Cemetery Symbolism

7/31/2019 Cemetery Symbolism

1/18

Alsirat.com

Cemetery Symbolism

A Wary Glossaryby Joel GAzis-SAx

Copyright 1997 by Joel GAzis-SAx

Read a Warning!Learn the Language of Symbolism

AnchorEarly Christians devised clever signs so that they could guide one another to

the secret places where they worshipped. The anchor is a disguised cross whenyou see it in a Christian setting. From its utility, the further meaning of Christas that which prevents us from drifting off and becoming lost comes. Onerarely sees anchors on inland gravestones, so the presence of the symbol on atomb may carry all the above religious overtones or it may just mean that thedeceased was a sailor. An anchor with a broken chain stands for the cessationof life.

AngelsCreatures made of air or fire according to early Christian pseudepigraphica, orof granite or marble, if a stonecutter makes them. Angels mean spirituality.They guard the tomb, guide the soul, pray for the soul in purgatory, and direct

the living visitor to think heavenwards. Two angels, saints of the CatholicChurch, can be named as we find them: Michael, who bears a sword, andGabriel, who toots a horn. Angels shown without one or the other of theseartifacts belong to the nameless legions of personal guardian angels and otherdecorations.

ColorsIf asked to name the color of death and mourning, Europeans will choose
http://www.alsirat.com/symbols/index.htmlhttp://www.alsirat.com/symbols/glossary.htmlhttp://www.alsirat.com/symbols/symbols1.html#crosshttp://www.alsirat.com/symbols/symbols1.html#sainthttp://www.alsirat.com/symbols/index.htmlhttp://www.alsirat.com/symbols/glossary.htmlhttp://www.alsirat.com/symbols/symbols1.html#crosshttp://www.alsirat.com/symbols/symbols1.html#saint


2/18

black. Chinese, other Asians, and many other groups will pick white. Blacksignifies darkness and the absence of light. It also recalls the silence in themiddle of the night. White recalls the color of the bones and the paleness of thecorpse. The difference is not perfect because Europeans fill their graveyardswith white tombstones. White dovesalso appear as motifs in the European

sepulchral arts.

Catholics and High-Church Anglicans recognize purple as the color ofmourning. Priests wear purple or violet robes at funeral masses for the dead,recalling Christ's passion, crucifixion, and resurrection.

See also red lettering.

Broken ColumnWhat we see today of ancient Greek and Roman civilization. Because the menand women who built monuments such as the Parthenon are dead, this imagerepresents the eventual ruin or decomposition of us all.

CrescentDenotes that the deceased was a Muslim in life.

Cross

Christians behold the hope of resurrection in the cross. The cross can alsostand for nationalist divisions, especially between the Western Church and theEastern. Orders of crusading knights often devised their own crosses as theyset forth to pillage infidels and fellow Christians. The cross also appears inJapanese heraldry where it stands for the four quarters of the earth or the fourcardinal directions. Or it merely pleases the eye.

Seeanchor,SIGNS OF THE CROSS.Crown

The crown atop the head of many saints and a few worldly devils attests to thesoul's achievement. Early crowns were made out ofplants and derived theirmeaning from those herbs. As men fashioned crowns out of more enduringsubstances like gold, they added little spikes to call to mind the power andauthority of the sun.

Dog

Dogs often appear at the feet of medieval women, signifying the loyalty andinferior place of each in the chivalric order. Modern dogs only imply that themaster was worth loving.

DoveThe little bird appears in both Christian (usually Catholic) and Jewishcemeteries, representing some of the same things and some different things ineach. Catholics usually see the dove (which makes its first Biblical appearancein Genesis carrying an olive branch for Noah) as the Holy Spirit. Jews interpretthe dove as a peace symbol. The biblical allusion to the dove also suggests aconnectedness with the earth and its color, white, represents for Europeans,
http://www.alsirat.com/symbols/symbols1.html#dovehttp://www.alsirat.com/symbols/symbols1.html#dovehttp://www.alsirat.com/symbols/symbols1.html#redhttp://www.alsirat.com/symbols/symbols1.html#redhttp://www.alsirat.com/symbols/symbols1.html#anchorhttp://www.alsirat.com/symbols/symbols1.html#anchorhttp://www.alsirat.com/symbols/symbols1.html#anchorhttp://www.alsirat.com/symbols/cross.htmlhttp://www.alsirat.com/symbols/symbols1.html#plantshttp://www.alsirat.com/symbols/symbols1.html#sunhttp://www.alsirat.com/symbols/symbols1.html#dovehttp://www.alsirat.com/symbols/symbols1.html#redhttp://www.alsirat.com/symbols/symbols1.html#anchorhttp://www.alsirat.com/symbols/cross.htmlhttp://www.alsirat.com/symbols/symbols1.html#plantshttp://www.alsirat.com/symbols/symbols1.html#sun


3/18

purity and spirituality.

