Cemetery
A cemetery is a place in which dead bodies and cremated remains are buried. The term cemetery originates from the greek work κοιμητήριον meaning sleeping place, implying that such a 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, although a churchyard can also be any patch of land on church grounds.
History
From 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 a cemetery or within the church under floor slabs and behind walls.
Historically, burying corpses in land enclosed within a city's walls had a negative impact on public health. As a consequence, some cemeteries were moved away from heavily populated areas. For example, in the late 18th century, skeletons exhumed from major Paris cemeteries were moved into ossuaries in the Catacombs, and all burials prohibited within 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.
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 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.
Internationally, the style of cemeteries vary greatly. 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.
Family Cemeteries
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. Little effort is made to remove remains when developing, as they may be hundreds of years old; the tombstones are often simply removed.
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 Frank Loyd Wright's 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.
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, such as the Tomb of Giants in Sardinia. The Egyptian pyramids also served as tombs.
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
In many countries, cemeteries are objects of superstition and legend; they are sometimes used 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.
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.
ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
- Colvin, Howard. 1991. Architecture and the After-Life. New Haven: Yale University Press.
- Curl, James Stevens. 2002. Death and Architecture. Gloucestershire: Sutton.
- Etlin, Richard A. 1984. The Architecture of Death. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
- Grossman, Janet Burnett. 2001. Greek Funerary Sculpture. Collection at the Getty Villa. Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum.
- Salisbury, Mike. From My Death May Life Come Forth. Earthartist Woodland Cemetery in Canada Retrieved 4 June 2007.
- Worpole, Ken. 2003. Last Landscapes. Reaktion Books, London.
Other References
- Oxford University Press. Cemetery. Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture. Retrieved 4 June 2007.
- Encyclopedia of U.S. History. Cemeteries. U.S. History Encyclopedia. Retrieved 4 June 2007.
- Thomas Gale. Cemeteries. Thomas Gale Law Encyclopedia. Retrieved 4 June 2007.
External Links
- Natural Burial Co-operative. Natural Burial Cemeteries, Canada.
- Forest of Memories. Green Burial, North America.
- Find-a-Grave. Online Virtual Cemetery.
- Cemeteries and Cemetery Symbols
- Written in Stone. Burial Locations of Literary Figures.
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