Usually, burial grounds are the sole dominion of the dead. In the catacombs beneath Paris, an inscription warns, "Stop! This is the empire of death!” Iron gates and stone walls protect many burial places, allowing entrance during appropriate hours but keeping out the nocturnal wanderers and riff-raff. In ye olden times, some cemeteries were even rigged with booby traps and self-firing... Continue Reading →
Burial traditions offer comfort, but some prefer to let their individuality shine from beyond the grave. Check out these unique burial arrangements!
The Facebook walls of the dearly departed often function as digital gravesites where friends and family can share photos, speak to the deceased, and mourn. Who, if anyone, has access to your online tombstone and the data it contains? Opening access to the dead’s accounts has the potential for thoughtful curation, but that comes with... Continue Reading →
When thinking of prehistoric technological innovations, inventions like stone tools and permanent houses usually come to mind. But the cemetery is an invention, a place specifically used for the ritual burial of the dead. Ancient hunter-gatherers buried their dead beside their houses and left them behind when they moved. Since they were semi-nomadic, they did... Continue Reading →
Death is one of the few universal problems that all cultures must confront. The way a culture solves the problem of death is deeply rooted in their values about the meaning of life and their beliefs in what will happen after death. When a death occurs in an Islamic community, funeral rituals affirm the dignity and... Continue Reading →
Funeral and burial rituals are often an expression of love by the community. But if the deceased was an outsider or rule breaker, these rituals may be inappropriate. Still, something must be done with the bodies of social outcasts. To solve this dilemma, cultures throughout history and today use subverted or alternative burial rituals to make... Continue Reading →
These days, DIY is all the rage. From home wedding Pintrest pages to YouTube tutorials about tiny homes, the information age has empowered us to roll up our sleeves and get our hands messy. Besides being able to put your own creative spin on the project, doing things yourself also saves big bucks. Conventional funerals, on... Continue Reading →
The International Association of Pet Cemeteries and Crematories estimates there are around 700 pet cemeteries in the United States. This number is likely much higher since many pet cemeteries are informal and never registered. Unlike human cemeteries, the regulations for animal burial are much looser and so pet cemeteries are easily forgotten or abandoned. Such... Continue Reading →
No, Stephen King, not THAT pet cemetery. The residents of these burial grounds might not be able to sit, but they do stay. Humans have extended funeral rituals to their furry family members for millennia and animal graveyards often mirror human ones. These are the largest, oldest, and most famous, plus one that is fading from memory. The oldest... Continue Reading →
The human experience is a constant negotiation between civilization and nature. We are ultimately animals, products of our biology and the environments that shaped our evolution, and yet we work hard to conquer and control nature. Our greatest weapon we have invented in the war against nature is culture, which we wield in the face... Continue Reading →
Playing Marbles for Keeps 