April A to Z Challenge 2020: It’s that time of year! Every April, bloggers around the world make posts for each letter of the alphabet. It’s a lot of fun and a great way to make friend online. Here’s my post for today:
[The following is an adapted excerpt from my book, Understanding Cemetery Symbols. I hope you enjoy it! Also, full disclosure: that’s an Amazon affiliate link. If you buy stuff after clicking it, I make a few pennies at no additional cost to you.]
Why are there so many Benches in Historic Cemeteries?
Next time you visit a burial ground, look around: if seating is available, it will be in the form of benches, not chairs. Yes, you may see the occasional chair, but benches are much more common. Why is that?
Ancient Greek Tradition
The use of benches in cemeteries stretches all the way back to ancient Greece. After erecting a table stone to place food and wine on during gravesite festivities, ancient Greeks often built a type of stone bench called an exedra. This gave families a place to sit during gravesite visits.
Greek Revival Benches
From the Victorian Era through the 1920s, curved benches and Greek-revival style monuments were in vogue. The first two photos in this post are examples of this. In ancient Greece, exedrae were found in public parks and gymnasiums as well as cemeteries. They were often curved, as you can see.
Memorial Benches Remain Popular
To this day, benches in gardens and public parks are still used to memorialize people, even if it’s a traditional wooden bench with a small engraved plaque. Isn’t it interesting that an ancient Greek tradition has followed us all the way to the present day? In fact, if you Google “memorial benches,” you will see that benches are still quite popular.
Benches are for sitting – but use caution!
At the risk of sounding like Captain Obvious, I will also point out that cemetery benches are meant to be sat upon. However, you need to be extremely cautious. Shifting ground can make stone benches unstable. Use your common sense!
Learn more at my Historic Cemetery Podcast & Facebook Page:
Do you have questions about symbols you’ve seen on headstones? Drop by Exploring Historic Cemeteries on Facebook and let me know! And tune in to my 30-minute historic cemetery podcast on the first Tuesday of each month: Tombstone Tuesday with Tui Snider.
READ MY BOOK: If you enjoy historic cemeteries and want to learn more, check out my book: Understanding Cemetery Symbols. It’s available on Amazon in paperback and ebook form.
Grab a FREE copy of my book:
Tui Snider is an author, speaker, and photographer who specializes in North Texas travel, cemetery symbols, and haunted lore. As she puts it, “I used to write fiction – but then, I moved to Texas!”
Snider’s best-selling books include Paranormal Texas , Understanding Cemetery Symbols, and 100 Things to Do in Dallas - Fort Worth Before You Die.
Snider has several more books in progress, and enjoys connecting with writers and readers all over the globe through social media, her newsletter and her website: TuiSnider.com.
Good to see you doing the Challenge again! :) And now I’m wondering if Hungarian cemeteries have the type of commemorative benches too… ours doesn’t. I like the idea of sitting and remembering the dead.
I’ve yet to visit any cemeteries in Hungary, but if you find anything interesting, please pass it along!
Really. There are many traditions and rituals that we still perform that go further back than we ever imagined.
@JazzFeathers
The Old Shelter – Living the Twenties
Oh, you’re absolutely right! History touches us in more ways than we realize.