Good article

Short, interesting article:

Earliest iron artefacts, found in 5,000-year-old Egyptian cemetery, came from meteorite

(Thanks to SWMBO for the link...)

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The commerce of death in Mozambique

Three Cemeteries: Supernatural real estate in Mozambique


You can certainly see the cultural differences between 'us' and 'them' in this article...

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This has always been

one of the objects of tourist-y desire for me.

Père-Lachaise Cemetery: Final resting place of Paris’s rich and famous

I may never get there, but there's a weath of information on the internet as well as in libraries all over about the place. I understand if not too many people share the same fascination with cemeteries. I've explained it often - I love the art, history and sociology of cemeteries - and my interest has caused me to do websites for the local cemeteries where I live. In the West, cemeteries are places to stay away from, rather than celebrate...

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I received

my catalogue from

 Trappist Caskets

last week, just a week or so after I requested it. Very quick service, indeed!

I'm interested in the simplest burial possible when it is my time. I already have my gravesite picked out and paid for, though I don't have the opening and closing fees paid yet. SWMBO may have to take care of that. I have found a great casket, though, in this catalogue. It's very simple, plain pine with no adornment, and listed at $1,000 US, which, if you know anything about funeral costs, is quite reasonable. This will certainly bear more thought. The idea of having a simple box, but one with old-world craftsmanship, and supporting a work of the monks at the same time, is very attractive.

They even sent a keepsake cross, blessed by the monks. That is just wonderful!

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I think

that the cemetery is responding in an incorrect and unfriendly manner.

Sisters sue cemetery over grave mix-up

I know I certainly wouldn't trust them that what they were telling me now was correct. It would make me suspicious, by attempting to scare me off by making me responsible for a different lawsuit, that they were trying to scare me off. Cemeteries, as a group, have had problemss over the years...

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This is so sick!

Ex-director convicted of stealing from cemetery

Why do people do things like this? This is just incredible!

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For those, like me,

who are interested in this sort of thing,

The Mummies of Guanajuato: Powerful Memento Mori

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With between 500,000

and 1,200,000 Christians in Nepal...

Nepal's Christians demonstrate for burial grounds

...they'll have to do something for them.

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If you're at all squeamish,

you many want to give these links a miss.

Here are a couple of articles and photo galleries of the famous catacombs in the Capuchin Church in Palermo, Sicily. I've included them here only because of my interest in cemeteries and burial grounds, their art, sociology and culture. A different culture's approach to death and the dead is a fascinating thing...

Ghoulish mummies in the Capuchin Catacombs in Palermo, Sicily

Mummies of Palermo finally get a makeover

Just back: a descent into the afterlife

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recycling or industrial blight?

plane cemetary cool the sort of spectacles we have thanks to google earth.

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As I am,

as I have mentioned here before, a cemetery enthusiast, this article is exceptionally interesting.


Highgate Cemetery: Toto, I don’t think we’re in London anymore

Particularly as I don't expect that I'll ever see it in person...

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The fans want to know


A Michael Jackson burial site remains a mystery for now

"'It's going to be Graceland West' if the King of Pop has a public grave site, says one tour operator."

I can understand an attraction to the history, art and sociology of cemeteries, but this celebrity worship just leaves me cold. Actually, that's not true. That's not strong enough. It makes me feel almost ill...

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If you

are looking for an environmentally friendly exit


creativecoffins.com

these might provide an interesting, if not dignified, way to go out. Geeks might want the electronic circuit design, divas the leopard print, and, well, I'm not sure who would go for the burning fire design...

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Ah! Obits!

Final Edition: In praise of the newspaper obituary.

As a lover of all things cemetery-ish (and not a lover of death I should note) I must say that I love obituaries, as well. A well-written obituary is an under-appreciated literary form. Really. As a last farewell, they leave us with an image of the person who has died, the last image anyone will see of them.

(I want to know how someone becomes a professional dilettante, though... )

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As an aside, I just realized that I should mention my cemetery fascination. I keep thinking that this is an earlier website where I made all this clear, and then I realize that people probably aren't aware of my hobby.

My brother died almost 25 years ago now, and is buried in a cemetery close to where I live. I hadn't given the cemetery any thought prior to this even though many relatives and friends are also buried there. When my brother died I started going by now and again to make sure the gravesite was clean, etc.. During my visits I started noticing names I was familiar with from our city's history (I've always been a history buff), and some truly beautiful pieces of artwork masquerading as tombstones. I started going back to look at these and to further my interest in local history. This led me to a pioneer cemetery on the other side of the city, which I also started visiting.

At the time I was doing websites for charities and not-for-profit groups who couldn't afford to hire someone to do websites for them. I received permission to use some research that had been done on the Pioneer Cemetery, conduct further research of my own, and finally produce a website with information regarding the cemetery and the burials. A hobby. When I had completed that I was contacted by the superintendent of the municipal cemetery and asked if I would do a similar thing for the current cemetery. I did just that. Many hundreds of hours of work, both research and computer, went into it. SWMBO and I took hundreds of photographs for the website. There were up-to-date listings of all the interments, which we updated every year. The scope of it, for the time, was monumental. (Pun intended. ) I was quite proud of the result and fond of the look of it. Finally, they decided they wanted control over it so they bought it and the Pioneer Cemetery website from me. They've integrated both into their main website now, which has necessitated many design and link changes, and a lot of it was lost. Still, a fairly good portion of the work is there. The two sites are at:

Nutana (Pioneer) Cemetery

Woodlawn Cemetery

And there, in a nutshell, is my cemetery history, my interest in the art, history and sociology of cemeteries, both new world and old world.

"The tears were many, and the faith is strong."

A very good, and very touching, article about Fr. Neuhaus' death and burial.

It is finished

"Then the soft thud of the dirt and mud upon his casket, deposited from above first by his relatives, then by his friends. We don't do that in Canada very often anymore; the usual practice is to depart the graveside with the casket in place over the grave, but not buried. I am not sure that's a good idea. There is something about looking down into the grave, hearing that soft thud. We avoid it, I suppose, because looking down those six feet gives us a sobering glimpse of eternity, or those soft thuds can be like hammer blows upon a grieving heart. Yet it is a reminder that there is nothing to come back to. It is finished."

I agree. The ceremonies are for the Church and the people. While we need to pray for the person who has died, so much of what we do after the death of a loved one is for us, and is very important...

I guess

I spend too much time raining on parades...


Angel image on tomb stone in Long County

God bless her

Friend's slaying inspires 'Sacred Stones'

I hope her art brings her peace. Cemeteries in the West are overlooked sources of art, culture, social expression, peace and hope. Our culture shuns death as something to be avoided at all cost. Other cultures recognize it as an inevitable part of life and the end result of all our lives. We shouldn't run away from it...

Segregated in death...

...by choice...

Gay graveyard opened in Copenhagen

That was quick

Stolen bronze angel statue recovered in alley

It was probably too heavy for the thieves to carry...

And nobody saw them?

350-pound bronze angel statue stolen from Detroit Catholic Church

That's a big, heavy angel!