Gravely Speaking

 

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 broken link of a chain, too, represents the life that was ended. This symbolism dates back to Medieval times when people believed that the soul could be held to the body by a golden chain. Once the chain was broken, the soul took flight and rose from the body leaving Earth and ascended to Heaven.

After the tragic Challenger explosion when seven crew members were lost, President Ronald Reagan eloquently addressed a saddened nation using language to express a similar sentiment, “We shall never forget them nor the last time we saw them, as they prepared for their mission and waved good-bye and slipped the surly bonds of Earth to touch the face of God.”

During that speech, President Reagan was quoting the words, “slipped the surly bonds of Earth” from the poem “High Flight” by aviator and poet John Gillespie Magee, Jr. to memorialize their tragic deaths. The chain had been broken.

Our deepest emotions are felt in our hearts.  The heart shape, which, by the way, looks nothing like the real human heart, is a symbol of many emotions including joy, courage, and sorrow, but most especially love.  Millions of cards are exchanged every Valentine’s Day with red-heart shapes printed on them, expressions of romance and love. 

 

The symbol of two hearts on the tomb above represents love, as well.  The  New Orleans tomb displays the willow, a traditional symbol of sorrow.   In this carving the willow branches shelter two hearts on the tomb hinting at grief and a tragic story. 

 

In 1869, J. Pinkney Smith’s young nineteen-year old wife, Katie McIlheny Smith, died in childbirth.   One heart has Katie’s name carved into it.  The other heart is left nameless in honor of the unamed baby that died as it was born and as its Mother died.  Together their hearts are intertwined in marble.  Desolate and broken, J. Pinkney Smith, husband to Katie, wrote his wife’s epitaph, “Soon as she found the key of life, it opened the gates of death.”

 

The delicate bellflower is a funerary symbol that represents gratitude.  The family name, Campanulaceae, is Latin meaning small bell.

The gravestone pictured above displays an open gate carved from limestone.  In this example, the open gates, which are central to the Last Judgment, are opened to a starred sky with a banner above that reads “AT REST”.  The gates represent a passageway, the gates are the portal for saved souls to make their passage from the Earthly realm to Heaven upon Christ’s return.

 Our Little Eddie

He has gone to his Heavenly home

His favoraite Dog still watching his tomb.

Some of my favorite memories as a child were spent with the dogs that we had while I was growing up. We had many dogs—Happy, Pal, Sandy, Fritzy, and Pokie—all members of our family. They each had distinct personalities.

Happy got his name because he, was well, happy. Pal followed us everywhere, including to school. Sometimes I would look out and Pal would be staring in the school window waiting for the bell to ring so he could walk home with me. Sandy was an odd dog that liked lettuce and even jelly sandwiches. Fritzy was a cranky toy Manchester that became very feeble but never lost his appetite to nip at strangers and family members he didn’t like! Pokie was a social blonde cocker spaniel with a bad case of asthma. He had his little home on our back porch that he shared with our black cat—Bad Luck. When she had kitties they all slept together in a box and Pokie carried the kitties around like they were his.

All of them had the qualities we think of good dogs having—loyalty, fidelity, and vigilance.

The cross is one of the most common symbols found in cemeteries. It is a Christian symbol that comes in many different designs with separate meanings often with ancient origins. The cross in the photo is called a fleury or floriated cross. What distinguishes this cross are the three-petaled tips at the end of the arms of the cross representing the petals of the lily. The number three also has significance in Christianity and represents the Holy Trinity—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. This type of cross was also used in the symbolism of heraldry to represent the virtues of wisdom, faith, and chivalry.