11–20 of 58 posts
This is still common in Sweden, as cemiteries often surround churches and the beautiful parks around them.
They're real sanctuaries in busy cities.
I've had some lovely picnics in beautiful cemeteries in Germany, they're often walled, which dramatically reduces traffic noise, and resemble botanical gardens with their mixture of trees and flowering shrubs, in contrast to the "lawn with headstones" I'm familiar with in New Zealand. They're real sanctuaries in busy cities.
I've had some lovely picnics in beautiful cemeteries in Germany, they're often walled, which dramatically reduces traffic noise, and resemble botanical gardens with their mixture of trees and flowering shrubs, in contrast to the "lawn with headstones" I'm familiar with in New Zealand. They're real sanctuaries in busy cities.
People go there sit on benches, eat their lunch and forget about hectic lives for a minute or two.
Look out for the distinctive pink porphyry monuments; as a hard and acid-resistant stone, many of these are in perfect condition despite being a century or more old.
> One of the reasons why eating in cemeteries become a “fad,” as some reporters called it, was that epidemics were raging across the country: Yellow fever and cholera flourished, children passed away before turning 10, women died during childbirth. Death was a constant visitor for many families, and in cemeteries, people could “talk” and break bread with family and friends, both living and deceased. It's fascinating…
The major ritual involves burning (fake) money for the deceased to use in the afterlife, but food offerings are also made. The food is not burned - it is recovered and eaten by normal living people, though I don't know whether people eat in the cemetery.
The general idea of bringing food to the cemetery so that a dead relative can be part of the meal too, though, seems fairly natural to me. When you want to spend time with a dead person, where would you go to do that?
I've had some lovely picnics in beautiful cemeteries in Germany, they're often walled, which dramatically reduces traffic noise, and resemble botanical gardens with their mixture of trees and flowering shrubs, in contrast to the "lawn with headstones" I'm familiar with in New Zealand. They're real sanctuaries in busy cities.
Confirmed. In Berlin we have some really beautiful ones. If you want to read a book in a park in perfect quiet they’re the right place.
