Cemeteries are the resting place of our dead, but they are also places of abundant life. Set apart from the urgent demands of the everyday, human burial grounds are places where the more-than-human community thrives. Moss and lichen colonise headstones, birds nest in quiet hedges, weeds and wildflowers spread across long-forgotten graves.
As cemetery trees draw nutrients from the soil, they enfold the departed within their bark and branches. They stand as living memorials to life’s persistence.
As Samhain approaches, we remember those whose bodies have returned to the earth. But walking in a cemetery, we are reminded that death is not the end, but a beginning.
I share the thought with Dru. We should expose ourselves to death. Today’s culture tells us death is taboo.
And if, by any chance, you happen to be in Poland tomorrow, for All Saints Day, visit a cemetery after dark. You will not regret, and you will never forget the spectacle of light, presence and vigil.
Does not matter if you are christian. You must go.
I live next door to a cemetary, and have gravitated towards graveyards since childhood. I'll definitely go for a wander in a cemetary during Samhain season! Thanks, Dru