See also colors.

DragonFor the Chinese, the dragon is an emblem of Imperial Power, which has

brought the universe into its thrall. It also stands for the Universe itself, achaotic force which none of us can truly master.

Europeans rarely depict dragons on their gravestones. When they appear, SaintGeorge rides out to kill them. This symbolizes triumph over sin. And when onetriumphs over Sin, one has also won relief from the most stinging qualities ofDeath: the punishments for our sins.

Foo DogGuardian beings found at the gates of many Chinese cemeteries. Foo dogs arewhat resulted when Indian Buddhist missionaries describedlions to Chineseartists (who had no such creature lurking in their woods.) One male and onefemale foo dog guard each assigned entryway. The male, sitting on the right asyou enter the gate, holds down a ball, sometimes painted gold. This signifiesthe authority of the man over the family's worldly affairs. The female, sittingon the left, holds down a kitten. She rules the domestic life, including theraising of the children and the management of the household. Theserelationships, like all familial ties, persist into death.

See also sphinx.

HandsThe hand may be the most distinctly human appendage. We spend our lives

with our hands right in front of us, reaching, touching, fingering, scratching,and doing much of the work our lives require. Early man blew paint around hishand, leaving a clear mark that he'd visited certain of the caves of SouthernFrance.

Cemetery hands tend to be shown doing one of four things: clasping, praying,pointing, and blessing. All these signs show that the deceased's relationshipsinvolve human beings. The hand says "Here I lived". From the fact of this life,the hand directs us to spiritual matters (e.g. the presence of God) or to theendurance of human feelings (clasping hands often symbolize a marriage orother close bond).

HeartStylized hearts stand for the affection of the living for the dead. Two joinedhearts on a stone mark a marriage.

Heart, SacredA grisly image unique to Catholic memorial parks. The Sacred Heart depictsthe torn and dripping cardiac muscle of Jesus, surrounded, for good measure,with the crown of thorns. The heart represents the suffering of Jesus for our
http://www.alsirat.com/symbols/symbols1.html#colorshttp://www.alsirat.com/symbols/symbols1.html#colorshttp://www.alsirat.com/symbols/symbols1.html#lionhttp://www.alsirat.com/symbols/symbols1.html#lionhttp://www.alsirat.com/symbols/symbols1.html#sphinxhttp://www.alsirat.com/symbols/symbols1.html#colorshttp://www.alsirat.com/symbols/symbols1.html#lionhttp://www.alsirat.com/symbols/symbols1.html#sphinx


4/18

sins. Prayers to the Sacred Heart are said to be efficacious for the release ofsouls from Purgatory.

Hour GlassThe classic symbol for Time. So far neither analog nor digital clocks haveappeared on tombstones, perhaps because these represent time which is

renewable while the sands of an hour glass run out. Hour glasses sometimestake flight. Some hold that this signifies the resurrection of the dead. Or it maybe the realization of the adage "Time flies."

KeysNewspapers sometimes write of the key to more knowledge that some scientisthas discovered. This recalls modern science's ties to the medieval era, whenalchemists held that there were three keys which, if discovered, would allowthem to turn lead into gold. Cemetery keys stand for spiritual knowledge or, ifheld in the hands of an angel or saint (especially Peter), the means to enterheaven.

Lamb Usually marks the grave of a child, especially in a Catholic cemetery. Thelamb always stands for innocence. Christians go a little further and associate itwith the Lamb of God, meaning Jesus. Children have had little time toaccumulate a roster of sins. For this reason, Catholics hold, once they havebeen baptized they possess the purest souls among us. (George Orwell oncesaid: "One cannot really be a Catholic and grown up." The awe accorded thesouls of children suggests that many Catholics feel that the only nearly perfectbeings among us are our children.) Most lambs appear crouching. Somemonuments show lambs with other symbols such as the cross, palm branches,crowns, chalices, etc. These lambs represent Jesus and those, such as bishops

and other clergy, who serve Him.Lamp

Like other light sources, lamps stand for knowledge and the immortality of theSpirit.

See also sun,torch.

Lion

The lion recalls the power of God and guards the tomb against impious visitorsand evil spirits. Like other guardians, the lion's watch is as eternal as the stoneor bronze in which it is depicted. These felines also recall the courage anddetermination of the souls which they guard: they can be said to manifest the

spirit of the departed.

See also foo dog.

Menorah

The menorah far predates the mogen david as an emblem of Judaism.

