Have you ever wondered why lawns in cemeteries are so carefully manicured -- let alone why the graves are decorated with living flowers? In this season preceding Halloween, and especially on this day when in ancient Rome it was thought ghosts might walk the earth, it seemed fitting to read an article I had printed, but never read, on the burial customs of the Romans. Roman Funeral Vocabulary | Latin Death Words
Heller ["Burial Customs of the Romans," by John L. Heller; The Classical Weekly (1932), pp.193-197] writes:
"Since the soul of the deceased was thought to need provisions for various wants in post mortem existence, the ground about the tomb was often laid out as a garden, where the spirit might wander and enjoy itself in its own bit of the Elysian Fields. This custom, of course, survives to-day in the decoration of tombs with flowers, although now we think of the flowers merely as decorations fitting to our sense of piety and our memory of the dead."
Comments
Now I wonder if plastic flowers satisfy the dead–
I imagine the ancient Roman ghosts walking around from yesterday might not be amused. You might have to expiate your impiety with a gravesite bbq or pouring some of your wine into the grave.
In Poland, where I come from, people put “znicz” on the graves (apart from flowers) which is a small jar with a candle in it. Whether it is supposed to symbolize life (fire), mortality (when the candle melts), or whether it is to guide souls – I don’t know. I also read it is supposed to provide heat for the dead. Do you have any clues?
This putting stuff on graves has now become laughable. A recent trend that i have noticed is one of putting plants on graves. On Sunday i came across a grave with a 5 foot high rose growing out of it.
Grave yards are becoming more and more like garden centres and we know how much people like to visit garden centres.
It’s amazing how we pattern things we have no clue about.
maybe society should do away with grave yards
your loved one is not there it is just a bag of bones inside a box that cust an arm and an leg, for what? tat you can make yourself suffer every time you go visit the grave yard? just talk to your loved one in the confort of your home, it;s much cheaper!
grave yards is a place for you to go and suffer, for what? your loved one is not there, what is there is a bag of bones serving no prorp. if you want to talk to your love one just do it from your house or anywhere