the Siren's song

Siren Song  n. An enticing plea or appeal, especially one that is deceptively alluring.

The Cemetery and Mythology... not a combination one sees very frequently. That's why I was pretty excited to find the image above.

This is the stone was dated 1849 and belonged to a 53 yr old man. The cemetery is on the Coast of Maine and holds countless ship captains. There are images of anchors and boats of all kinds on various stones here. Stories of bravery and tragedy.


Could this be a grieving wife.... yes. It may even be the classic image of the Virtue - Faith.

But, this imagery makes me think it could be even more than that. The parted curtain symbolizes the entry into Heaven. The anchor, a strong symbol of a life on the Sea as well as that of Christian faith. The finger pointed upwards, yet another sign of the final reward.

Then there is the woman herself. The first thing that struck me was her long Lady Godiva style hair. A long flowing dress with what looks like bare arms.

This would have been irresistible imagery in the mid 19'th century. Is she not a wife but a temptress maybe?



So what exactly is a Siren?





Sirens were dangerous creatures who lured mariners with their beautiful music and enchanting voices to an untimely death.

They were considered the daughters of the river god Achelous. There were said to be between 2 and 5 of them existing off the islands of Greece. There are two Sirens referred to in Homer's tale the Odyssey. As well as more references in the Iliad.

Though these creatures are tied to the Sea, they are not sea maidens and are not to be confused with mermaids. In fact they are not fish-like at all.

The earliest Greek images portraying Sirens showed them as large birds with female faces. They sang like birds and were granted wings by Demeter.





This pottery portrays an interesting legend. 

It is said that Odysseus was curious as to what the Sirens sung in their song to him, so, on Circe's advice, he had all his sailors plug their ears with beeswax and tie him to the mast. He ordered his men to leave him tied tightly to the mast, no matter how much he would beg. When he heard their beautiful song, he ordered the sailors to untie him but they bound him tighter. When they had passed out of earshot, only then was Odysseus untied.

The depictions of Sirens have changed over time as they became less bird like and portrayed more as femmes fatales.

There have even been references to them as the muses of the underworld.

Descriptions are also found of them on the islands, "lolling there in their meadow, round them heaps of corpses rotting away, rags of skin shriveling on their bones."  Not your average maiden.


With all of the death in the 19'th century by men making their fortunes from the Sea, it is no wonder the legend of the Siren may still be found in the cemetery. Though it's origins are Greek, the Siren appears any place in the world where people feared for their lives and the unknown.  Even in a small cemetery off the coast of Maine.

the Obelisk

The obelisk is one of the most classic shapes in the cemetery. But did you ever wonder what inspired it's design?

Say obelisk and no doubt the Washington Monument in our Nation's capital comes to your mind. It's one of the most famous obelisks in the world. But this shape is also found everywhere in 19'th century cemeteries. Shapes are important in cemetery art... design always has meaning.

The answer can be found in Egypt.


The Egyptians were absolute masters in forming monuments and statues that would stand the test of time. Monuments dedicated to Pharaoh were commonly portrayed as sitting. All arms and legs were carved compactly situated to the bodies. Over the ages, there were no long outreaching arms to break off unlike many Greek statues. The compact Egyptian design held up beautifully over time. They truly mastered shapes that were meant to hold up.

A main deity in the Egyptian religious beliefs, was the sun god Ra. Life was seen to come from Ra but death was also connected. The dead were buried on the west side of the Nile where the sun was seen as dying each day. On the flip side, the living stayed strictly on the east side of the Nile... here the sun was daily reborn.

The obelisk shape is said to symbolize a ray of light, associated with Ra.  Also known as a light pillar or solar pillar. It's four cornered base is solid and thicker than it's top, allowing it to withstand more than a simple pillar. A light pillar is a visual phenomenon created by the reflection of light from ice crystals with near horizontal parallel planar surfaces. The light can come from the Sun (usually at or low to the horizon) in which case the phenomenon is called a sun pillar. It can also come from the Moon or other sources such as streetlights.

 
Did you know that the obsession that fueled the obelisk movement in America had a name?

The term "Egyptomania" was coined in part due to ... Napoleon?