PinwheelsThis new phenomenon brings motion to otherwise still graveyards. First
http://www.alsirat.com/symbols/symbols1.html#sunhttp://www.alsirat.com/symbols/symbols1.html#torchhttp://www.alsirat.com/symbols/symbols1.html#torchhttp://www.alsirat.com/symbols/symbols1.html#foodoghttp://www.alsirat.com/symbols/symbols1.html#starhttp://www.alsirat.com/symbols/symbols1.html#sunhttp://www.alsirat.com/symbols/symbols1.html#torchhttp://www.alsirat.com/symbols/symbols1.html#foodoghttp://www.alsirat.com/symbols/symbols1.html#star


5/18

appearing on the graves of children, pinwheels now can be seen on the gravesof adults. The continual movement suggests constancy, perhaps of affection.The wind which propels the tiny mills evokes the spirit. As with all thesymbols mentioned in this glossary, people may choose to use them to expressthese meanings or just because they are pretty.

See also toys.

PlantsExperts cannot agree whether a tree growing in the grave of a husband andwife symbolizes their separation or unity. I tend towards the latter -- seeingmarriage as a joining of two substances. This interpretation of plants as theembodiment of the deceased comes up often in literature and art. From ourrotting remains, the grass, the trees, the flowers, and the shrubs draw up ouressence. They can also have other meanings and uses.

SeeLIVING THINGS.

Red LetteringChinese tombstones often appear before the decease of the commemorated.Red lettering shows that the person named is still alive. When that person dies,the stonecutter comes and repaints the letters in white.

See also colors.

SaintsYou can find just about any saint adorning a grave or cemetery plot. SaintMichael may be the most popular after the Virgin Mary. Saint Francis'sdeceased wards include both humans and animals. The choice of saint is up to

the person who commissions the monument. If you want to get a good feel forwho these people are, carry a good handbook of Saint biographies.

Consider as you explore why a particular saint appears where you find it. Forexample, a statue of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha -- "the Lily of the Mohawks"-- stands in Mission Dolores Cemetery (see the picture at the top left). Theinscription on her base dedicates her to "our faithful Indians". Those erectingthe statue meanther as an inspiration: native Americans are expected to look toher as a model for religious behavior and the rest of us are to take pride in theuniversal appeal of the Catholic Christian tradition. Thinking beyond this,however, suggests an interesting purblindness: What is this Mohawk, who was

to the Ohlone what the Spanish were to the Hungarians, doing here? One couldwrite a long essay about how this monument betrays the way Euro-Americansintellectually homogenize native Americans (Mohawk=Ohlone) and turn theminto possessions (think about "ourFaithful Indians").

Scythe/SickleAn instrument of the harvest, alluding to Christ's parable of the wheat field.Death cuts us down, after which the wheat is separated from the chaff.Medieval depictions of the Grim Reaper showed a rotting mass of walking
http://www.alsirat.com/symbols/symbols1.html#toyshttp://www.alsirat.com/symbols/plants.htmlhttp://www.alsirat.com/symbols/plants.htmlhttp://www.alsirat.com/symbols/symbols1.html#colorshttp://www.alsirat.com/symbols/symbols1.html#colorshttp://www.alsirat.com/symbols/symbols1.html#toyshttp://www.alsirat.com/symbols/plants.htmlhttp://www.alsirat.com/symbols/symbols1.html#colors


6/18

putrescence: today, a kindly old man shoulders the blade. Artisans seldomdepict him using it.

J.E. Cirlot claims that the scythe is a lunar symbol, which makes it both"feminine and passive". There are some problems with this interpretation.

First, the scythe is always associated with a male figure -- Father Time, Death,or Saturn/Cronos (who aggressively sought to prevent his dethronement asKing of the Universe by eating all his children!). Second, the carrier holds thescythe so that he can use it. Cirlot, like many Jungians eager to find repetitionof certain cherished archetypes, overlooks these obvious points.

Why do we never see a scythe in use? Cemetery motifs sometimes function tocommunicate certain ideas. The scythe, on one hand, reminds us of thequickness of death -- that for all of us the harvest is coming. Cemetery ownersand the clergy do not wish to frighten us, so for this reason modern figures ofTime carry the scythe over their shoulders, making them as threatening as a

band of colorful peasants on the way home from the fields.Skull, Winged

A once common motif on New England tombstones. It represented death andthe soul taking flight. Over a century, the skull grew skin and became a cherub.

Seeangel.

SphinxOne of many neo-Egyptian designs (along with obelisks and pyramids) whichhave crept into modern cemeteries. Two kinds of sphinxes appear: the maleEgyptian sphinx modeled after the Great Sphinx at Giza and the female (andoften barebreasted) Greek Sphinx. Both feature the head and torso of a humancreature grafted to the body of a lion. Like foo dogs, sphinxes guard the tomb.

StarThese pricks in night's veil suggest, to Christians, "the Light shining in thedarkness, the Light that darkness could not overpower". Or as Mithras put it: "I am astar which goes with thee and shines out of the depths." Stars stand for the spirit,piercing the darkness as an expression of their triumph against the overwhelming oddsof oblivion.

