Skip to content

Category: Cemeteries & Symbolism

Understanding Cemetery Symbols: Doves can mean many things! #cemetery #history #GraveHour

Understanding Cemetery Symbols by Tui Snider [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 my book after clicking it, I make a few pennies at no additional cost to you.] What do Doves symbolize? DOVES: In general, when you see dove depicted on headstones in historic cemeteries, they represent innocence, peace, and/ or the Holy Spirit. The meaning of a particular dove varies slightly, however, depending on what it is doing: DOVE FLYING UPWARDS: Stands for the soul’s ascent to Heaven. DOVE FLYING DOWNWARDS:…

Understanding Cemetery Symbols: Coins on Graves: Truth vs Urban Legend #cemetery #history #GraveHour

Understanding Cemetery Symbols by Tui Snider [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 my book after clicking it, I make a few pennies at no additional cost to you.] Coins on Graves? The practice of leaving coins with the deceased dates back to the ancient Greeks, who believed the rivers Styx and Acheron separated the living from the dead. A ferry trip was required to cross these waters, otherwise the soul of the deceased would be forced to wander the…

Understanding Cemetery Symbols: Birth of the Garden Cemetery #cemetery #history #GraveHour

Understanding Cemetery Symbols by Tui Snider [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 my book after clicking it, I make a few pennies at no additional cost to you.] Bodies spilling into the streets -yikes! From the time of the Pilgrims through the 1700’s, American city dwellers were buried in churchyards. Unfortunately, as our cities grew in population, these urban burial grounds became overcrowded. This was especially troublesome during epidemics, when city graveyards were hastily filled with new bodies. From…

Understanding Cemetery Symbols: Alpha and Omega #cemetery #history #GraveHour

Understanding Cemetery Symbols by Tui Snider [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 my book after clicking it, I make a few pennies at no additional cost to you.] What do Alpha and Omega look like? Alpha is the first letter of the Greek alphabet, and Omega is the last. Since Alpha looks like an A and the Greek letter Zeta looks like a Z, people often assume that Zeta is the last letter in their alphabet. Well, surprise! It’s…

Full list of April A to Z posts for “Understanding Cemetery Symbols” #cemetery #history #GraveHour

April A to Z: “Understanding Cemetery Symbols” by Tui Snider   Master List of my 2018 April A to Z blog posts: I’m taking part in the annual April A to Z Blog Challenge for the sixth year in a row! This time, I’m sharing adapted excerpts from my latest book, Understanding Cemetery Symbols. I hope you enjoy it! Each day, I’ll add a link for that day’s featured post to the list below. [Also, full disclosure: that’s an Amazon affiliate link. If you buy my book after clicking it, I make a few pennies at no additional cost to you.] A…

Historic Cemeteries: Who is the AMBER Alert named after? #cemetery #history #GraveHour

The tragic tale of Amber Hagerman Have you ever wondered why news bulletins for missing children are called “Amber Alerts”? It’s a sad-but-true tale: In 1996, a little girl named Amber Hagerman disappeared while out riding bikes with her brother in Arlington, Texas. Even though her kidnapping was immediately reported to the police, the case had a tragic end. Amber’s dead body was discovered four days after her abduction, lying in a creek bed. Her neck had been slit. AMBER Alerts named after a kidnapped little girl Since evidence suggests Amber’s abductor kept her alive for at least two days, her relatives and concerned citizens brainstormed…