Yes, we have Napoleon to thank for introducing America to the "All-Things-Egyptian Craze".  Napoleon's Egyptian Campaign from 1798-1801 introduced the world to Egypt and it's culture. In the early 1800's books were being published on Egypt and the fever began to spread rapidly. There wasn't a single piece of American culture that wasn't suddenly influenced by this new trend. This was seen especially in the cemetery.

After some time the obelisk also began to take on some variations. As we see in this photo to the side, they didn't always have a simple pyramid top. Some were topped with urns.

The urns are also of Egyptian origin - (the canopic jar)

Some had small angular roof peaks. We call these vaulted obelisks.

While others had crosses attached to the tops.

Even traditionally shaped stones, like this slate, added the obelisk image .




















This truly massive obelisk towers at more than 30 feet high. A grand representation to a family's wealth and social status.

Some obelisks incorporated other traditional icons such as the classic willow or maybe a dove indicating a lost child. Multiple layers of meaning...




Hope you enjoyed this post and explanation.

Fraternal Orders

Benjamin Franklin once said, "Show me your cemeteries and I will tell you what kind of people you have."  

What a seriously profound quote.

 

This is where being a taphophile delves into, cultural anthropology.
For unknown reasons, we all seem to thrive on dark cloaks, secret phrases and mysterious rituals - we are drawn to the mystique of fraternal orders. No matter the year, and there are certain truths that will persist when it comes to people. The things that drive us as a group...

First: We all want to be remembered. To be celebrated for the impact we had on those around us. Why else would we spend so much precious resource - time and money - building memorials to those who have passed on?

Second: We have a desire to belong. We are pack animals at heart. At one time we may have lived in groups for sheer safety and shared resources. But, as time marched on and we became more successful, that pack mentality continued to persist. Though, some may say, it developed into more of a social need and less of a survival need.


One solution to this need was the fraternal order. A fraternal order is typically defined as a group "whose members are usually bound by oath and who make extensive use of secret ritual in the conduct of their meetings." Sometimes they include secret handshakes and special benefits.

For instance, the picture at the top of this post  had an LOL at the top.  In today's world of abbreviations, any 16 year old would tell you that meant  "Laughing Out Loud". The truth is, it's attributed to a society call the Loyal Orange Lodge. The link here will give you more info on this obscure order.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orange_Order  This stone was found in Brewer, Maine.

I found the stone just above in Waldoboro, Maine. A triangle, star, and the words LOVE – PURITY – FIDELITY. This order was very interesting indeed. It is the symbol used for The Sons of Temperance.  They existed:

"To reform drunkards and to prevent others from becoming drunkards.”  

 A colonial Alcoholics Anonymous if you will.

The first few orders I mention are not that well known but what about the ones we all recognize? Like the Freemasons. This fraternal order is truly ancient. The first text referring to Masonic activity is dated to 1390, but the first lodge,  Lodge at Kilwinning was known to exist in Scotland in the late 16'th century.  Here in the United States the growth of fraternal orders exploded after the Revolutionary War until the Anti-Masonic Movement of the 1820-30's. Again societies proliferated during the Progressive Era with approximately 600 organizations existing and 5 million members.

 Another well known order is the Independent Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF)  This is recognized as three rings with  F-L-T (Friendship – Love – Truth) The first order in the U.S. was started in Baltimore in 1819. A point of interest is that, with all of their various activities, the Odd Fellows were known to have begun and maintained cemeteries in various states.

Also worthy of mention, is that often times people chose to belong to more than one order. Sometimes the desire to be a part of a group led people to join many different groups.  As is seen on the stone above. This person belonged to both the Masons and the Odd Fellows.

Most of these groups existed exclusively for men, but with time many auxiliary offshoots popped up for women.  The Odd Fellows for instance began the Daughters of Rebekah. These are some of the variations on markers that can be found on graves. Notice the three links with F-L-T on all three markers tying the group to Odd Fellows.

Women belonging to the Rebekah's today need to have no ties to the Odd Fellows ie. a husband belonging. Their credo is  “To live peaceably, do good unto all, as we have opportunity and especially to obey the Golden Rule, Whatsoever ye would that others should do unto you, do ye even so unto them.”

In the 19'th and 20'th centuries many fraternal orders began to share the stage with civic groups and military service affiliations. From Civil War ancestors to insurance sellers, police to government workers. Sometimes you may find dozens of these group within just a single cemetery. Here are a few examples.