Five pointed stars have been used both to represent both the spirit rising to heavenand, when inverted, its treason as an instrument of Evil. The six-pointed star ormogendavid, now recognized as the emblem of international Judaism, was but a minor motif

until its adoption by the Zionist movement in the late 19th century.

See also sun,menorah.

Sun A setting sun recalls to us that borderland between life and death where we arebrought when we visit a cemetery. A symbol of light and warmth, it stands for lifeitself.

English Christians play on the word "sun" and connect it with the Son of God. The sun
http://www.alsirat.com/symbols/symbols1.html#angelhttp://www.alsirat.com/symbols/symbols1.html#angelhttp://www.alsirat.com/symbols/symbols1.html#lionhttp://www.alsirat.com/symbols/symbols1.html#foodoghttp://www.alsirat.com/symbols/symbols1.html#sunhttp://www.alsirat.com/symbols/symbols1.html#menorahhttp://www.alsirat.com/symbols/symbols1.html#menorahhttp://www.alsirat.com/symbols/symbols1.html#angelhttp://www.alsirat.com/symbols/symbols1.html#lionhttp://www.alsirat.com/symbols/symbols1.html#foodoghttp://www.alsirat.com/symbols/symbols1.html#sunhttp://www.alsirat.com/symbols/symbols1.html#menorah


7/18

has also been called "God's Eye", looking down on all of us. This spirit by itsbrightness absorbs all others (e.g. thestars), illuminates the world for us, and brings usunderstanding.

Sundial

A decoration intended to remind visitors of the nearness of the closing of the

cemetery gate.

Tao SymbolThe Tao or the Way shows the totality of the universe -- the light and the dark,the male and the female -- always in harmonious opposition. As we find it incemeteries, it speaks to our relationship with the dead beneath our feet and tothe process of life which includes death. The tao also serves as an emblem ofreligious belief or nationality, signifying one's Buddhist or Taoist faith.

Torch

Until the church banned such things, most people were buried at night. Torchesfurnished the light which both allowed the gravediggers to see and the bearers

to scare off evil spirits and nocturnal scavengers.

Lit, the torch signifies life -- even eternal life. Extinguished, it stands for death.It can also stand for living memory and eternal life (e.g. an eternal flame).

See also sun,lamp.

ToysThe loss of a child can devastate a family. Flowers did not seem enough tofamilies. Perhaps the custom of adorning children's graves with toys beganwith a sibling leaving a cherished possession at the graveside. The act showsthat the feeling of relationship with the deceased remains after death, even if

the child died in infancy.Urn

Some say that a draped and empty urn attests to the soul having fled theshrouded body. The urn, however, has long been used to hold the ashes orbones of the dead, so this interpretation sounds odd to me. I suggest insteadthat urns and shrouds testify to the fact of death itself; being two pieces ofentombment equipment, they are ornaments to which we have given meaningafter the fact.

WreathThe wreath is probably an oversizedcrown and thus a symbol of saintlinessand glory. Bertram S. Puckle had this to say about them:Were we to ask the "mourner" why he purchased those wire-tortured exotics

almost identical with a dozen others, which would arrive at the house of

mourning at the same time, his first surprise overcome that anyone shouldquestion so universal a custom, he would probably say that he did it as a

"mark of respect." Pressed a little further if his patience stood the strain (for

people who are asked why they do things which they have never thought about,often seek refuge in righteous anger), he might admit that he was not sure if he
http://www.alsirat.com/symbols/symbols1.html#starhttp://www.alsirat.com/symbols/symbols1.html#starhttp://www.alsirat.com/symbols/symbols1.html#sunhttp://www.alsirat.com/symbols/symbols1.html#lamphttp://www.alsirat.com/symbols/symbols1.html#lamphttp://www.alsirat.com/symbols/symbols1.html#crownhttp://www.alsirat.com/symbols/symbols1.html#crownhttp://www.alsirat.com/symbols/symbols1.html#starhttp://www.alsirat.com/symbols/symbols1.html#sunhttp://www.alsirat.com/symbols/symbols1.html#lamphttp://www.alsirat.com/symbols/symbols1.html#crown


8/18

had intended to please the living or honour the dead; on the whole -- since you

question it -- he would be inclined to think that his intention had been to show

sympathy with the relatives, since the black-bordered card supplied by theflorist contained an expression of his "deep sympathy and condolences." If

quite candid, he would be forced to admit it was nothing more to him than the

fulfillment of a social obligation, and that the half sovereign he paid for itsaved him from the mental exercise of composing a suitable letter of

condolence, which would have presented many problems, ranging from a

struggle with the unaccustomed use of the third person singular, to the

scratching up of suitable scriptural quotations from a rusted mind."

The Language of Symbolism

by Joel GAzis-SAx

Copyright 1997 by Joel GAzis-SAx

Everywhere one seeks to produce meaning, to make the world signify, to render it

visible.

