Forums > Social Discussion > Graveyards
Login/Join to Participate1,463 posts
Location: Florida
I guess this is a weird post... But I'm weird so there
I thought that in the light of recent posts I would expand on something that has been taking up some of my time lately... Visiting cementaries...
Does anyone else find cementarys facinating. I mean not just the arquitecture (sp?) but also the implications that burying our dead will have on the land. Or why we feel to preserve that which is impermanent after all everything in life has a line of impermanence...
Does anyone else take pictures of things found in cementaries and do you know of any (in the whole world, yes) that might be interesting for me to visit...???
I have visited the WW2 graves in Normandy in France... The largest cemetary in Europe in Genoa, Italy and several where I'm from and here in England...
I find them all so facinating!
Well I hope some people share my somewhat bizzare interest in how we lay our loved to sleep the eternal sleep.
Smiles
JUGGLEwithyourmind!
Still wiggling
5,967 posts
Location: Belfast, Northern Ireland (UK)
What?!!
Getting to the other side 
2,530 posts
Location: Manchester, United Kingdom
well, Mr nearly_all_gone, the sexual favours thing works both ways, because done forget, Miss firepoise is quite the looker
i think ado wants to know you're technique
We are the music makers, We are the dreamers of dreams,
Wandering by lone sea-breakers, And sitting by desolate streams;
World-losers and world-forsakers, On whom the pale moon gleams;
We are the movers and shakers of the world for ever, it seems.
Still wiggling
5,967 posts
Location: Belfast, Northern Ireland (UK)
Hahahahahaha... this thread just keeps getting funnier!
Getting to the other side
2,530 posts
Location: Manchester, United Kingdom
which is quite strange considering the title and first post.
maybe you could sell your technique to him
We are the music makers, We are the dreamers of dreams,
Wandering by lone sea-breakers, And sitting by desolate streams;
World-losers and world-forsakers, On whom the pale moon gleams;
We are the movers and shakers of the world for ever, it seems.
Still wiggling
5,967 posts
Location: Belfast, Northern Ireland (UK)
Maybe I could... but then other people would know my secret
Anyways, I think laughter and mirth is the perfect subject for a thread on graveyards - point proven... enjoy life while you have it
Getting to the other side
2,530 posts
Location: Manchester, United Kingdom
good point
i think you should come to falmouth this year, and we can have a phylosophical chat on why being someone's walking text book is a good, yet bad idea
We are the music makers, We are the dreamers of dreams,
Wandering by lone sea-breakers, And sitting by desolate streams;
World-losers and world-forsakers, On whom the pale moon gleams;
We are the movers and shakers of the world for ever, it seems.
Still wiggling
5,967 posts
Location: Belfast, Northern Ireland (UK)
A phylosophical chat, eh?
Hmmm. Now, if it was a philosophical chat I might consider it
Lol. But I'm afraid I only respond to more persuasive methods...
Getting to the other side
2,530 posts
Location: Manchester, United Kingdom
thats what i meant
ok then, ill give you alcohol
you choice of which typeor even better, ill let you play with my flags
We are the music makers, We are the dreamers of dreams,
Wandering by lone sea-breakers, And sitting by desolate streams;
World-losers and world-forsakers, On whom the pale moon gleams;
We are the movers and shakers of the world for ever, it seems.
Still wiggling
5,967 posts
Location: Belfast, Northern Ireland (UK)
Ply me with alcohol and see what happens?
Pah... I am well beyond that. Don't forget, I am Irish and will probably drink you under the table (if there is a table).
And I have my own flags to play with, thank you very much
Getting to the other side
2,530 posts
Location: Manchester, United Kingdom
dont try me, you forget (or you just didnt know) im Irish too, so you'd be up for a challenge, so come to falmouth for that, to see who get dank under the table first
but my flags are special...
We are the music makers, We are the dreamers of dreams,
Wandering by lone sea-breakers, And sitting by desolate streams;
World-losers and world-forsakers, On whom the pale moon gleams;
We are the movers and shakers of the world for ever, it seems.
Still wiggling
5,967 posts
Location: Belfast, Northern Ireland (UK)
Hahahaha.
That explains alot, bloody Irish!
Now... should we return this conversation to graveyards and their interesting cultural significance?
Getting to the other side
2,530 posts
Location: Manchester, United Kingdom
the cultural significance of the irish is great
so will you come to falmouth for a drinking competition?
