Posted in Symbolism, tagged mechanicsburg, mourners, pennsylvania, silver spring meeting house, silver spring presbyterian church, symbolism, urn, weeping willow on October 27, 2016| Leave a Comment »
I’m not lucky enough to see many tombstones with this particular combination of symbols, but those I have seen have all been gorgeous. A woman mourns at a tomb topped with an urn under the shade of a weeping willow tree, a representation of the grief felt by the bereft loved ones of the deceased.
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Posted in Cemetery Sculpture, Symbolism, tagged mechanicsburg, pennsylvania, silver spring meeting house, silver spring presbyterian church, sun, sunshine, symbolism, symbols on October 21, 2016| Leave a Comment »
I’m fairly certain that the symbol on top of this stone is a sunrise, and if so, it’s hard to imagine a more fitting representation of the family’s faith.
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Our society perceives sun and sunshine as almost overwhelmingly positive. It is a powerful symbol of belief in an afterlife of hope and comfort.
Posted in Cemetery Sculpture, Symbolism, tagged harrisburg, harrisburg cemetery, hourglass, pennsylvania, sculpture, symbolism, symbols, winged hourglass, wings on October 8, 2016| Leave a Comment »
The winged hourglass is a symbol of mortality, but it is a much rarer find than a weeping willow or an urn. Imagine my delight when I found multiple examples in the Olmstead family plot in Harrisburg Cemetery.
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A winged hourglass adorns each step down to the family plot.
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Posted in Cemetery Sculpture, Symbolism, Uncategorized, tagged harrisburg, harrisburg cemetery, pennsylvania, sculpture, weeping willow, willow on October 4, 2016| Leave a Comment »
Harrisburg Cemetery has a lot of lovely old funerary art, and willow trees are a personal favorite of mine.
I’m guessing based on proximity to another monument that the surname on this one is Haehlen as well. It’s a slightly different style of willow than I’ve posted in the past.
Posted in Cemetery Sculpture, Symbolism, tagged cleveland, cross, lake view cemetery, occupation, ohio, pilgrimage, roman cross, scallop shell, sculpture, st. james, way of st. james on September 2, 2013| Leave a Comment »
The shell on this tombstone in Lake View Cemetery intrigues me. A shell like this, specifically a scallop shell, is the pilgrimage symbol for Santiago de Compostela in Spain, where there is a shrine to the apostle St. James the Greater. The shrine holds bones that are reputed to be those of the saint, also the patron saint of Spain, and has been a pilgrimage site for Christians since the 9th century. Medieval pilgrims would wear a shell as a symbol of their journey, and such scallop shells are still available today. Did Irvin make this journey and treasure it in such a way that a representation of it was to be on his grave marker?
Posted in Cemetery Sculpture, Symbolism, tagged bleeding, blood, blood droplets, donegal, donegal abbey, grave art, ireland, sacred heart, sculpture, symbolism on May 16, 2013| 1 Comment »
When I wrote about the Sacred Heart previously, I mentioned that sometimes the heart would have blood droplets as if it was in the act of bleeding. This heart shows that feature very clearly.
Posted in Cemetery Sculpture, Symbolism, tagged county meath, grave art, heart, hill of tara, ireland, sacred heart, sacred heart of jesus christ, sculpture, symbolism on April 18, 2013| 1 Comment »
The symbol on this tombstone is the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ – a flaming heart within a crown of thorns and topped with a cross. Some representations also include a halo of divine light, blood drops, or a lance wound like the one that Christ received in his side during the crucifixion. There is an associated Roman Catholic devotion.
Posted in Cemetery Sculpture, Symbolism, tagged cleveland, grave art, lake view cemetery, ohio, rosary, sculpture, symbolism on February 12, 2013| 1 Comment »
In my other life, I am a member of the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA), and one of my particular areas of interest is prayer beads. The rosary wasn’t standardized until the 1560s, but there were various forms of prayer beads used in Christian Europe for the previous few hundred years, and the rosary became the best known one and most associated with Roman Catholicism.
Posted in Cemetery Sculpture, Symbolism, tagged cross, Crosses, department of veterans affairs, government marker, lake view cemetery, star of david, symbolism, veteran on January 28, 2013| 1 Comment »
In a tiny little veterans section of Lake View Cemetery, I found a more diverse selection of the emblems of belief available for government headstones for veterans. All the available emblems are listed here.
The most common one that I see is described simply as a Christian Cross.
Sgt. Eddie Fields’ stone has the symbol for the United Methodist Church.
The Roberts selected the emblem for the Unitarian Church/Unitarian Universalist Association.
The emblem for the United Church of Christ tops Sgt. Yancey’s stone.
Cpl. Mack Crosby has the Episcopal Cross.
The Didios’ stone has a symbol designated as representing “Christian Church.”
The Nesbitts have a Star of David, representative of Judaism.
Posted in Cemetery Sculpture, Symbolism, tagged cincinnati, epitaphs, grave art, kirtland, kirtland historic north cemetery, ohio, sculpture, spring grove cemetery, star on December 22, 2012| Leave a Comment »
I find a lot of little five-pointed stars on cemetery monuments. Based on a little bit of research, five-pointed stars often are supposed to symbolize Christ, specifically the five wounds of Christ from the crucifixion.
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A Grave Concern 