We are not, however, in danger of lacking meaning; quite the contrary,

we are gorged with meaning and it is killing us.

Jean Baudrillard

archetypeThe Jungian word for an arch-symbol, an image whose meanings lie deeplyrooted in our racial history, presumably all the way back to the time when ourancestors were immortal amoebas swimming about in the primordial soup.Archetypes are what we all remember, our faces from before we were born.Upon this Jung and his followers base the universal character of symbols, an

assertion which falls under all but the most tortured cross-cultural analysis.Some critics dilute the term so that it only stands for an image or type repeatedin a body of literature or art over time, such as the Sun in Western Europeanliterature.

attributeAttributes are objects associated with a character or office which serve toidentify that person or object. The crown of thorns, to cite one example, is anattribute of Jesus.


9/18

deviceA decoration or pattern. Also a heraldic symbol. The eagle on the Great Seal ofthe United States is a device.

emblemA distinctive badge which serves to represent an office, a nation, or a person. A

pair of calipers serves as the emblem of the Masons.

grotesqueAs distinguished from agargoyle (which serves to carry water off roof tops), agrotesque is any other fantastic representation of human or animal form takento extremes of ugliness, caricature, or comedy. Most of the little knobby thingsyou see on tombs -- ranging from little cherub heads to lions and mythicalbeasts are grotesques.

iconThough secularized to mean only an image, in cemetery art icons are paintingsor sculptures of a religious nature, particularly those associated with the

Eastern Orthodox Church.image

Nothing more than a representation of a person or object; a picture ofsomething.

meaningGood luck coming up with a definition for this one. "Meaning" is a wordwhich demonstrates that we are quite capable of having sensible conversationsusing fuzzy terminology. Few of us would balk at the question "What do youmean?" (though some sadists use it as a conversation stopper rather than as aclarifier -- try asking such people what do they mean by "meaning" if you'refeeling vengeful) and yet, we go on using it knowing we cannot precisely

express what meaning is. We do not need to define every term we use.Understanding between individuals can still exist. Nevertheless, in the case ofsymbols, we are struck with a problem: does the object express the same thingto the viewer as to the creator?

motifA repetitive figure or design. From one simple element, a complex design canbe spawned.

signAs distinct from a symbol, a sign stands for something concrete. For example,the "+" sign serves to identify the process of arithmetic. The letters used to

compose this definition are also signs.symbol

Bluntly, something that stands for something else, often invisible or intangible.The dove is a symbol of peace, the lion of strength, and the rabbit of fecundity,to cite three examples.

tropeWhat academics call a pun or word play. The term evades the vulgar


10/18

implications of "pun" and raises certain great poets and writers to lofty heights.I would hold, however, that great poets and writers have a finely honed senseof vulgarity and do not mind being called punsters. (Coleridge, to mention one,had a drinking can which he called "Kubla".)

Tombstone Latin

by Joel GAzis-SAx

Copyright MM by Joel GAzis-SAx

Click here for a guide to Latin numbers and dates

ad patres - "To the fathers", dead or gone away.

anno aetatis suae (A.A.S.) - In the year of her/his age

anno Domini (A.D.) - In the year of our Lord

annos vixit (a.v.) - He/she lived [so many years]

beatae memoriae (B.M.) - Of blessed memory

Dei gratia - By the grace of God

Dei gratias - Thanks be to God

Deo, Optimo, Maximo (D.O.M.) - To God, the Best, the Greatest (motto of theBenedictine order)

Domino, Optimo, Maximo (D.O.M.) - The Lord, the Best, the Greatest.(alternatemotto)

Gloria in Excelsis Deo - Glory be to God, the Most High

hic iacetorhic jacet (H.I.) - Here lies (Ancient Latin has no letter "J": the letterwas added later)
http://www.alsirat.com/symbols/latindates.htmlhttp://www.alsirat.com/symbols/latindates.html


11/18

hic iacet sepultus (H.I.S.) - Here lies buried

hic sepultus (H.S.) - Here is buried

Iesus Nazarenus, Rex Iudaeorum (I.N.R.I.) - Jesus Christ, King of the Jews(usually appears posted at the top of a cross, in commemoration of the Romanmocking of Christ)

in hoc salus (I.H.S.) - There is safety in this. This is one of three interpretationsof the letters IHS which often appear on Roman Catholic tombstones andmonuments. Some say that this was used to mark the way to secret Christianmasses in the Roman catacombs. The letters are sometimes superimposed oneach other, forming an inscription that looks like this: |$|

in hoc signo spes mea (I.H.S.) - In this sign (the cross of Christ) is my hope

in hoc signos vinces (I.H.S.) - By this sign you will conquer. The EmperorConstantine is said to have seen a firey cross in the sky before the Battle ofMilvan Bridge. (312 A.D.) He made his men paint crosses on their shields. Theywon. Constantine ceased persecution of Christians and became one on hisdeathbed.

