On the surface (and about six feet below it) cemeteries seem pretty straightforward. Pick a plot, dig a hole. Coffin goes in, gravestone goes on top. But people still have internment-based inquiries, as evidenced by Google autocomplete results. So over the next few weeks, I will be answering the questions that the public ask Google about graveyards. Today’s post are the top searches related to cemetery setup: features and amenities.
WHY ARE CEMETERIES NEXT TO CHURCHES?
Actually, cemeteries aren’t always next to churches and in fact most cemeteries are not connected to a church. Churchyards or graveyards are burial places that are adjacent to a place of worship. A common idea in the Middle Ages was that the closer you were buried to the altar of a church, the better your chances of getting into heaven. For rich worshipers, this sometimes meant burial in the church itself under floors and inside of walls. For the everyday churchgoer, this meant burial in the yard outside of the church aka the churchyard.
The United Congregational Church as seen from the Little Compton Town Common Burial Ground. Photo courtesy of Abigail Pimental.
But over time space became a serious issue. Churchyards were literally overflowing with corpses and church walls were stuffed with stiffs. Cemeteries rose in popularity in the 18th century as an alternative burial place away from the church. Most cemeteries are run by municipalities or for-profit companies rather than being part of a place of worship.
WHY ARE CEMETERIES ON HILLS?
Spiritual Explanation: Ancient Judeo-Christian practice placed burial places as high as possible so that the dead could be nearer to God. Also, early burial places were attached to churches, which were often built higher up from the town for optimal visibility and church-bell hearing range.
Public Health Explanation: Hilltops tend to be breezier and therefore people believed that burying the dead on a hilltop would help dangerous miasma gasses to dissipate before they could harm the living.
Practical Explanation: When you are digging six feet down, you want to be as far away as possible from the water table to prevent the embarrassment of flooded graves. Hilltops have better drainage than lowlands, and if the ground becomes too saturated sealed coffins can literally float up through the mud like corks. Also, hills are usually not valuable as farmland, so why not use that space for burials.
WHY DO CEMETERIES FACE EAST?
Christian cemeteries are often oriented so that all the coffin heads are to the west and the feet are to the east. This way at the Second Coming of Christ, all the newly resurrected folks can sit up in their coffins and be facing Jesus already. In some cases, church leaders are buried facing the opposite direction so that they will be facing their congregation and leading the way for Jesus.
In Islamic faiths, bodies are buried with their faces towards Mecca. This means that the graves are dug perpendicular to that direction, so that bodies laid on their right side will be oriented correctly.
WHY DO CEMETERIES HAVE FENCES?
Because people are dying to get in!
But really, it’s to keep the pesky living out. Cemeteries can often be targets for vandalism and prime hangout space for ne’er-do-wells, so fences are a way to deter people from sneaking in after hours. In the 19th century, fresh corpses were sometimes dug up and sold to medical colleges by resurrectionists. Fences helped to keep the dearly departed in their graves and off the dissection table.
REFERENCES
Colman, Penny. Corpses, coffins, and crypts: A history of burial. Macmillan, 1997.
Hageneder, Fred. “FAQ’s.” Ancient Yew Group, 2005, https://www.ancient-yew.org/s.php/frequently-asked-questions/2/2#whyare2.
Knight, David. “Cemeteries.” The Canadian Encyclopedia, 19 December 2009, https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/cemeteries.
Marian, Jakub. “Difference Between ‘Cemetery’ and ‘Graveyard’ in English.” Jakub Marian’s language learning, science, & art, 9 January 2016, https://jakubmarian.com/difference-between-cemetery-and-graveyard-in-english/.
Rugg, Julie. “Defining the place of burial: what makes a cemetery a cemetery?.” Mortality 5.3 (2000): 259-275.
Smoot, Fred. “Hilltop Churches and Cemeteries.” Tennessee TNGenWeb Project, 2002, https://www.tngenweb.org/darkside/high-hill.html
Playing Marbles for Keeps 
Leave a comment