We are the music makers, We are the dreamers of dreams,
Wandering by lone sea-breakers, And sitting by desolate streams;
World-losers and world-forsakers, On whom the pale moon gleams;
We are the movers and shakers of the world for ever, it seems.
Still wiggling
5,967 posts
Location: Belfast, Northern Ireland (UK)
I don't know. I'm thinking about it.
Now, I have to go do some work, or I will be fired and won't have the money to go anywhere.
Take care and say something graveyard-related.
For example, I would like to be cremated and a tree buried on top of the ashes, as my grandparents have done... and as my parents will do.
Getting to the other side
2,530 posts
Location: Manchester, United Kingdom
lol, ok, if you say so...
ill PM you with the details if you want.
graveyards are one of the most peaceful places within a city.
We are the music makers, We are the dreamers of dreams,
Wandering by lone sea-breakers, And sitting by desolate streams;
World-losers and world-forsakers, On whom the pale moon gleams;
We are the movers and shakers of the world for ever, it seems.
Still wiggling
5,967 posts
Location: Belfast, Northern Ireland (UK)
"if you say so"
See, I have you doing what I say within a few lines
Righto. Enough.
Getting to the other side
1,643 posts
Location: ffidrac
uh... yes.... (ye are still talking about graveyards aren't ye?) which is weird because when i was younger i used to have to hold my breath or cross my fingers if i went anywhere near one incase i inhaled the spirits of dead people.... then when i didn't appear to be posessed by all these random spirits and in need of exorcism, i grew up and moved on to designing cremation urns for my degree project.... thus i know all sorts of exciting information about how much people's ashes weigh, and the amount of pollution caused by burning people in varnished/veneered/plastic caskets... ooh and i have lots of pictures of some beautiful cemeteries (archimatecturally speaking) - mostly in mainland Europe, UK cemeteries are pretty crap compared to some of them... howabouts we do a group expedition to New Orleans to hang out in their groovy cemeteries, and maybe spend an evening burying bodies and watching them pop right back out of the ground!
or not, and we'll assume that the new orleanians have tried and tested that one....
Aurinko freedom agreement reached 10th Sept 2006
if it makes no sense that's because it's NOn-sense.
Still wiggling
5,967 posts
Location: Belfast, Northern Ireland (UK)
Ohhhh. That sounds great.
What a unique task, though... having to design the final little box or urn for someone's life.
How did you go about it?
Getting to the other side
1,643 posts
Location: ffidrac
it is quite, was very interesting doing the research into existing stuff... there are some tacky urns out there.... and a lot of them are also very, well, solid...
my two things were that they should be:
1/ personable, i.e. reflect the person, not the doom and gloom
and
2/ be environmentally friendly - as i was specifically looking at urns for burial not memorials... (the burial thing orignated from looking at funerals generally and coffins, but owing to lack of time, i scaled it down to urns - which is admittedly, a very specific problem - although about 60% of people in the UK choose to bury the ashes...)
and so... i started experimenting with paper pulp...
there are actually already a few designs for coffins that use paper and card, but i tried to take it more in the direction of personalisation of the containers.... there's still a lot i could do on it really.... given some more time and effort, i might just do that.
hmm... my tutor told me i was weird - in a roundabout way... but that was the gist of it....
Aurinko freedom agreement reached 10th Sept 2006
if it makes no sense that's because it's NOn-sense.
Still wiggling
5,967 posts
Location: Belfast, Northern Ireland (UK)
Ohhh. I had no idea. I thought it was just a little wooden or metal box.
So, in effect, you could design the box you want to be buried in while you're alive (coffins are a little bit big). Hmmmm.
Because, eventually, they'll run out of cemetary space and everyone will have to be cremated (it's more hygenic anyways - my dad thinks
) Getting to the other side
Pooh-Bah
1,626 posts
Location: Southampton, United Kingdom
The only sad thing about wanting to be cremated is that I won't have a grave.. all the time when I was growing up (well, not all the time obviously, but when I was near a graveyard) my understanding of death was you turn into one of the bumps in the grass with the stone at the top. I want to be cremated because I feel it's the quickest way off turning the elements that make up me to the earth.. into plants, air and water.
Those little stones cremated people have always seemed a bit poo to me.. they're so small, and they always cram so many into a certain space.
