While a lot of headstones made today may not vary a lot in size and shape, if you take a walk through any cemetery with older history you are bound to see a wider variety of shapes, sizes, designs, and even materials. One of my personal favourite things to research when it comes to cemeteries and headstone is the various meanings and intentions behind certain styles. A lot can learned from the symbols and shapes and give insight into the deceased person, the time in history in which they lived, and funerary and burial traditions at that time.
Urns on headstones are said to represent the 'death of the flesh'. This points toward the deceased person being religious in some fashion, as this would mean that though the body is dead, the soul lives on. I see a lot of these beautiful, tall headstones with urns on top - most of them home to sprawling lychans because of the creases and crevasses in the urn and the carved cloth covering.
This shape of stone is all too familiar to see when in Canadian cemeteries. This size/shape/colour of stone indicates, even from far away, that this is the headstone of a member of the Canadian Armed Forces, such as soliders from WW1 and WW2. I have personally only seen this stone with one of two symbols carved into it: one a cross (shown above), and the other a maple leaf (shown below). Many times you may also see these stones placed beside a headstone with an inscription that reads the same name. Some individuals have only the armed forces memorial headstone, while other families choose to give the deceased a personalized or family headstone in addition. These headstones typically show the name, ranking, and unit in which the individual served in. One common abbreviation you might come across is 'C.E.F' which stands for Canadian Expeditionary Force and is found on the headstones of those who served in World War One.
Complete columns such as the ones seen on this headstone are said to represent a full life, as opposed to a life cut short. This could also perhaps mean that person lived a full life regardless of the age that they died? Just food for thought. Regardless, a column or columns shown on a headstone are representative of the person's life in some way. I have also seen headstones with 3-D columns carved into it so that they stand out and look to be holding up part of the headstone.
Scrolls carved into headstones are most often a symbolic reference to the bible. More specificly they may be in reference to the scriptures of the bible, which were historically written on parchment scrolls. It is also possible that it is a stylistic choice and is just meant to look beautiful. Could it be possible that the scroll represents the last document or testament of the person's life? It goes to show that there may be many interpretations of the symbols and carving styles of headstones.
A covered column, made to look like a cloth is covering the top of a headstone is meant to represent the traditional covering of a coffin in funerary traditions. This covering was called a 'pall' - giving light to where the term 'pall-bearer' comes from. You will typically see this on older headstones and you may also find the pall carving shown to be covering an urn, such as in the first photo in this post!
I know I have covered this topic in the past, but there are so many different symbols and styles that I couldn't nearly cover them all in one go! So here are some photos from recent cemetery visits and a look at the symbolism that can be found within.
1. Urns
2. Canadian Armed Forces
3. Columns
4. Scrolls
5. Covered Column
Thanks for reading and I hope you may have learned something new ððŠĶð
Research credits to:
Family tree magazine.com