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 Somewhere other than a cemetery, tagged cenotaph, cenotaphs, soldier, statues, symbolism, veteran, vietnam, vietnam war on October 3, 2013| 1 Comment »
When you mention the Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial in Washington, D.C., most people think of the Wall. There was a lot of controversy concerning that memorial, so let me state that while I’m not showing it here, it is not because I dislike it. The Wall is powerful. But I’ve always been drawn to more literal depictions of things, rather than abstracts, so I wanted to take a moment to look at a second portion of the memorial – the statues of the three solders that stand near the etched roll of names.
Posted in Dead Men Do Tell Tales, tagged cleveland, epitaphs, grave art, lake view cemetery, lamb, ohio, symbolism on September 11, 2013| 1 Comment »
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, Crosses, tagged celtic crosses, county meath, cross, Crosses, grave art sculpture, hill of tara, ireland, symbolism on April 26, 2013| 2 Comments »
Posted in Cemetery Sculpture, Crosses, tagged celtic crosses, county meath, cross, Crosses, grave art, hill of tara, ireland, sculpture, symbolism on April 19, 2013| Leave a Comment »
On this trip to Ireland, I got to revisit the little cemetery at the visitor center on the Hill of Tara.
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 Somewhere other than a cemetery, tagged bunratty, ireland, jewelry, monument, sculpture, symbolism, torc on March 30, 2013| Leave a Comment »
When you read this, I will be starting out on my Ireland adventure. As some of you remember from reading this blog, I went to Ireland four years ago this January and brought back a wealth of photographs. I’ve been looking through those in preparation for my second trip.
While not a funerary memorial, this giant torc in Bunratty, Ireland, certainly qualifies as a monument and a tribute to the peoples who lived on the land in ages past, as the plaque indicates the artist was inspired by ancient artifacts and structures.
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A Grave Concern 