laus Deo - Praise be to God

memento mori - "Remember you must die". The phrase is also used for the smallsouvenirs that are sometimes handed out at funerals.

obiit (ob.) - He/she died

requiescat in pace (R.I.P.) - May he/she rest in peace

requiescant in pace (R.I.P.) - May they rest in peace

requiescit in pace (R.I.P.) - He/she rest in peace

Verbi Dei Minister (V.D.M.) - Minister of the Word of God

A Guide to Latin Dates and Numbers

by Joel GAzis-SAx

Copyright MM by Joel GAzis-SAx


12/18

Click here for a guide to Latin inscriptions

The Roman Calendar in Brief

The original Roman calendar was 304 days long and had ten months. The yearbegan on March 1, after a blank period of Winter which lay between December

and March. These days had no special name, but they helped to keep the calendarin synchronization with celestial events such as the solstices and equinoxes.January and February were added, as the last and the first months respectively, in713 B.C. The new calendar was 355 days long, with a leap year every other year.

The Roman Republican calendar, adopted in 600 B.C., lengthened the year to365 days, 355 of which were assigned to the twelve months and ten to a specialadjustment period called the "Intercalia", which began on Febuary 24.Eventually, the interval was eliminated and the days added to the months; thisreform, set into place during the brief reign of Julius Caesar, was known as theJulian Calendar.

The Julian calendar proved to be out of sync with the real movement of the earthin the cosmos, so in 1582 Gregory XIII issued an edict that called for 10 days tobe skipped that October. Catholics immediately adopted the improved calendar,but Protestant and Orthodox countries put their enmity with the Roman Seeabove accuracy and practicality and did not adopt the revision until later.England and America made the leap in 1752. The last European country to adoptthe Gregorian calendar was Greece, in 1923.

Dates on European tombs can be expected to conform to either the Julian or theGregorian calendar.

Latin Months

Januarius January

Februarius February

Martius March

Aprilis April

Maius May

Iunius June

Quinctlis July

Iulius July (after Julius Caesar)

Sextilis August

Augustus August (after August Caesar)

September September

October October

November or Novembris November
http://www.alsirat.com/symbols/latin.htmlhttp://www.alsirat.com/symbols/latin.html


13/18

December December

Special named days of the month include the ides oridus (the 15th of March,

May, July, and October; the 13th of all other months), the calends orKalendae

(the first of each month), the nones orNonae (the 7th day in March, May, July,

and October; the 5th of all other months), and thepunctum temporis (leapyear's day).

Latin Days

Dominica Sunday

Lunae Monday

Martis Tuesday

Mercurii Wednesday

Iovis Thursday

Veneris Friday

Saturni Saturday

Roman Numerals

Latin numbers are constructed from the following set of characters:

I V X L C D M

1 5 10 50 100 500 1000

Numbers between these values are created through either additive or subtractivenotation.

In additive notation, symbols of lesser value follow symbols of higher value. So:

II = 2 III = 3 VI = 6 VII = 7 XX = 20 LXXX = 80

In subtractive notation, a single symbol of a lower value precedes one of highervalue. Four is really "one from five", for example. Here are some otherexamples:

IX = 9 XL = 40 XC = 90 CD = 400 CM = 900

These rules must be followed, too:

1. Symbols may be repeated no more than three times in sequence. So, III ispermissible; IIII is not. (Stonecutters sometimes ignore this rule.)

2. Only one symbol of lesser value may be placed before another symbol of


14/18

higher value, e.g. IV (4) but not IIV (3).3. The symbols V, L, and D are never subtracted.

Here are a few years rendered in Roman numerals to give you a feel for how itworks:

1066 MLXVI

1492 MCDXCII

1620 MDCXX

1776 MDCCLXXVI

1865 MDCCCLXV

1999 MCMXCIX

2000 MM

A Brief History of Cemeteries

by Joel GAzis-SAx

1995, 1996 by Joel GAzis-SAx

The original version of this article appeared inAlsirat

If the speculation about the evidence from Swartkrans, South Africa and Chou Kou

Tien, China is true, the earliest known concentrations of hominid remains were the

garbage heaps of predators: in the first case, a leopard, and, in the second,cannibals. Between 20,000 and 75,000 years ago, Neanderthals began to bury their

dead. The first burials may have been unintentional. Hunters who were wounded or

ill were left behind by compatriots who sealed them in caves to protect them from

wild animals. When they recovered enough, they were supposed to push the stones

away. Some didn't get better and became interesting archaeological finds with

spears and other personal effects.
http://www.alsirat.com/alsirat.htmlhttp://www.alsirat.com/alsirat.htmlhttp://www.alsirat.com/alsirat.html