#1  The Knights of Pythias was the first fraternal organization to receive a charter under an act of the United States Congress.
#2 The Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen was founded on December 1, 1873 in Port Jervis, New York by Joshua A. Leach and 10 other Erie Railroad firemen.
#3 The Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) is a  lineage-based membership organization for women who are descended from a person involved in United States' independence.

This organization is a group for members who's ancestors fought in the Civil War. The eagle marker on the left has Sons of UV in the center, standing for Sons of Union Veterans. There is a matching logo carved into the headstone. The marker on the right has an ASUV. This would indicate the Auxiliary of the group, therefore the ladies version.

This grave is a great example of a husband and his wife who both shared an interest in belonging to the same group. For some reason I really like this one. I would have liked to have met this couple, but thanks to their stone and markers, I feel like I at least understand more about them.

Pointing Finger & Hand Stones

"I am not afraid" - captions a finger pointing upwards.

I want to take a moment to explain one of the most interesting and confusing icons of the cemetery.

I have accumulated quite a collection of them over the years.

The hand is a life symbol. When a finger is pointed upwards it is a message of faith. The person believes that, though the body has failed, the soul now continues upwards to Heaven.  Additionally on the stone above, the finger is seen pointing toward a broken chain, yet another life symbol. A link has been broken so the chain (or life) now ends. A statement of faith is added in "I am not afraid." For those of faith are said to never truly die.

One question I am asked more than anything else seems to be...

"If a finger pointed upwards means the person will go to Heaven, then what does a finger pointed downwards mean?"

This question seems to really upset people. Like a Victorian equivalent to the Puritan Death Head in the scary department.

The answer is very simple.

This is the hand of God. 

Man is not supposed to portray God as an image, it is blasphemy to do so. All we know about God's appearance is that Adam was made in his likeness.

Since the Bible refers to the "hand of God" often,  it was then deemed appropriate to show just that much of God on stones, just a hand.

This stone above is from Scarborough, Maine and it's one of the nicest I have found to demonstrate this point. Notice the heavenly clouds and radiating light? The finger also points to the Bible, again - a symbol of the faithful. This is such an amazing set of images!

Sometimes the finger is seen pointing to additional icons. Like the finger at the top which pointed to the broken chain.

This finger to the left, points to a heavenly star image.

Take notice the sleeves on hand. The stone to the right has a fancy, full sleeve complete with lace. It belongs to someone's wife. 

Another variation on the hand is the shaking hand. Looking at the sleeves is important on these images.

Two masculine sleeves is a symbol of God grasping Man's hand and bringing him into Heaven.

If one sleeve is feminine and the other masculine, it is seen as a matrimonial symbol. Husband and wife, one welcoming the other into Heaven.

The final portrayal of the hand on a stone is that of hands clasped in prayer. Again, a symbol of a person's faith.


Hope you enjoyed this explanation of the pointing finger and hand icons.

Now, it's time to get out there and find a few of your own to share!

If you'd like to share your images, you can post them on the Taphophile Corner Group Page on facebook. 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/173533606049437/

or follow me on twitter: @Taph_Corner

the Rose

Is there any other flower so prized for it's beauty?  No wonder the rose is a favorite as a floral icon on graves.  The Victorians used the rose in it's different colors as a language all it's own. 
This was known as Floriography. 

To express your love, you would gives roses that were red. A yellow rose on the other hand simply conveyed  friendship.  

An eloquent epitaph

In the cemetery, the most common use of the Rose as an icon is to convey beauty.

I really like the personal epitaph on this grave in Brunswick, ME.

"I love roses, I love pretty things." -Dorothy

Sheer eloquence in it's simple truth.

The rose can be used to convey literal beauty. A husband may use the rose on his wife's grave, speaking to her physical beauty.  

It can also be used figuratively. To convey that a person was beautiful to those around them. Beauty from within, if you will.

The rosebud- always a sad symbol of loss

There is another way that the rose is used as a symbol. 


Look at the development of the flower itself. If a rose is portrayed as a bud, it always symbolizes the life of a child.


The rose bud has not had time to fully bloom. Just as the babe was taken too soon.



