Posted in Uncategorized, tagged cleveland, east cleveland, first presbyterian church cemetery, grave art, nelaview cemetery, ohio, sculpture, symbolism, urn, willow on October 9, 2011|
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The weeping willow is one of my favorite funerary symbols, and the cemetery at the former First Presbyterian Church in East Cleveland is full of them. As I said when we looked at this symbol before, the tree has an association not only with grief, but with immortality in many cultures.

Most of the art with willow trees in this churchyard also features urns. Urns of course can be used to hold ashes, as the Greeks used them, but they also came to be associated with memorializing the deceased even in a 19th century American culture that rarely practiced cremation.


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