece in this collection is made of cast aluminum, designed to last. You can choose from a range of painted finishes or a hand-applied enamel finish that features hand-detailed silver bands. Every urn is finished with a threaded screw-top lid and a felt base to ensure stability and protection. The rainbow itself is engraved directly into the surface, making the design a permanent part of the metal.

Whether you choose a full-size urn, a sharing urn, or a keepsake urn, the design remains consistent. This allows a family to choose one piece or several to hold different parts of a shared history. If you wish, we can also provide two-tone engraving to include a name and dates, cutting them directly into the surface so they become a permanent part of the piece.

The song was nearly cut. Harold Arlen wrote the music and E. Y. Harburg wrote the lyrics for The Wizard of Oz. Judy Garland was sixteen when filming began and recorded it on October 7, 1938. The studio took it out of the picture twice before producer Arthur Freed said the rainbow stays or he goes. Harburg built the song on the fact that the Kansas of the book is dry and drab, so a rainbow would be the one colorful thing in a child's life and the obvious thing to want to get to. He was two syllables short until Edelaine Roden handed him the word somewhere. The recording went into the Library of Congress National Recording Registry in 2017.

For a family, the design on the urn is the person who was the color in it, and the somewhere the song keeps pointing at.

Source: Library of Congress, National Recording Registry essay on Over the Rainbow

If they were the color in a gray stretch of years and lived with an uncomplicated openness, then these designs will read as theirs. A friend or a grandchild might see in the rainbow a recognition of the hope they brought to those around them. It is a way to acknowledge the person who was the sudden light that arrived when the storm was at its heaviest.

The choice of which piece to bring home is yours, guided by your own memories of their life. Looking at this design, a family sees the exact moment the rain is still falling and the sun has broken through, and remembers the person who was that sudden, bright light.

Our guide to selecting the right size urn