What a wonderful miracle if only we could look through each other's eyes for an instant.
Thoreau
1,463 posts
Location: Florida
I would like my ashes spread for what comes from dust must also return to dust...
Although I'm no to sure dust REALLY caused the reaction that led to my birth... But hye I like to view it that way!
This thread is so funny!
Thanks for the suggestions the few of you who have actually told me about places!
Spanks people!
Spanks
d
JUGGLEwithyourmind!
2,530 posts
Location: Manchester, United Kingdom
i know what you mean. there's a church near me and the and the area around it is a small ish graveyard, with some quite stunningly big gravestones, over 6 foot, and even a few crypts, but there's a tiny little corner at the side of the church where the people who were cremated were buried and is in some ways dwarfed by the rest of the gravestones
We are the music makers, We are the dreamers of dreams,
Wandering by lone sea-breakers, And sitting by desolate streams;
World-losers and world-forsakers, On whom the pale moon gleams;
We are the movers and shakers of the world for ever, it seems.
Pooh-Bah
2,014 posts
Location: Galveston, TX, USA
Drome, arlington cemetary is much like the one Havokist described. I was there on a 9th grade spring break trip with several of my classmates. However, I was too young to really appreciate the experience of having been able to see it. It was amazing, and sad in a way, but then you also get to see families come visit their loved ones and that is amazing in itself. I also think having the exact same headstone on each grave is a great idea because it's something simple that adds to the beauty of the place and makes in more serene in my opinion.
Sadly, the cemetaries where I live are not so nice. No big trees to sit under, no clean gravesites with flowers to enjoy. Instead, they are poorly taken care of, filled with random trash that has blown in from the street, and the landscaping has gone to pot. Places like that just depress me because it shows that someones loved ones are not being taken care of. When a family chooses a cemetary, part of the burial fees go to cemetary up-keep, but from the looks of the ones around here, that up-keep is not constant or even often which is depressing. If I buried my loved ones in a cemetary (my only relatives to die thus far have been creamated) I would want their grave to at least be weeded on occassion and whatburger cups picked up off of them by someone other than me.
2,530 posts
Location: Manchester, United Kingdom
the cemetary that my grand-dad's buried in is well looked after, but a few of my aunts and uncle's go down every now and again, and last tiem i went was boxing day, when it had snowed, and the white snow just added to the peaceful-ness of it all, and it's almost impossible to describe...
We are the music makers, We are the dreamers of dreams,
Wandering by lone sea-breakers, And sitting by desolate streams;
World-losers and world-forsakers, On whom the pale moon gleams;
We are the movers and shakers of the world for ever, it seems.
Pirate Ninja
3,882 posts
Location: Galway/Ireland
Written by: Havokist
which is quite strange considering the title and first post.
maybe you could sell your technique to him
I'm familiar
Love is the law.
Still wiggling
5,967 posts
Location: Belfast, Northern Ireland (UK)
Getting to the other side
2,530 posts
Location: Manchester, United Kingdom
just what i was thinking, Miss Firepoise. i didnt think you'd go for a guy that likes to wear a dress and take pictures
We are the music makers, We are the dreamers of dreams,
Wandering by lone sea-breakers, And sitting by desolate streams;
World-losers and world-forsakers, On whom the pale moon gleams;
We are the movers and shakers of the world for ever, it seems.
Still wiggling
5,967 posts
Location: Belfast, Northern Ireland (UK)
Indeed
for all Getting to the other side
slack rating - 9.5
2,216 posts
Location: Suburbiton, Yoo-Kay, United Kingdom
Written by: nearly_all_gone
The only sad thing about wanting to be cremated is that I won't have a grave..
Those little stones cremated people have always seemed a bit poo to me.. they're so small, and they always cram so many into a certain space.
i walked through nottingham city graveyard the other day and was struck by how absurd it is that people wish to commemorate their deaths/leave their mark on the world in the form of a wonky slab of stone sticking out the grass.
on a more intelectual note, some of the most beautiful and interseting gravestones/crypts have been purchased by those with the most money whereas others may not have even ben able to afford such luxuries, thus maintaining class difference and economic heirachy even in death....
and yet despite all this graveyards are still undoubtably spiritual and reflective places as they lead us to consider time and mortality. heavy stuff.
It is our fantasies that make us real. Without our fantasies we're just a blank monkey' - Terry Pratchett
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