The Secret Cemetery

by Doris Francis, Georgina Neophytu, Leonie Kellaher, et al.

Book Overview

Burial sites have long been recognized as a way to understand past civilizations. Yet, the meanings of our present day cemeteries have been virtually ignored, even though they reveal much about our... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1859735975
• ISBN13: 9781859735978
• Release Date: July 2020
• Publisher: Routledge
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 1.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.8" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

Fills a much needed gap in cemetery studies

The Secret Cemetery by Doris Francis, Leonie Kellaher, and Georgina Neophytou fills a fairly obvious gap in the study of cemeteries. Most studies focus on the historic aspects of the cemetery - individual histories, genealogy, symbolism, and funerary architecture - but have virtually ignored the reason cemeteries exist in the first place. Never before has such a sweeping and thorough study been done to examine how contemporary mourners actually use the cemetery. The authors have employed a social anthropology approach to their research, which has resulted in a fascinating modern look at cemeteries in Western society. The authors first obtained permission from cemetery owners to conduct research. Their field study was quite extensive and lasted several years. They would interview willing participants for as long as they wished to talk, and were even invited to a few homes to continue the discussion. The authors also attempted to make contact via mailed questionnaires to those living in the vicinity of the cemeteries, to examine their attitudes toward the cemetery. Copies of research forms and questionnaires are included as appendices. I was fascinated to learn how significant the garden is to English society. Often, many of the flowers and plants growing at a gravesite have been transplanted from the deceased's own garden. Some plants were even raised as cuttings from family heirlooms, given to newlywed couples or new parents. Some study participants had grown plants for the cemetery garden from seeds themselves, which they viewed as a more personal and powerful tribute to the departed. Gardening is a national pastime in England that carries over to the cemetery. While the focus of the book was to study the behavior of cemetery visitors, the authors also examine funerary rituals of some of England's ethnic groups. There were extensive sections on the traditions of the Orthodox Jewish and Greek Cypriot communities, which have very specific funerary traditions that greatly influence the appearance of their respective cemeteries. For example, the Jewish faith does not encourage regular visits to the cemetery, which controls how the Jewish cemetery is used. From the photographs provided, the typical English Jewish cemetery is uniform, stark, and rarely personalized, creating a true "space apart" from the living. The Greeks in the study, however, regularly visit to tend to extensive gardens. Although they frequent the cemetery, tradition and superstition dictate cemetery behavior. For example, in one interview the authors learned that Greeks typically keep a separate set of gardening tools exclusively for use in the cemetery garden that never enter the house. Another visitor recounted a tale of a fight that broke out at her home after a cemetery visit on a rainy, muddy day. Someone had not thoroughly wiped the cemetery dirt off their shoes, and had tracked it into the house. This was seen as an extremely bad omen, inviting death into the home of t