Additionally the bud is often shown as snapped off at the stem. The photo below is a wonderful example of this. The grave is that of a young boy, showing us that the rose symbol was used for both boys and girls.

The snapped rosebud

Look carefully, you may see roses tucked into other imagery.  







The stone to the right is a small obelisk.
Notice the dove with a rose bud in it's beak, this too is symbolic of the loss of a child.

The dove and lamb images are frequently used to symbolize children.

The rosebud adds an extra punch to this image.

The stone on the left is found in Belfast, Maine, and sadly has long ago fallen over. Notice the hand of the angel. She carries a rosebud back to Heaven with her. Very subtle how the rosebud was worked into this image.

Breathtaking!

Once the personal information is read on the stone, we realize this is a child of less than 2 years of age and the only child to her grieving parents.

As an icon, the rose speaks to us in many ways. This quote may say it all...

 

"Man is harder than iron, stronger than stone and more fragile than a rose."  -Turkish Proverb

Reading Flora on stones

One of my favorite parts of exploring a new cemetery is deciphering the icons on the stones. The stone above is a great example of the use of floral icons. 

In the 1800's and into the early 1900's flora was used to convey personal messages, clues if you will, about the person buried there. This husband and wife stone is a fantastic example of that.

I'll explain.

First take George's side. His flora is the oak leaf. This is a pretty common symbol.

The oak is a prized hard wood which grows slowly but is extremely sturdy. If you look very carefully you will also see acorns. This is a huge clue about George and his life.

As I mentioned the oak grows slowly and takes a very long time before it produces any acorns. Therefore what this image tells us is that George lived a good long life and died at an older age. Couple that with the strength and virtue from the oak meaning. A picture of George begins to develop.

How interesting to learn that a person lived to an old age just by the symbol on a stone. Now, lets look at the other side of the stone.

Bessie's side also says a lot about who she was and how people saw her. One of the first things I noticed was the cross. This of course speaks to her faith. Wrapped around the cross is ivy. This is an important floral icon and deepens the meaning of the cross.

Ivy is one of the few plants that can remain green even when it's subjected to harsh conditions. You can freeze ivy and it will withstand.

This makes it a symbol of immortality as well as faith and fidelity (since it's color remains true). Faith to the church, and no doubt, to her husband as well.

In addition to never changing it's color, ivy also clings to things. It climbs and almost seems to support things as it grows. Therefore it is also seen as a symbol of friendship, attachment, affection and loyalty.

Wow! See how that one plant has conveyed such a beautiful message to us about Bessie?

There is one more plant mixed into her arrangement. It is the fern. Often ferns were pictured growing deep withing shaded forests. It is thought that to seek out a fern was a trek that only the most sincere would take. Even more meaning has now been added .What a fantastic compliment to the symbolism of the ivy. 

I hope you enjoyed my translations. We will not meet George and Bessie, but somehow, I think I know a lot more about who they were.

the Calendar

30 days have September, April, June and November…  most people learned that little saying as kids to keep straight the months of the calendar that have 30 days from

those that have 31.  But it wasn't always that easy to keep track of the days, there was a time when telling the date was very confusing business. 

This posting will help explain why we sometimes see stones in colonial cemeteries with double dates. The first time I saw a stone with two years of death listed, I thought maybe the family had the stone carved much later and couldn't remember the actual date… then I saw it again and again and knew there had to be a reason for it.

Keeping a calendar has, at times, been pretty complicated. Different cultures have used different ways to mark the passing of years. Had we continued to use the Roman calendar we may have just rung in the new year 2765 a.u.c. The Romans used ab urbe condita "from the founding of the city" – Rome – as their basis for dating.

 

Some cultures used lunar calendars while others, like the Mayans, used their own very unique form of calendar. In fact the Mayan calendar has fueled many end of times conspiracies. Since the Mayan calendar ends on 12-21-2012,  people wonder if it was meant to be a prophecy of sorts.

One thing is true, for centuries the date was subjective to the country you were in at any given time.

