Burial Rituals and White-Washed Tombs

"In Memoriam" is a common epitaph written on tombstones. Meaning, "Into Memory" in Latin, the meaning of this small phrase is different for particular people. Because memory of someone is unique, the memories of a buried loved one can bring many different emotions to light. With the recent remembrance of D-Day and the Memorial Day holiday not long past, my mind was thinking about cemeteries and how cultures remember the dead. I had a similar thought last Summer when I went to take pictures of Allegheny Cemetery in the Lawrenceville neighborhood of Pittsburgh. Created in 1844, it is one of the largest (300 acres) and oldest cemeteries west of the Appalachian Mountains. 

Monument at Allegheny Cemetery

From an early age, I had a morbid fascination with cemeteries. Maybe it was the arches and statues,maybe it was the idea that so many people have died in the millennia that humanity has existed, but for some reason I was always enjoyed looking at them from the car window. However, this did not translate to many visits as a kid. Even in my adult life, I have only visited 4 cemeteries (2 of those being in foreign countries). Nonetheless, I am still fascinated by them. It was in Allegheny Cemetery last Summer that I remembered a thought I had about the reasons we bury our dead. Sure, there are practical reasons, such as predation and disease, but our particular beliefs sometimes makes a huge difference in the way or the importance placed upon our burial.

 

The Faith

The Christian faith has various rituals for the dead. In the Roman Catholic church, the priest has a set way to bless and honor the dead body (Last Rites). Many families choose to have a religious service before burying the deceased. This includes a eulogy and a viewing. These are an act of closure for the family and friends of the deceased. This regiment is a way to say goodbye and pray for comfort of those who mourn for the deceased (Matthew 5:4). Sometimes the deceased person is cremated after the funeral and the urn is given to the family to be placed somewhere, whether that's in the ground, in the family home, or in a mausoleum. It truly is a sad event.

Allegheny Cemetery Monuments

That stands in stark contrast to my feelings about the monuments and pinnacles erected to the dead in the cemeteries. I could not help but feel like it was more than a little wasteful. Do not misunderstand me; I still enjoyed the grand marble sculptures and stone structures. The tombstone reliefs, personal mausoleums, and monuments are beautiful and impressive. But I could not help to think, "Does it do anything for the dead?" The answer is assuredly. "No." The dead do not need their body anymore. It is an empty vessel. The body returns to dust from which it was made (Genesis 3:19). It's a simple fact that the burial is not for the deceased but for the grieving loved ones still living. This is not a post about wasteful spending on funerary practices or the price of coffins, but it was just an observation I made while admiring the hundred-year-old monuments at Allegheny Cemetery. 

All of the white, grand, and impressive stone tombs reminded me of when Christ warned us of becoming saintly just in appearance, but inwardly sinful.

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs,which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanness." (Matthew 23:27 ESV) 

Jesus is not really talking about tombs, as if creating a resting place for the body was a bad thing. Even making the tomb white and gleaming is not wrong but His meaning is metaphorical. We as Christians are not to become hypocrites, saying we follow the Lord with our outward appearance, but not believing it or embracing it within ourselves. This excerpt is one of a few of Jesus' criticisms of those that do good things for the crowd (or just to be noticed) but not for the glory of God.

The Weird

We today get many practices and beliefs about the dead from our predecessors in the Ancient world. Similar to a modern practice, the Ancient Romans would often cremate the body after an elaborate cleansing ritual and a long funeral procession. They would even hire professional mourners, women who would wail and scream, to properly honor the dead loved one. The body would have a coin placed in or on the mouth in order to pay 'Charon' the ferryman of the River Styx. He would take the dead person's soul to the underworld to rest for eternity.

Frederica's epitaph reads, "Anima Allegra" Italian for "Cheerful Soul"

Many of our Christian burial practices and beliefs have changed little from a thousand year ago. There are catacombs, tunnels in the ground for the disposal of the dead, dug by subsequent generations of Greeks, Romans, and Christians. It seems that during the early modern period, Romans started to like burial better than cremation on the basis that it helps loved ones to reach closure when looking at the corpse rather than at "silent ash". It seems that the beliefs had shifted to humans needing their bodies after death, similar to the Egyptian beliefs of the afterlife. Indeed, Dante Alighieri, a Christian poet in the 14th century, writes his divine comedy with very real consequences for the bodies of those who have died. Just read more than a couple Cantos of his "Inferno" and you will cringe at the thought of ever living a life outside of God's grace and forgiveness. The Egyptian practice of encasing the body in a sarcophagus traveled throughout the ancient world and became popular while catacombs and stand alone mausoleums were constructed. Through that practice, we get the modern idea of a coffin. With this, many cultures gave offerings or placed valuables with the deceased to use in the afterlife. One notable instance is with the Vikings. Though they burned the King at sea in a boat, he took A LOT with him! Another culture that placed offerings/valuables with the dead is once again the Egyptians. That is how we all know the name of a 20-something year old minor King of Egypt in the New Kingdom period. In case you wonder who that is, it is of course Pharaoh Tutankhamen. The idea that the dead "deserved" to be buried with some of their personal possessions comes from these ancient cultures. It is almost a superstitious idea that the dead will need the things they had when they lived. 

Allegheny Cemetery Monument

We know, as Christians, that the need for the body after death is nonexistent. But that does not stop the practice of some long-held traditions and beliefs when it comes to caring for the dead. In the same way the ancient peoples would sing stories about the heroes and ancestors of their tribe, so we keep our dead in special/reverent places that we can visit and reminisce about their lives. It is the way we honor the dead and acknowledge their life as one life that is cherished. It highlights our culture's reverence for life and the value of the human being that is no longer here.

I believe that the monuments to the dead are quite hauntingly beautiful. It is for those reasons that we take the care to immortalize our dead.

Notice the Egyptian Obelisk on the right.

If you have the misfortune of having a cherished loved one pass away, you can take comfort that they will be a part of burial traditions spanning centuries. From the Roman funeral procession, to the Egyptian sarcophagus, and superstition of needing your possessions for the afterlife, your loved one will be in grand company.

~ Buzz