Merry Cemetery

It is famous for its brightly coloured tombstones with naïve paintings describing, in an original and poetic manner, the people who are buried there in addition to scenes from their lives.

[1] The unusual feature of this cemetery is that it diverges from the prevalent belief, culturally shared within European societies, that views death as something indelibly solemn.

The inscription on his tombstone cross says: De cu tînăr copilaș Io am fost Stan Ion Pătraș Să mă ascultaț oameni buni Ce voi spune nu-s minciuni Cîte zile am trăit Rău la nime n-am dorit Dar bine cît-am putut Orișicine mia cerut Vai săraca lumea mea Că greu am trăit în ea Since I was a little boy I was known as Stan Ion Pătraş Listen to me, good people There are no lies in what I am going to say All along my life I meant no harm to anyone But did good as much as I could To anyone who asked Oh, my poor World Because It was hard living in it The cemetery is noted for featuring a large number of humorous epitaphs that generally poke fun at the interred person in a light-hearted way or reference a general trope about family relations.

The following is an example of an epitaph wrote by a man in honour of his mother-in-law: Sub această cruce grea Zace biata soacră-mea Trei zile de mai trăia Zăceam eu și cetea ea.

Voi care treceți pă aici Incercați să n-o treziți Că acasă dacă vine Iarăi cu gura pă mine Da așa eu m-oi purta Că-napoi n-a înturna Stai aicea dragă soacră-mea Under this heavy cross Lies my poor mother-in-law Three more days should she have lived I would lie, and she would read (this cross).