Retired or dead

Friday 5 July 2013

There is a hallway in my school here that has the names of former professors inscribed on stones. If they are retired, there are just dates. If they are dead, there's a little cross next to the dates. I wonder - have they never had a non-Christian professor? Quebec is very Catholic, but still, it seems a bit strange.

Pierre's tomb

Thursday 27 June 2013

True to tradition, I figured that while in a new city, I should check out the graveyard. This is the Notre Dame des Neiges graveyard, and this is the French-est tomb I found. Not only is his name Pierre, he chose a French inscription and has Quebec flags planted out front.

Audubon's Grave

Thursday 10 June 2010

This is the gravestone of John James Audubon, founder of the Audubon society. You know, birds?

It was cool, the whole stone was covered with carvings of animals and birds. Unfortunately, none of the pictures of that part turned out - ah well!

Brooklyn Graveyard

Tuesday 8 June 2010

My wonderful friend Mac took us on a mini-tour of his neighborhood in Brooklyn today.

Death Notices

Thursday 20 May 2010

Our Serbian friends told us these little fliers are only seen in Serbia, although we have seen them in Bulgaria as well. A Balkan tradition, perhaps.

When someone dies, their family puts up these notices of their death on their door, near the church, and around town. They aren't taken down until maybe when they're faded and dirty. So poles and doors and bulletin boards here are full of little memorials, like an extension of the graveyard.

Cenotaph

Monday 10 May 2010

At Ataturk's mausoleum. He is not inside there, he is in a secret chamber beneath which we could not enter.

Goreme cemetery

Tuesday 20 April 2010

Our international cemetery tour continues. Here was a lovely flower-filled one in Cappadocia, within sight of some fairy chimneys.

Classic Petra

Monday 29 March 2010

Our last day at Petra, and here is the classic and most famous shot - the tomb called the Treasury.

I felt like Indiana Jones, being here!

Petra sunset

Sunday 28 March 2010

Luckily, day two at Petra was sunny and warm! Here is the "Urn Tomb," one of the Royal Tombs, at sunset.

Petra in the rain

Saturday 27 March 2010

Ryan and I have arrived in southern Jordan, where we are visiting the ancient city of Petra. Our first day was cold and rainy and miserable, but definitely a rare experience for a desert attraction! You'll have to wait for the classic photo - today was all misty mountains. If you look closely, though, you can see some of the caves that served the Nabatean people as tombs.

Pyramid

Sunday 14 March 2010

Today was our last day in Cairo, and we spent it entirely at Lee's house, getting caught-up and ready for the next leg of our journey. So, I decided to use today to post a photo of the great pyramids at Giza, since I put up a photo of the Sphinx on that day. I don't want you to feel cheated out of the main attraction of Egypt!

City of the Dead

Friday 12 March 2010

Actually, we aren't sure if this is the cemetery commonly known as the City of the Dead, but it did share that one's defining characteristic: there are tons of people living here.

I didn't get a photo of it, because it felt a bit rude, but there are low-income families who live in the spacious tombs in the cemeteries here, creating a strange village atmosphere. There was laundry hanging out, satellite dishes attached to tombs, children running and playing, even a restaurant and cafe within the graveyard.

Fatimid Cemetery

Thursday 4 March 2010

Last night we took the overnight train from Cairo down to Aswan, at the southern end of the Nile, and so here we are in the baking heat of what used to be called Nubia.

Today we visited our first Islamic cemetery, which held both modern and very very old tombs. (The modern are the ones low to the ground, the old ones are the raised domes of important imams of yesteryear.)

Funeral Home

Saturday 26 September 2009

I am dog-sitting for my friends Bekah and Rick this weekend, which includes walking their dogs around the neighborhood. And Bekah and Rick just happen to live behind a funeral home and crematorium. Along the outside funeral home wall there is a long long set of lovely paintings depicting traditional Chinese values. Most of them are easy to figure out (you should take care of children, sick, and old people, give money to beggars, honor your elders, etc.) but a few are more difficult for my western eyes to understand. It always makes for an interesting walk!

Chinese cemetary, Christian-style

Monday 7 September 2009

Okay, I had too many good photos of Macau - you'll have to sit through two extras, even if Ryan and I are back in Kaohsiung now.

Macau was previously a Portuguese colony, meaning that Christianity is extremely common. It was rather odd to see a Latino-style cemetery similar to the ones we saw in South America, only covered in Chinese characters. Pretty few places in the world you can see this!

Southern Grave

Wednesday 29 July 2009

Alright, so this one is from HengChun a while back, but this week has been devoted to getting my life back together after the World Games, and I don't have a photo for today, and I really really wanted to put this one up originally.

A traditional Chinese-style grave, overgrown.

Funeral

Friday 16 January 2009

Ryan and I drove past this funeral tonight, and I thought it would be a good opportunity to get a picture of something that is normally taboo, as there was no one here mourning.

I don't know a whole lot about Taiwanese funerals, but I know that they set up these big white tents for one or two days (or sometimes weeks) so people can come and pay their respects while they wait for a good day to bury or cremate the person. White is the color of funerals (red is for weddings), so the tents, chairs, and flowers will always be white. This one is especially elaborate, I have to say - there is always a photo, but usually just a normal portrait (not so big, no heavenly clouds) in the middle of a special flower wreath.

Bogotá cemetery

Tuesday 29 April 2008

Ryan and I arrived in Bogotá, Colombia today. And of course, what is the first thing we do? Visit the cemetery! (We tried to go to museums today, but they're all closed on Tuesdays.) It was a really nice little graveyard, lots of flowers and dead ex-presidents. This particular grave caught my eye . . .

El Señor de Sipán

Saturday 12 April 2008

This is the royal tomb of the Lord of Sipán, a king of the ancient Mochica people. He lived about 1,700 years ago, and was buried with a wife (one of many), his military cheif, his standard-bearer, a boy, some decapitated llamas, a guardian (whose feet had been cut off to ensure he stayed in the tomb), a watchman, hundreds of pots full of food, and an unbelievably collection of jewelry and treasures. This picture here is the original tomb, but all the skeletons and such are replicas. Later we visited the museum where the real bodies and treasures are on display, which was one of the most amazing museums I've ever seen in my life. They had the gold and jewelry from this tomb, as well as from other, older tombs. The gold was skillfully worked and all of the jewelry impressively intricate. But the most jaw-dropping display was of delicate woven lace from 2,000 years ago!! These cultures are truly amazing.

Ayacucho cementery

Sunday 6 April 2008

We visited the Ayacucho cementery today, which was a fairly traditional collection of one kind of grave, the kind I call "drawers." Here, however, instead of the normal engraved plates with names and dates, most people had some kind of hand-painted front. There were some really impressive works of art as well as some obviously home-made drawings, ranging from simple outlines of clouds and crosses, through the normal gamut of Maries crying or praying, right on up to bloody, suffering Jesus. I'm not too sure why someone would choose this one, but there was more than one Jesus bleeding from the mouth.