Requiescat In Pacem : Cemeteries

I live near a cemetary and I take strolls through it quite often. They are quiet neighbours. The old grave stones are the most beautiful, unfortunatly my city's graveyards have all started to outlaw upright stones in favour of flat markers. It's easier to mow the grass.
I get a true sense of history from the stones, who lived here, emigrated and the communities that populated the area. We have public and religious graveyards here. My favourite are the small forgotten graves in ghost towns.
Natives on reserves do not embalm their dead and in these graveyards, the grave are marked with tiny house like structures that keep the wild beasties out.
In my province, we don't make a holiday out of All Saints day, but many Catholics go to church. We tend to celebrate Hall'o'ween, All Souls Day, but this is not religious at all. We have parties where we dress up in ghoulish outfits, children go from house to house - trick or treating and many people decorate their homes and yards in anticipation for the big day.

I like to go to cemetaries, walk around, look at the gravestones, read the names, how old the people were when they died etc. I try to look at a cemetary in every country I am going to - I liked the one in Atlanta where Margret Mitchell's grave is. And the small one on the Italian island of Ischia. The white ones in Andalucia.

For myself, I wouldn't want a grave that somebody has to tend to. Burn my body and put the ashes in one of these wall structures like we have in my little hometown.

I dislike cemeteries. They usually give me the creeps.
Cremation is better.

There is one cemetery, though, that I have liked and visited several times. The "English" cemetery at Rome, near the Piramid. Eerily cozy.
Once, I saw there a girl with vaporous white clothes. She carried a few daffodills, and strolled calmly. She deposited the flowers on Keats' tomb. The image of her slow, delicate inclination towards the grave haunts me every now and then.

I really like cementaries ... if they look more like a garden, a parc than like an assembly of experimental sculpture gallery although. (The cementary at Montmatre in Paris is an exeption of this 'rule' of mine.)

Hey Walter and all.

Cemeteries are just reminders of personal and international histories. I am most fascinated with the epitaphs. Thomas Gray's "Elegy Written in a Country Graveyard" desensitized me to the "spooky" aspect, as did Edgar Lee Master's "Spoon River Anthology". Brass rubbings make beautiful pictures. I find it interesting that the term "graveyards" has given way to cemeteries, and that tombstones are now called grave markers.

I think cremation doesn't preclude having a spot in a cemetery, Fbaezer. The only problem with it, is that subsequent generations will not have access to the relics or study that human remains give archaeologists. Somewhere I read that we know little of many ancient cultures as a result of their wholesale belief in cremation.

The most depressing part of the entire process is the funeral.

I used to like cemetaries. Now I realize, that with the population growing ever larger, cemetataries are a tremendous waste of space which could be better used for the living.

My husband and I decided that when we die we wanted to go to a National Cemetery, as he is a veteran. A few months ago, we checked one out. I was amazed to see the brand new columbariums that had recently been erected. They looked like marble "lockers". Each could hold two sets of ashes for a couple. Your names were engraved in the marble, and there was a choice of emblems, pertaining to your faith, if any. (I really wanted a "?", but my husband scratched that idea! The emblem for atheist was like something out of science fiction, which I did not find particularly attractive. )

Anyhow, I think that cremations are becoming more and more popular recently.

letty, cremation -a very private thing, with the presence of very few, close relatives- seems to me less traumatic for the people left behind than a burial -often massive, at least in this place.
The social mourning part -which is very important, psycologically-, with the participation of other relatives, friends, friends of the relatives and some acquantainces, is done at the vigil.
And a small crypt in a church -like the one where my father's ashes rest-, or the scattering of the remains seem to me a good alternative to cemeteries.

Yes, of course, fbaezer. My parents lie in our family cemetery and a marker for my brother whose body was never brought back from the war. My husband and I have talked about cremation, and that is probably the way that we'll go. Hell, I'll probably just put an urn behind that acoustic bass he loves so much. As for me, I want things to be as easy on my family as possible.

Walter, I had a strange dream last night about a hand carved casket/coffin. It's your fault for posting this thread!

I visit my mother's and older brother's graves in Corpus Christi when I can get down there. I don't know that I could get the same emotional gratification (if that is the appropriate word) from any other form of remembrance. Possibly because I never had the chance to tell them good-by, or something I can't fathom -

Well, if you had dreamed of me ... that would be really strange :wink:

Now cut that out kids! :wink:

Phoenix, I can dream, can't I?

(dream on, dream on)

I can see
No matter how near you'll be
You'll never belong to me
But I can dream, can't I?
Can't I pretend that I'm locked in the bend of your embrace?
For dreams are just like wine
And I am drunk with mine

I'm aware
My heart is a sad affair
There's much disillusion there
But I can dream, can't I?
Can't I adore you
Although we are oceans apart?
I can't make you open your heart
But I can dream, can't I?

I'm aware
My heart is a sad affair
There's much disillusion there
But I can dream, can't I?
Can't I adore you
Although we are oceans apart?
I can't make you open your heart
But I can dream, can't I?

(dream on, dream on, dream on)


The Andrews Sisters Lyrics
I Can Dream, Can't I? Lyrics

Now that's better than talkin about graveyards...

I really enjoy walking through graveyards. I have always found them very peaceful and quiet, a really great place to just think. There is a Graveyard which overlooks the city and is bordered on a nature reserve which i often take a detour through. very beautiful and serine, Gives me a little time to think about people who have lived before. i always try and find the Veterans section, just to show some respect for those who have died fighting for our country. Graveyards are a very strong connection to a communities past, I do think they are important and should be taken care of and treated with respect.

Why would anyone have a place to bury old concrete blocks ?


Just kidding.

You see, Heliotrope, my native town was wellknown for its cement factories since more than 130 years .... it's in the blood - BUT NOW CORRECTED!

Thanks! :wink:

I have to say that I do find graveyards very peaceful and not at all creepy or off-putting.
I enjoy sitting in them as they are one of the few places left where one can actually get a bit of outdoor peace and quiet in the city these days.

The fact that people are buried there doesn't mean a thing to me. The folks are long gone and they only live on in my head so a grave is irrelevant to me.
I understand why they're there though and I appreciate that they are. They do me some good.