Category Archives: Symbolism

In the cemetery, much of the iconography represents a life ended—the winged death’s head, the hanging bud, the broken wheel, the incomplete circle, the column that is broken. The gravestone below has a broken chain that wraps around the pedestal … Continue reading →

The soap opera, Days of Our Lives, has as their catchphrase,  “Like sands through the hourglass, so are the days of our lives.” The meaning of that catchphrase is clear–life passes by very quickly.  Life measured by the grains of sand … Continue reading →

The light and airy tones that emanate from the harp, etereal and almost mystical, have long been thought of as the sound of Heaven.  The harp has been considered the instrument of angels.

The mythical creature–the dragon–has figured large in literature, movies, and culture, most especially in Eastern cultures.  The view of the dragon between the East and the West could hardly be more polar opposite.  In Western cutlure, the dragon for the … Continue reading →

When I walk around cemeteries, I look for symbols I have not seen and, of course, stellar examples of funerary art.  I have written before about the the Heart-in-Heart symbol but was struck by the pristine condition of the symbol found … Continue reading →

Even though, they are considered rare, I have come across more squirrels displayed on gravestones, since I first wrote about the image as a funerary symbol.  The carving in the photo above is found in a rural cemetery in Greene County, Indiana.  … Continue reading →

The clover is the symbol of Ireland because legend has it that St. Patrick, the country’s patron saint, brought it to the emerald isle.  The three leaves of the clover represent the Trinity–the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. … Continue reading →

Warren Dean Jones, August 10, 1931—December 27, 1948 At first, the carved limestone basketball at Bedford’s Beech Grove Cemetery looks like a fan’s tribute to Indiana’s state sport—Hoosier basketball. As most know who follow sports, basketball is as popular in … Continue reading →

The swan is familiar to us all from Hans Christian Anderson’s story.  In the tale the poor duckling, mocked and ridiculed for being so ugly, magically transforms into an elegant and graceful adult swan–thereby becoming a symbol of transformation.  The swan in … Continue reading →