Search This Blog

Sunday, November 3, 2019

CEMETERIES - STORIES IN STONE

Post by Doris McCraw
writing as Angela Raines

Photo property of the author
Halloween, All Hallow's Eve, Day of the Dead are now over. We are into November and heading toward the holidays of Thanksgiving and Christmas. It is a time of celebration, cold in the Northern Hemisphere along with shorter days. Personally, I live for Dec 21 for the days begin to lengthen again.

According to history.com the tradition of Halloween originated with the ancient Celtic Festival Samhain when people would like bonfires and wear costumes to ward off ghost. By around the eighth century, Pope Gregory III designated November 1 as a time to honor all saints. The day soon became All Saints Day. As a result, the night before became known as All Hallows Eve which then became known as Halloween.

The day of the dead is a Mexican holiday that generally runs from October 31 through November 2. This is viewed as a time when family and friends gather to pray and remember those who have died to help them on their spiritual journey. They view this time not as a time of sadness but as a day of celebration. It is the time when the veil between the living and the dead is very thin and the loved ones awake and celebrates their journey with the living.

Photo property of the author
This time of year and the holidays we've just celebrated are special to me for two reasons. One that life is brief and two the legacies we leave are part and parcel of all of those who came before. For that reason and probably many more I love visiting cemeteries. For me, a cemetery is like reading snippets of books as I walked past the headstones. Even as a young person I found the stories of those who lived before me fascinating. Perhaps it had to do with the fact that I grew up in a farming community surrounded by multi-generations. I always loved listening to the stories of my great-grandparents, grandparents and yes even my parents. Many of those stories influenced and still continue to influence what I write about in both my fiction and nonfiction.


The history of cemeteries themselves, how they've changed over the years is also fascinating. Of course, there are the cemeteries that are associated with churches and hallowed ground. There are also the family cemeteries, those small plots at the ends of a road, or in the middle of a field of corn. In the case of those traveling west, the unknown graves of those who passed while on that journey from one destination to another. There were the cemeteries that were known as gardens, where people would come to picnic in the manicured settings. The commonality of all of these is the stories written on the stones. For that reason, cemeteries are a source of peace, quiet, and a place to help me understand where I stand in the stream of life and death. It is why when things feel out of kilter I will visit the gravesites of the people I've researched. Knowing something of their lives puts my own in perspective.


So when I visit Helen Hunt Jackson, Julia E Loomis, Harriet Leonard, and even Ernestine Parsons I feel connected to those women who ventured out and followed their dreams and in their own way left a mark on the world.

The novella "Lost Knight" came out from some of the ideas in this post. What happens when a man dies and wakes up centuries earlier? How does he navigate being in a time he knows nothing about?

Lost Knight by [Raines, Angela]
$.99 on Amazon
Doris Gardner-McCraw -
Author, Speaker, Historian-specializing in
Colorado and Women's History
Angela Raines - author: Where Love & History Meet




16 comments:

  1. Lovely post, Doris. The different traditions are so interesting and I've always found peace walking through cemeteries.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Kristy. I know people probably think I'm strange for my affinity to cemeteries, but they really are peaceful. Doris

      Delete
  2. Enjoyed you post. I always thought it was heartbreaking to see markers for multiple children from the same families who died in infancy/soon after. Or those for whole families were wiped out at the same time during epidemics.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ann, I have felt the same way. At the same time the historian makes more of those patterns. I always learn so much each time I visit.

      I'm glad you enjoyed my sharing one of my passions. I strive to keep cemeteries safe and unmolested. Doris

      Delete
  3. Really interesting, Doris! Thanks so much for sharing.
    Your photos are lovely, very atmospheric

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Lindsay. When time allows I do love getting out and taking photos. It helps me remember how much I love life. Doris

      Delete
  4. Loved your post. I share your love of old cemeteries, the older the better. There are so many untold stories in every one.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There really are so many stories. The whole history of cemeteries is pretty fascinating, from the church to boot hill to parks. Doris

      Delete
  5. Doris,

    I share your affinity for cemeteries. My interest in cemeteries likely resulted from two things in my childhood: 1) My maternal grandfather was a caretaker for a few years for our cemetery. I spent a lot of time with him at the cemetery. 2) Both sides of my family took great pride and care of family graves and headstones. I can spend hours wandering through cemeteries and reading the headstones. There are so many stories there.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kaye, I knew we were kindred spirits. (Smile). I agree, when we take the time to look, there is so much we can learn. You were lucky in so many ways. Doris

      Delete
  6. I look forward to longer days as well, Doris. I'm going to try not to be impatient about winter this year..."TRY" being the magic word. LOL
    I love cemeteries, too. I like to read the epitaphs on the old monuments and markers. When I lived in Texas there was a graveyard in Temple that was filled with old gravestones. It was the first time I ever saw a gravestone with a picture of the deceased on it. Those gravestones in older cemeteries are so interesting and some have such profound and heartrending epitaphs. Today's brass plates and vases of plastic flowers are just so boring in comparison.
    I had forgotten November 1 was All Saints Day. There are so many lovely customs involved with that day.
    I so enjoyed this blog, Doris. You never disappoint.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sarah, I know how you feel about these long nights. I'm trying to accept them, but ...

      I read a story in one of the geneology magazines that talked about two women who were trying to find those lost and older family cemeteries. There was a part of me that wanted to be with them, because you're correct, the old headstones have so much to offer for those who take the time to look.

      I thank you for your kind words about my posts, it helps me to keep writing them. Doris

      Delete
  7. Doris, I too enjoy old cemeteries and also find a few that really strike something inside me, or makes me connect with the grave for some reason--spooky but fascinating. It seems maybe there's a connection between writers and cemeteries. Now there's food for thought. Thanks for another interesting post.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Beverly, I was just thinking the same thing about writers and cemeteries. Like you, I sometimes see something that just hits a chord with me. There have been times when I'm stuck with my writing and I will go visit Helen's grave and just get still. I know it sounds strange, but it does help. Doris

      Delete
  8. As always, you write such interesting blogs, Doris. And you are not alone with your love of cemeteries. Years ago I met a Calgary author who talk about her interest in graveyards. She had traveled across Canada to visit old graveyards and was working on her second book. I have both books and find them fascinating, especially the centuries-old cemeteries in the Maritimes. Amazing statues. She delved into the histories of the departed. Her name is Nancy Miller and I think you'd really enjoying reading her books and looking at the pictures. I feel about old houses like you do about cemeteries. Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Elizabeth. To me there is just something so special about the final resting place of so many. Of course in the nineteenth century there was more people who were disinterred and placed in another cememtery than most realize. It happend to Helen (Hunt) Jackson.

      I will have to check the author you mentioned and her books. I also love old houses, and thinking about the people who lived there and their stories. (Sigh) Doris

      Delete