The importance of everyone being on the same page became evident as people began traveling around the world. A standard of date keeping became a priority. One of the first very popular calendars was the Julian calendar. This calendar was adopted by Julius Caesar in the year we know as 45 B.C. The Julian calendar consisted of eleven months of 30 or 31 days and a 28-day February (extended to 29 days every fourth year) The calendar was actually quite accurate. It was only 11.5 minutes off the true lunar cycles. But, only just a slight difference in minutes, after significant time, would end up being a difference of days. The problem eventually snowballed. The solstice was off by days. The solution to this problem would come to be found with, of all places – the Vatican…

 

Pope Gregory XIII was the pontiff in Rome from 1572 to 1585.  He would go down in history being known for the man who commissioned the Gregorian calendar, with the help of a Jesuit priest/astronomer Christopher Clavius, who is credited as the chief architect.  To this day, the Gregorian calendar is the international standard for date keeping around

the world. The new calendar more closely aligned with the lunar calendar, fixing the flaw in the Julian calendar, which saw the year as 365 days and 6 hours. The new calendar counted the year as 365 days, 5 hours, and 49 minutes in length.

Now the tricky part… to get the rest of the world to sign onto the new calendar. As you can see from this chart, this change not very well received in some countries. There was much resistance to changing. Not to mention yet another complication that would ultimately lead to the reason that we see double dated grave stones here in America.  

As the chart shows, England was fairly late adopting the Gregorian calendar. It didn't recognize the new method for date telling until 1752. This created a huge problem since other countries had adopted the new calendar centuries earlier. What this meant was that even when they made the switchover, they would still be off the rest of the world's current date by days unless they did something that would shock the people living under British rule.

Here's a fun question you can ask any history buff you know.

"What happened on the date September 2, 1752?"

The answer: Nothing. Absolutely nothing. The sun never rose, no garden was tended, no ships sailed. In fact, you will never see a gravestone dated with that date. Officially, the date never existed. Neither did the 3'rd or the 4'th. In total 12 days were erased from time in order for London to be on the same day as say, Paris was.  The people were stunned. It is said that some thought this was a trick for landlords to get the rent sooner, while others actually thought the King had robbed days off their very life.

But that wasn't the only adjustment made. The Calendar Act of 1750 passed by the British Parliament, also put into effect the changing of the day the New Year would begin. If all this new calendar stuff wasn't confusing enough, Lady Day – March 24'th would no longer mark the changing of the calendar year. The new official start to the year would fall on January 1'st.

                                                                  

With all the reluctance to the adoption of the Gregorian calendar and then the changing of the starting month of the new year, this is why we see double dated grave stones. Immigrants coming here may have still used the Julian calendar or may or may not have celebrated the new year on Jan. 1'st. Russia didn't switch to the Gregorian calendar till the 20'th century. Switzerland began using Jan. 1'st as the mark of the new year in 1579, while they didn't switch calendars until 1760. The stones we see with double dates usually belong to people who died in either Jan, Feb or March.  Since some still believed the new year began in March, while others had signed on to the Jan switch, many put both years on stones for good measure.

Not everyone was comfortable with these changes.

Thomas Jefferson's hand written gravestone details

In fact evidence of this can be seen on the gravestone of one of our countries Founding Father's.

Thomas Jefferson took the time to plan out his gravestone in his will. He chose the type of stone as well as the inscription that he preferred. On the dating of his stone you will see his date of birth listed as:

Born Apr. 2, 1743 O.S.

The O.S. at the end of his birth date refers to "Old Style" calendar dating, another wards a reference to the Julian calendar and March 24'th new year. If you see a N.S. listed by a historical date, this would then refer to "New Style" dating – the Gregorian calendar and Jan. 1- new years.

So you think this is all ancient history? Not quite, in fact we are still making adjustments even in the modern age. 

On December 30, 2011 the Island known as American Samoa had a historic four day work week, instead of five. They "lost " their Friday so as to align their date with Australia.

Hope you enjoyed this post and Happy 2012 (N.S.) Everyone! Make this one a year to remember.

the Cemetery Moon...

Super Moon in Mt. Pleasant Cemetery. 05/05/12

This past weekend, not only did people celebrate Cinco de Mayo, but many went out that evening to witness the 2012 Super Moon.

Living in New England, I grew up hearing some really amazing superstitions and beliefs. Not knowing any better I ended up believing in most of them. Who was I to question Fate?

So very many of these tales concerned death  - what could prematurely speed up it's arrival and those things that were said to surely foretell it.

