Cemetery

Graves at Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn, New York

A cemetery is a place in which dead bodies and cremated remains are buried. The term cemetery (from greek κοιμητήριον: sleeping place) implies that the land is specifically designated as a burying ground. Cemeteries in the Western world are the place where the final ceremonies of death are observed. These ceremonies or rites differ according to cultural practice and religious belief. Cemeteries are distinguished from other burial grounds by their location; they are usually not adjoined to a church. A graveyard, on the other hand, is located in a churchyard (Scots language or Northern English language: kirkyaird), although a churchyard can also be any patch of land on church grounds.

General

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Castle Ashby Graveyard Northamptonshire

From about the 7th century, European burial was under the control of the church and on consecrated church ground. Practices varied, but in continental Europe, bodies were usually buried in a mass grave until they had decomposed. The bones were then exhumed and stored in ossuaries either along the arcaded bounding walls of the cemetery or within the church under floor slabs and behind walls.

Burying corpses in land enclosed within the city walls had a negative impact on health. As a consequence, some cemeteries were moved away from heavily populated areas. As an example, in the late 18th century, skeletons exhumed from major Paris cemeteries were moved into ossuaries in the Catacombs, and burials were prohibited in inner-city locations.

Cemetery company and municipally owned cemeteries, independent from churches and their churchyards, date largely from the early 19th century, certainly in their landscaped or garden cemetery form, although the cemetery reform movement began c. 1740.

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At a cemetery in Havana

The earliest of the spacious landscaped-style cemeteries is Père Lachaise in Paris. This embodied the idea of state, rather than church, controlled burial; a concept that spread through Europe with the Napoleonic invasions, and sometimes became adapted leading to the opening of cemeteries by private companies. The shift to municipal cemeteries or those established by private companies was usually accompanied by the establishing of spacious, landscaped, burial grounds outside of the city limits.

Cemeteries are usually a respected area, and often include churches or other religious buildings (chapels); and sometimes a crematorium for the cremation of the dead. The violation of the graves or buildings is usually considered a very serious crime and punishments are often severe.

The style of cemeteries varies greatly internationally. For example, in the USA and many European countries modern cemeteries usually have many tombstones placed on open spaces. In Russia, tombstones are usually placed in small fenced family lots. (This was once common practice in American cemeteries as well, and such fenced family plots are still visible in some older American cemeteries.)

Cemeteries in cities use valuable urban space, which could become a problem, especially in older cities. As historic cemeteries begin to reach their capacity for full burials, alternative memorialization, such as collective memorials for cremated individuals, is becoming more common. Different cultures have different attitudes to destruction of cemeteries and use of the land for construction. In some countries it is considered normal to destroy the graves, while in others the graves are traditionally respected for a century or more. In many cases, after a suitable period of time has elapsed the headstones are removed and the now former cemetery is converted to a recreational park or construction site. A more recent trend, particularly in South American cities, involves constructing high-rise buildings to house graves. A noteworthy fact about cemeteries and urban areas is that there are no public cemeteries within the city limits of San Francisco, though there is a military cemetery.

Family cemeteries

The grave of an infant at Horton, Northants

While uncommon today, family (or private) cemeteries were a matter of practicality during the settlement of America. If a municipal or religious cemetery had not been established, settlers would seek out a small plot of land, often in wooded areas bordering their fields, to begin a family plot. Sometimes, several families would arrange to bury their dead together. While some of these sites later grew into true cemeteries, many were forgotten after a family moved away or died out. Today, it is not unheard of to discover groupings of tombstones, ranging from a few to a dozen or more, on undeveloped land ^{[citation needed]}. Little effort is made to remove remains when developing, as they may be hundreds of years old; the tombstones are often simply removed ^{[citation needed]}.

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Holland Cemetery: A rural cemetery in NE Oklahoma

More recent is the practice of families with large estates choosing to create private cemeteries in the form of burial sites, monuments, crypts, or mausoleums on their property; the mausoleum at Fallingwater is an example of this practice. Burial of a body at a site may protect the location from redevelopment, such estates often being placed in the care of a trust or foundation. Presently, state regulations have made it increasingly difficult, if not impossible, to start private cemeteries; many require a plan to care for the site in perpetuity. Private cemeteries are nearly always forbidden on incorporated residential zones.

Ancient cemeteries

Many places have been found where ancient people buried their dead. These places could be an organised necropolis or they could be simply areas with highly symbolic elements around (like the Tomb of Giants in Sardinia). The Egyptian pyramids were tombs.

Cemeteries for pets

The Cimetière des Chiens in Asnières-sur-Seine in Paris, is an elaborate pet cemetery believed to be the first zoological necropolis in the world. Rin Tin Tin, the famous dog from Hollywood films, is buried here.

Cemeteries and superstition

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Nuremberg, Johanniskirchhof

In many countries, cemeteries are objects of superstition and legend; they are sometimes used (usually at night-time) for black magic ceremonies or similar clandestine happenings. In Haiti the traditional belief regarding zombies as practiced under Voudun religion is connected with burial rituals. It is believed that the zombified individual is buried alive in a coffin in a shallow grave after being given a dosage of tetrodotoxin from the puffer fish to slow his heart so he appears dead even to medical practitioners. After all the burial ceremonies are completed the zombie victim is then dug up and taken into servitude, usually as a punishment for some crime he committed. Some Haitians deny that these practices exist and that these kinds of voodoo practices are pure superstition.

Cemetery Preservation

South Asia

The British Association for Cemeteries in South Asia, BACSA, was set up in 1976 to care for, and to record, European cemeteries wherever the East India Company set foot. It is estimated that some two million European men, women and children are buried in the Indian subcontinent alone.

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

A Japanese graveyard in Kyoto. The thin wooden tablets behind the graves show the Buddhist name the deceased receives after death.

• Colvin, Howard. Architecture and the After-Life. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1991.

• Curl, James Stevens. Death and Architecture. Gloucestershire: Sutton, 2002.

• Etlin, Richard A. The Architecture of Death: the transformation of the cemetery in eighteenth-century Paris. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1984.

• Grossman, Janet Burnett. Greek Funerary Sculpture. Catalogue of the Collection at the Getty Villa. Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2001.

• Salisbury, Mike. From My Death May Life Come Forth. A Feasability Study of the Woodland Cemetery in Canada Earthartist

• Worpole, Ken. Last Landscapes: the architecture of the cemetery in the West, Reaktion Books, London, 2003

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Vending machine for memorial candles on the cemetery of Ettal, Bavaria

External links

• Natural Burial Co-operative working to establish natural burial cemeteries across Canada.
• Forest of Memories - Information and resources supporting green burial in North America
• Find-a-Grave - Online virtual cemetery with photos, biographies, and virtual flowers. Includes index of famous and historical figures' burial information and grave images.
• Dust To Dust - Photos of several English cemeteries and churchyards.
• Grave Addiction - Contains photos of many cemeteries throughout the United States.
• Finding Old Beulah
• Irish Cemetery Records
• London Cemetery Project: 130 cemeteries with high- quality photos.
• Saving Graves - A collaborative effort of cemetery preservation advocates working to increase public awareness and activism in preserving, protecting and restoring endangered and forgotten cemeteries worldwide.
• Scottish Cemetery Records
• A Very Grave Matter - Contains many photos from cemeteries from the east coast of the United States.
• Cemeteries and Cemetery Symbols - Explores the meaning of cemetery symbols.
• Written in Stone - Burial locations of literary figures.
• The British Association of Cemeteries in South Asia
• Indian Cemeteries

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