15/18

Evidence of many of our contemporary customs appears at Neanderthal sites. At

Iraq's Sharindar Cave, for example, flowers were left with a burial. Personal effects

accompany other burials. Neanderthals also began the practice of carefully

orienting the body on an East-West axis or so that the corpse faced east. (Orthodox

Christian cemeteries maintain this tradition.) If the hiding of the dead body was not,

at first, a ritualized attempt to renew the deceased through planting, it was an earlyprecursor of sedentariness. The first cities may have been cities of the dead,

complexes of grave mounds whose walls were adapted to other purposes. We know

that the Saxons, for one, used their burrowing skills to signify prestige. Dead men of

great reputation were covered with more dirt than their lessers. This covering over

the dead was called a barrow. The mythic significance of these structures and their

relationship to other aspects of community life may have been an afterthought.

Whether theologies of death were a motive or a rationale, both rituals and

monuments for the dead played an important part in the development of our early

imaginations. Mythologist Joseph Campbell believed that the first burials implied a

recognition by an agricultural people of the cycle of life:

"[I]t is in the mother's body that grain is sown: the plowing of the earth is a begetting

and the growth of the grain a birth....the idea of the earth as mother and of burial as a

re-entry into the womb for rebirth appears to have recommended itself to at least some

of the communities of mankind at an extremely early age..."

Planting the deceased for later renewal is the earliest known human ritual.

Commoners and kings were both reduced to the same elements, though kings, such

as Sumeria's A-bar-gi, insisted that their advisors and other personal servants join

them in the afterlife. Egypt's pharoahs substituted statues for the living servants,

which undoubtably gave great comfort to those courtiers who outlived the monarch.

Many ancient people recognized the burial ground's potential for spreading diseaseand placed their cemeteries outside their cities or took other precautions. Followers

of Zoroaster, known as Parsees, built their Towers of Silence within city walls. Here

they exposed their dead. Elaborate drains and charcoal filters purified the

rainwater that dribbled off within these towers. Vultures cleaned the bones of the

flesh which would otherwise attract maggots and other disease vectors. The vultures

were also excellent doctors: they never dined on the living, no matter how cunningly

their vital signs had tricked human physicians.

Early Christians, who had grown used to spending their religious lives hiding

among the dead in the catacombs, forgot the importance of hygienic measures. The

dead were often stacked high in churches. Church burial yards were often covered

over several times to make room for successive layers of corpses. Conflicts between

Church and State existed then as they do now, with civil servants laboring without

much success to move the place of burial beyond the city walls. Worshippers often

got a fast ticket to the afterlife simply by hearing Mass amid the victims of recent

epidemics.


16/18

The practice of selling the same grave several times over (for which a pair of Los

Angeles cemeteries were recently sued) was pioneered by church sextons who were

faced with a huge demand for and a limited supply of burial plots. Pocketing the

jewelry and other valuables they found with the corpses was a lucrative side

profession for these caretakers. Pathologist Kevin Iserson tells of the surprise

waiting for one of these corrupt churchyard guardians:

Margaret Halcrow Erskine, of Chirnside Scotland, "died" in 1674 and was buried

shallowly so the sexton could go back and steal her jewelry, a not uncommon

occurence at that time. While the sexton was trying to cut off her finger to remove a

ring, she awoke. Not only did she go on to live a full live, but she also produced two

relatively famous sons, Ralph and Ebenezer Erskine, founders of the original

Secession Church of Berwickshire. No one knows what became of the sexton.

Doctors occasionally erred. Even in modern times, living people have been sent to

the morgue. Bodies which were determined to be brain dead have later revived.

Vital signs which disappeared even after long attempts to resuscitation havereturned. Pathologists have begun autopsies only to discover a still beating heart in

the chest cavity. The one certain sign that a person is dead is the onset of

putrefaction. The stories of Edgar Allan Poe and real life accounts of premature

burials so frightened people that elaborate devices were patented to allow the

deceased to communicate with the outside world in the event of a mistake. Some

people asked their doctors to insert needles in their heart. Embalmers have grimly

noted that once a body is embalmed or cremated, it is most certainly dead.

Before embalming and other sanitary measures, graveyards were often littered with

bones and bits of charnel. Shallow graves allowed maggots and scavengers to dig up

and scatter the remains along with any contagion they might also carry. Despite thisunhealthiness, the living used churchyards as social centers where they conducted

markets, played games, and, in Scotland, prepared for that massive corpse-

producing activity known as war by practicing archery or other weapons drills. The

English Parliament suspected that funeral and burial customs played a role in

spreading the Black Death. In 1665, it legislated against unnecessary visits by

friends and children, large funerals, and, most importantly, graves less than six feet

deep.

