{"id":10904,"date":"2021-11-19T10:30:06","date_gmt":"2021-11-19T16:30:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/?p=10904"},"modified":"2021-11-19T10:19:52","modified_gmt":"2021-11-19T16:19:52","slug":"cities-of-the-dead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/2021\/11\/19\/cities-of-the-dead\/","title":{"rendered":"Cities Of The Dead"},"content":{"rendered":"
By Madelaine B. Landry<\/strong><\/i><\/p>\n \u201cWhat could you possibly hope to find in a cemetery?\u201d The women said. \u201cThe dead tell no secrets and the living seldom come to visit them.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n —-<\/i> Felix Alexander, The Last Valentine<\/i><\/p>\n Every culture and religion has its beliefs and norms \u2014 guidelines for how its adherents reflect upon life and death, past and future. Most demonstrate very detailed traditions about how the deceased are to be treated with respect and reverence. Rituals to celebrate lives after death are common, especially for the comfort they bring to those left behind. Many religions seek to reduce the sting of death with expressions of hope for another life beyond this earthly one.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Bodies are lovingly prepared for this journey before being cremated, burned on pyres, released to the sea or buried. Bodies or ashes are placed into some sort of container, in mounds or into a mausoleum. The memorials we build are how we let our loved ones \u201clive on\u201d into the future.<\/p>\n Necrogeography, the cultural study of funeral and burial practices, focuses on how various cultures exhibit their respect for not only their dead, but also for the graves in which their remains lie. American cemeteries, where multiple graves share common ground, have evolved through the centuries from colonial times to the present. From small family plots to church yards to town commons to memorial gardens, they are considered sacred places \u2014 cities of the dead. The living value them as places that contain the final resting sites of loved ones. People gather there to converse, pray and remember.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Others value the historic or family information that can be gleaned from the tombstones. Visiting graves is a tradition that continues generation after generation, long after those who are interred have ceased to exist in living memory.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The evolution of cemeteries has a complex and fascinating history.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Picture the elaborate entrance gates to late 19th and early 20th century cemeteries. They were ornate iron structures, designed to place a distinct boundary that separates the world of the living from the realm of the spirits.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n A variety of emotions is experienced upon entry, ranging from curiosity, fright, grief, captivation or repulsion. Whoever is buried beyond those gates once walked this earthly realm. It is understood, on some level, that someday, we too will cease our walking and inhabit a space in such a place. Inscriptions are read. Weeping angels capture the imagination. Historic curiosity is whetted. Our own mortality is confronted.<\/p>\n \u201cBurial isn\u2019t just about celebrating the dead,\u201d noted Keith Eggener, an associate professor of American art and architecture at the University of Missouri, in his 2010 book Cemeteries. \u201cIt\u2019s about containing the dead \u2014keeping them out of the realm of the living, which is why cemeteries were removed from cities. We would like to go into their world [only] when it\u2019s convenient for us.\u201d<\/p>\n Eggener describes cemeteries as gridded cities for the dead, ornately designed with meandering pathways, horticultural displays and exquisite statuary. Once, they attracted Americans as more than just a place to meditate upon mortality or experience spirituality. He reminds his readers of a time in our history, before public parks, art museums or botanical gardens were developed, when cemeteries were also places for recreation. As odd as that sounds to the modern ear, visitors would often wind their way among the headstones for picnics, hunting, shooting and even carriage racing.<\/p>\n \u201cThese places became so popular that not only were guidebooks issued to guide visitors, but also all kinds of rules were posted,\u201d notes Eggener.<\/p>\n Louisiana, with its predominantly Catholic culture, has always been unique for the way its festive activities occurred within its cemeteries. In southern Louisiana, especially in New Orleans, a city built below sea level, above-ground tombs became a necessity because burials in relatively deep graves would result in flooding and the deterioration of the casket and remains. In North Louisiana, higher ground and deeper water tables meant below-ground burials were more common.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n With its French, Spanish, Irish, German and other European influences, religion defined many of the customs passed down throughout the state\u2019s geographic locations. Add to this mix Native American, African, Creole and Caribbean Island cultures, and it\u2019s easy to see why necrogeography becomes a mesmerizing, mysterious, and multifaceted study.<\/p>\n