Even the moon is tied to death folklore.
. 
Growing up part time on an island in the Bay of Fundy, I witnessed first hand the power that the moon has over the tides. The Bay of Fundy is known for have the highest and lowest tides in the world, mix in the new moon and full moon twice a month and you have extra massive tides! These super high tides are also known as Spring Tides. As the water seems to spring up even  higher than normal.

The moon controls the tides in the Bay of Fundy

So what does the moon and tide have to do with the cemetery?

At one time, it was a commonly held belief for those keeping a death bed vigil, that a dying person would only relinquish their hold on life during an ebb tide. (low water) If they made it through the ebb and the water began to once again rise, the person would live until at least the next ebb tide. Then the process of watching and waiting began again. If the person did pass, another custom was that at no time would the body be left alone. I actually have family members alive today that can remember this practice. Even during the overnight hours and until the time of burial, someone needed to accompany the body every single minute.

So, are the veils between the worlds thinner during a full moon? Take a walk through a cemetery on a full moon night... and you tell me.

the Elements of an Inscription

Most people know what an epitaph is, right?  Those final thoughts about a person lovingly etched into the bottom of a stone.  But, if I asked you what an EPITHET was, would you know the answer?

What we put on gravestones today greatly differs from what was put on them in the 18'th and 19'th centuries.  There were titles and words used that many of us have no idea the meaning of today.  For instance, there are terms used for a wife that many people are quite unsure of and many times actually offended by.  If you know the meaning of each term, you will realize they simply refer to the order in which the wife died in relationship to her husband.

The first is RELICT. This is a term meaning widow; the husband had died before his wife.




The other frequently used term is CONSORT. This is the one that causes such grief and confusion! It may not even be uncommon for a husband to have two or three consorts all buried next to one another. The term consort simply means that the wife died before the husband, many times in childbirth. Often, men remarried quickly in order to supply their children with a new caretaker. It wasn't even terribly unusual to remarry the sister of a lost wife.

Note: the word often looks as though it is spelled Confort. This is due to the colonial s character

THERE ARE SEVEN BASIC PARTS TO AN INSCRIPTION. 
Not every stone will include all seven, but many do.


1. the Header  - Here Lyes, In the Memory of, Sacred, The Mortal Remains of, etc…

2. the Epithet(s)  – Daughter of, Honored, Rev[erend], Christian, Esq[uire], Faithful Relict, Mason, etc…

3. the Name - Self explanitory.  (although, it can be amusing to pay attention to the older ones.)

4. the Formula of Death  – Who fell victim to, Departed this life, Died, etc…

5. the Date  - Nov 21, 1851, ye Jan 15, 1779, etc…

6. the Age - Aetatis 49, Age 6months and 3 days, etc…

7. the Eulogies  – A Biblical verse, Rest in Peace, May his soul be rewarded, etc… (also sometimes referred to as the Epithaph)

I am always amazed when I find the reason for death listed clearly on a stone. As you can see here, on the stone for this 3 yr old child.

"His death was occasioned by the kick of a horse"










Also very touching is to find a formula of death written as this one was...

"Fell asleep..."




Now that you know all 7 elements, are you ready for a quiz?


Here are a few examples on stones here in Maine. See if you can correctly name all the elements on Stone #1. ( Don't worry I'll provide the answers for #2 )

How did you do? That was a lot of information, wasn't it?

Here are the answers for stone #2
Here lyes dissolving in earth the mortal remains of =  Header
Mrs. Anne Storer =  Name
Wife of =  Epithet
Whose fair form fell a victim to death =  Formula of Death
the 3 day of Nov 1788 =  Date
Having lived 25 years and 6 days =  Age
                                                         ————————————

Stone #2 had no Eulogy / Epitaph. Stone #1 does and I think it is a very interesting perspective on life at that time, it reads…

"Her life was short her days were few but wisdom was to her for gray hairs." 
 
Now you have a good understanding of the parts to a gravestone inscription. Time to grab a camera and a notebook to write down a few good Epitaphs. You may be able to find one of my favorites

"Passerby cast an eye, 

As you are now so once was I, 

As I am now so you will be, 

Prepare for Death and follow me."

 

Take advantage of the good weather so you can get out there and see some of them for yourself!