A later threat to eternal rest were resurrectionists or body-snatchers. These

gentlemen supplied the medical profession with the materials by which they could

better understand the mechanics of the living body. Many attempts were made to

foil the designs of these entepreneurs who worked in teams and could lift a body

from its coffin by merely exposing the top half. Loopholes in the law allowed this

practice to continue without prosecution for many years: the body-snatchers simply

did not steal any of the corpse's possessions or clothes. Measures to protect the

corpse were thwarted by the grave-robber's ingenuity: one patented, hingeless

wrought-iron coffin proved quite susceptible to sledgehammers. Some turned to

procuring fresher material for their clients: Willam Burke and his gang killed


17/18

people for sale to Dr. Robert Knox , a professor at Edinburgh University. Threats of

capital punishment and lynch mobs did not stem the flow out of the cemeteries.

Only the passage of measures such as England's 1832 Anatomy Act, which provided

the anatomists with legal cadavers, did grave-robbing largely disappear.

Resurrectionists plied most of their craft in churchyards. Under English law, anymember of a parish was entitled to burial in the local churchyard and this right

went with him when he moved to another spot. A movement away from the

churchyard occurred when Scottish Congregationalists denounced the old hallowed

grounds as vestiges of "Popery". Why mar the landscape wth these grim spots, they

reasoned, when you could just as soon use your own field? And so iconclasts kept

their dead on the farm, reserving a corner of their land for family plots. Wayward

family often did not find their way back home again for burial. The great battles of

the 18th and 19th century led to a new kind of consecrated ground: that of the

miltary cemetery where the soldier was buried where he fell.

For many reasons, local officials began wanting cemeteries out of their cities. Duringthe 1780s, most of the dead of Paris were exhumed and moved into a new system of

catacombs. In 1914, the City and Country of San Francisco decided its rundown

cemeteries were a magnet for disease and delinquency: it closed them down. More

and more, people began looking beyond the city limits as they had in ancient times.

A series of devastating epidemics in the United States led to the creation of large

garden cemeteries. Mount Auburn in Boston (1831), Laurel Hill in Philadelphia

(1836), and Green-Wood (1838) in Brooklyn represented a return to the older

wisdom of burying the dead in a rural area. The rise of Romanticism gave death a

fashionable twist, which coupled with the necessity of protecting the public health to

create garden cemeteries. Unlike earlier American cemeteries, garden cemeterieswere not associated with a church or parish. Mount Auburn's founder, Dr. Jacob

Bigelow, enticed 100 wealthy backers with a promise of a permanent staff dedicated

to preserving the sylvan setting to help him buy a piece of land on the Charles River.

When a young Boston woman finally became the cemetery's first internment, the

public flocked to Mount Auburn's hills, dells, creeks, and paths to enjoy their first

lessons in a new, "natural" theology.

Laurel Hill in Philadelphia and Green-Wood in Brooklyn followed upon Mount

Auburn's success. The public loved the new cemeteries and they became a place for

weekend walks amidst the monuments. As the need for more open space developed,

landscape architects turned to the examples of these three burial sites. Frederick

Law Olmstead had many chances to view Green-Wood Cemetery. When his Central

Park was opened to the public view, it was an immediate success. Its enthusiastic

fans commented about how it was like a cemetery without the monuments.

As parks became more like garden cemeteries, some cemeteries incorporated

features of parks. The late nineteen twenties brought the first Forest Lawn

Memorial Park. Called a "Disneyland of the Dead", Forest Lawn sought to


18/18

recapture the multiple uses that cemeteries once enjoyed. With the art galleries,

wedding chapels, souvenir stands, movie theaters, and other attractions came also a

certain tendency on the part of some members of the funeral industry to promote

expensive funerals for all. The industry received some corrective warnings from the

publications of books like Evelyn Waugh's The Loved One and Jessica Mitford's The

American Way of Death. Consumers formed memorial societies with the expresspurpose of bringing down funeral costs. In 1984, the Federal Trade Commission

established the Funeral Rule which required itemization by funeral homes of all

expenses.

Still, enterprising individuals came up with new ways to spend a deceased's estate.

Cryogenecists held forth the possibility of new life after death. One Utah company

invented a new form of mummification. Ash-scatterers offered exotic locations

where one could become one with the earth. And telemarketers rang phone after

phone in search of those desiring burial plots. Where once corpses had simply been

left to be picked over by wild animals or thrown in garbage heaps, survivors now

sought to grant the dead immortality in wooden coffins, ice, embalming chemicals,and stone. Even as people spent more of their money seeking ways to prolong their

life, nearly as much ($1 billion per year in the 1990s) was being spent on prolonging

their substance and memory in the afterlife. For even with advances in medicine,

immortality for each of us remains largely symbolic. To be remembered, we must

leave our mark.

Joseph Campbell, The Masks of God: Primitive Mythology, page 66

Kenneth Iserson, Death to Dust: What happens to dead bodies?, page 32.

Documents

Cemetery Symbolism