In Loving Memory
Ruth Macdonald 1913-1990 Rest In Peace |
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Life's Gifts is Memories
George R. Macdonald 1935-1998 |
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Holy Trinity Anglican Cemetery, Sturgeon Valley, R.M. of Shellbrook No. 493, SK, CAN.
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Tombstone Tuesday: MACDONALD, Ruth and George
Missed last weeks meme but it sort of worked out in the end. Presenting Ruth and George's ash burial at the foot of her grave. (PS. I see toes-ies!)
Holy Trinity Anglican Cemetery, Sturgeon Valley, R.M. of Shellbrook No. 493, SK, CAN.
Holy Trinity Anglican Cemetery, Sturgeon Valley, R.M. of Shellbrook No. 493, SK, CAN.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Tombstone Tuesday: CARD
Holy Trinity Anglican Cemetery, Sturgeon Valley, R.M. of Shellbrook No. 493, SK, CAN.
Monday, October 11, 2010
Special: Levanto, Italy
Happy Thanksgiving to Canada and this is one of the many things in my life that I am thankful for:
Italy is fascinating country with a wealth of history and where there is history, there is the history of where and how the people interred their dead. The most famous methods of interment in Italy that may spring to mind are the underground burial grounds of the early Christians, the Roman burials and crypts along roadways into their cities, or the Etruscan cities of the dead.
And while I had the wonderful opportunity to visit a catacomb and the Capuchin friars in their crypt located under Santa Maria della Concezione the one place I wish I had been able to spend a great deal more time at is the cemetery of my aunt-in-law's hometown of Levanto.
Levanto is in the province of La Spezia in the Italian region Liguria, located about 60 km southeast of Genoa and about 20 km northwest of La Spezia. The town is on the coast at the end of a valley, thickly wooded with olive and pine trees which forms part of the coastal district known as the Comunità Montana della Riviera Spezzina, and part of its territory is included in the Cinque Terre National Park.
Our intention was to attend mass in the church above the cemetery, Cheisa dell Annunziata, so our tour through with my aunt, uncle, mother, a first cousin, and his first cousin, was much too brief for my tastes but I was introduced to interred members my aunt's family and had the basics of the cemetery's operations explained. After mass I disappeared back into the cemetery and my uncle and mother had to hunt me down again but I learned more from my uncle so I am quite pleased by my disappearing act.
Land is a premium in Italy so the primary interment method is stacked crypt interment with the option of a single or double niche, secondly is ground burial, and third is interment in family mausoleums. Resting places in Italian graveyards are not in perpetuity as they are in North America but rentals which pays for maintenance and electricity. Yes, you heard me, they are still paying electrical bills.
The individual interred leases the space for a period of time and then responsibility for payment falls to a family member. If payment is no longer being received, which happens especially when a family linage dies out, the individual interred is removed and the bones deposited elsewhere, the crypt cleaned, and the space rented out again.
This means that cemeteries in Italy while they do not have the maintenance and financial problems that plagues so many North American burial grounds, they do not become places where markers collect throughout the ages, and as people are interred where there is space family groupings do not develop like they do in rural cemeteries. And while the cemeteries are very old, one does not usually find burials of the same antiquity.
While crypt interment dominates, ground burial also exists as an option and they have a very lovely and fascinating markers for ground burials.
Mausoleums crowd into the space and while I am understand that even that space is 'rented' I am unsure (as is my uncle) what happens if a family linage with a mausoleum dies out and stops paying rent. After all, it is a little easier to empty out a crypt then remove one of these works of art:
My only regret is that I did not make more time to spend in the cemetery but I am very thankful for the exquisite view of an Italian graveyard.
Italy is fascinating country with a wealth of history and where there is history, there is the history of where and how the people interred their dead. The most famous methods of interment in Italy that may spring to mind are the underground burial grounds of the early Christians, the Roman burials and crypts along roadways into their cities, or the Etruscan cities of the dead.
And while I had the wonderful opportunity to visit a catacomb and the Capuchin friars in their crypt located under Santa Maria della Concezione the one place I wish I had been able to spend a great deal more time at is the cemetery of my aunt-in-law's hometown of Levanto.
Levanto is in the province of La Spezia in the Italian region Liguria, located about 60 km southeast of Genoa and about 20 km northwest of La Spezia. The town is on the coast at the end of a valley, thickly wooded with olive and pine trees which forms part of the coastal district known as the Comunità Montana della Riviera Spezzina, and part of its territory is included in the Cinque Terre National Park.
Our intention was to attend mass in the church above the cemetery, Cheisa dell Annunziata, so our tour through with my aunt, uncle, mother, a first cousin, and his first cousin, was much too brief for my tastes but I was introduced to interred members my aunt's family and had the basics of the cemetery's operations explained. After mass I disappeared back into the cemetery and my uncle and mother had to hunt me down again but I learned more from my uncle so I am quite pleased by my disappearing act.
Land is a premium in Italy so the primary interment method is stacked crypt interment with the option of a single or double niche, secondly is ground burial, and third is interment in family mausoleums. Resting places in Italian graveyards are not in perpetuity as they are in North America but rentals which pays for maintenance and electricity. Yes, you heard me, they are still paying electrical bills.
The individual interred leases the space for a period of time and then responsibility for payment falls to a family member. If payment is no longer being received, which happens especially when a family linage dies out, the individual interred is removed and the bones deposited elsewhere, the crypt cleaned, and the space rented out again.
This means that cemeteries in Italy while they do not have the maintenance and financial problems that plagues so many North American burial grounds, they do not become places where markers collect throughout the ages, and as people are interred where there is space family groupings do not develop like they do in rural cemeteries. And while the cemeteries are very old, one does not usually find burials of the same antiquity.
While crypt interment dominates, ground burial also exists as an option and they have a very lovely and fascinating markers for ground burials.
Mausoleums crowd into the space and while I am understand that even that space is 'rented' I am unsure (as is my uncle) what happens if a family linage with a mausoleum dies out and stops paying rent. After all, it is a little easier to empty out a crypt then remove one of these works of art:
My only regret is that I did not make more time to spend in the cemetery but I am very thankful for the exquisite view of an Italian graveyard.
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Tombstone Tuesday: LOFTHOUSE, Ruth
Died on June 8, 1921
Aged 63 Yrs.
At rest
Holy Trinity Anglican Cemetery, Sturgeon Valley, R.M. of Shellbrook No. 493, SK, CAN.
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