Cemeteries tell a story about a community. Cemeteries tell stories of loss and remembrance. A family plot will have one grand stone with the name of the family and maybe a bit of information and be surrounded smaller stones surrounding it for individual names and dates. These families wanted to gather in death next to each other. Here they will spend the rest of time. Here they stand, telling us that once a family desired to spend the rest of time together gathered under these stones. Some have monuments to great men and women of the community. They also let us know that they were a family of some means if they had a large stone carved. Some communities place a central monument honoring local soldiers who have died in war. Often you will see names etched in stone and perhaps dates or the war in which they died. Here an American community might gather on Memorial Day to recall the sacrifice of her fallen children. Some cemeteries have a section devoted to children who did not live long on the earth. Some cemeteries might have a section devoted to those who no one knows or with no resources for their final resting place. Cemeteries tell the story of a community.
What stories are told in green or natural cemeteries? Gravestones are not as grand or opulent. In some green cemeteries, stone markers are not allowed (although are permitted by the Green Burial Council as long as they do not impede the veiwshed). Green cemeteries tell a beautiful story. The very land becomes a monument of love and devotion to future generations. People who choose green burial give their bodies to mark the land as separate, as sacred. The very earth is preserved through their burial. The message they give to us is that this land is forever separate. Green cemeteries tell us that the land is forever claimed by those whose bodies lie there as guardians. Those who choose a green burial say to us, “ This land is for future generations to enjoy. Come visit this land and remember that we have given our bodies so that this land will forever be held unspoiled because we have chosen this for our grave. Come and enjoy. Find peace and remember beauty.”
What stories are told in green or natural cemeteries? Gravestones are not as grand or opulent. In some green cemeteries, stone markers are not allowed (although are permitted by the Green Burial Council as long as they do not impede the veiwshed). Green cemeteries tell a beautiful story. The very land becomes a monument of love and devotion to future generations. People who choose green burial give their bodies to mark the land as separate, as sacred. The very earth is preserved through their burial. The message they give to us is that this land is forever separate. Green cemeteries tell us that the land is forever claimed by those whose bodies lie there as guardians. Those who choose a green burial say to us, “ This land is for future generations to enjoy. Come visit this land and remember that we have given our bodies so that this land will forever be held unspoiled because we have chosen this for our grave. Come and enjoy. Find peace and remember beauty.”
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