Cemetery

A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite, graveyard, or a green space called a memorial park, is a place where the remains of many dead people are buried or otherwise interred.

The word cemetery (from Greek κοιμητήριον 'sleeping place')[1][2] implies that the land is specifically designated as a burial ground and originally applied to the Roman catacombs.

In most cultures those who were vastly rich, had important professions, were part of the nobility or were of any other high social status were usually buried in individual crypts inside or beneath the relevant place of worship with an indication of their name, date of death and other biographical data.

Mourners who could afford the work of a stonemason had a headstone engraved with a name, dates of birth and death and sometimes other biographical data, and set up over the place of burial.

Those who could not pay for a headstone at all usually had some religious symbol made from wood on the place of burial such as a Christian cross; however, this would quickly deteriorate under the rain or snow.

The small parish churchyards were rapidly becoming dangerously overcrowded, and decaying matter infiltrating the water supply was causing epidemics.

The issue became particularly acute after the cholera epidemic of 1831, which killed 52,000 people in Britain alone, putting unprecedented pressure on the country's burial capacity.

Concerns were also raised about the potential public health hazard arising from the inhalation of gases generated from human putrefaction under the then prevailing miasma theory of disease.

Legislative action was slow in coming, but in 1832 Parliament finally acknowledged the need for the establishment of large municipal cemeteries and encouraged their construction outside London.

[10] In the United States, rural cemeteries became recreational areas in a time before public parks, hosting events from casual picnics to hunts and carriage races.

As new burying grounds were established in urban areas to compensate, burial plots were often laid out in a grid to replace the chaotic appearance of the churchyard.

[18][19] Decomposition of the human body releases significant pathogenic bacteria, fungi, protozoa, and viruses which can cause disease and illness, and many urban cemeteries were located without consideration for local groundwater.

Multiple burials is a consequence of the limited size of the urban cemetery, which cannot easily expand due to adjacent building development.

It was conceived in 1711 by the British architect Sir Christopher Wren, who advocated the creation of landscaped burial grounds which featured well-planned walkways which gave extensive access to graves and planned plantings of trees, bushes, and flowers.

Commemorative plaques (usually standardised in terms of size and materials similar to lawn cemeteries) stand on these beams adjacent to each grave.

Many scientists have argued that natural burials would be a highly efficient use of land if designed specifically to save endangered habitats, ecosystems and species.

As with lawn cemeteries, the original expectation was that people would prefer the uncluttered simplicity of a wall of plaques, but the practice of leaving flowers is very entrenched.

During famines and outbreaks of epidemics huge numbers of people would die and many tribes faced difficulties in digging new graves because of the difficult weather.

[43][44] In Western countries, and many others,[quantify] visitors to graves commonly leave cut flowers, especially during major holidays and on birthdays or relevant anniversaries.

[47] Traditionally, cemetery management only involves the allocation of land for burial, the digging and filling of graves, and the maintenance of the grounds and landscaping.

However, increasingly, many people regard the resultant collection of individual headstones, concrete slabs and fences (some of which may be decayed or damaged) to be aesthetically unappealing, leading to new cemetery developments either standardising the shape or design of headstones or plaques, sometimes by providing a standard shaped marker as part of the service provided by the cemetery.

This is considered a valid method of resource management and provides income to keep older cemeteries viable, thus forestalling the need for permanent closure, which would result in a reduction of their work force.

On the other hand, some families do not forget the grave but constantly visit, leaving behind flowers, plants, and other decorative items that create their own maintenance problem.

Also, even when cemeteries have a limited tenure provision in place, funding shortages can force them to contemplate re-use earlier than the original arrangements provided for.

In principle it would seem easier to "re-use" such grave sites as there can be no claims of desecration, but often this is made complicated by the legal rights to be buried obtained by the pre-purchase, as any limited tenure clause only takes effect after there has been a burial.

In many cases, after a suitable period of time has elapsed, the headstones are removed and the now former cemetery is converted to a recreational park or construction site.

For instance, many cemeteries in the southeastern United States were relocated by the Tennessee Valley Authority from areas about to be flooded by dam construction.

[60] This has caused significant problems in the provision of transportation services to the southern half of Calgary, as the main southbound road connecting the south end of the city with downtown threads through a series of cemeteries founded in the 1930s.

[61][62] In many countries, cemeteries are places believed to hold both superstition and legend characteristics, being used, usually at night times, as an altar in supposed black magic ceremonies or similarly clandestine happenings, such as devil worshipping, grave-robbing (gold teeth and jewelry are preferred), thrilling sex encounters, or drug and alcohol abuse not related to the cemetery aura.

[63] In the Afro-Brazilian urban mythos (such as Umbanda), there is a character loosely related to cemeteries and its aura: the Zé Pilintra (in fact, Zé Pilintra is more related to bohemianism and night life than with cemeteries, where the reigning entity is Exu Caveira or Exu Cemitério, similar to Voodoo Baron Samedi).