“To lie in the soft brown earth, with the grasses waving above one's head, and listen to silence. To have no yesterday, and no tomorrow. To forget time, to forgive life, to be at peace.” - Oscar Wilde
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Tombstone Tuesday: Urns: Classic, shrouded, and heavily cloaked
In many cemeteries you will find stones with urns atop them. The urn is a classic Greek and Roman symbol of mourning. With the body viewed as a vessel of the soul, the urn holds the cremated remains so that the soul might ascend to Heaven. The ancient Romans used the urn as a repository for the ashes of the dead, and it was always shrouded out of respect. The urn is a very popular symbol of mourning in Victorian Cemeteries, and Mount Jerome is no exception; however, while it is fairly common to see a shrouded urn, some of the urns here are heavily cloaked rather than lightly shrouded.
*Click on photographs to view larger versions.
©Copyright J.Geraghty-Gorman