Death-the Great Equalizer

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/7936494.stm
The comment about John Calvin gave me a chuckle,talk about spinning in your grave!

Tombstone Tuesday

The war to end all wars- we wish. St. Joseph Cemetery,Sacramento CA.

An Upturned Cemetery

From The Santa Cruz Daily Surf Sept. 26,1885 "In digging the trenches for the foundation of the new Catholic Church on Mission Hill, a large number of bodies were unearthed.The bones of many were in a excellent state of preservation.Coffins were found in several instances buried one above the other, the upper one being not more than 1 and a half or two feet below the surface. One of the skulls was about three-eighths of a inch in thickness. In the end of one of the trenches a large pile of bones was found,as though a great many bodies had been buried a t the same time. The results of further excavations will be watched with interest."
Remember not just Indians and Spaniards were buried here.Many of the American pioneer family's of the area were laid to rest in this cemetery as well.California had only been a state 35 years but these people were already forgotten and in the way.One has to wonder at the lack of over site by the church in this matter.They seem curiously absent,other than the mention previously of the Father calling for removal of family at the Sunday service, no mention in any of the articles I have read about the church overseeing or involved in the relocation of the people who first celebrated the Catholic faith here.I have one more article to share about this that says volumes about what happened here.

Our cemetery's

I would like to provide links to these blog posts.I think they both go a long why in explaining some of why people feel so disconnected from cemetery's today.I feel the sentiments in these posts are echoed in the huge growth of the holiday of Dia de los Muretos.People feel a need to be connected to their loved ones that have died regardless of their religious beliefs or ethnic customs.We as a society are looking for new ways to deal with the loss of loved ones and the way the business of death is handled now is not fulfilling our needs.Please read Joshua Inayat's blog post on his site Cemetery Seeker on the Camp Polk cemetery, http://cemeteryseeker.com/?p=357
and Dead Man Talking over on Blogging a Dead Horse,were he talks about how the modern funeral business has set up their own demise,http://bloggingadeadhorse-dmt.blogspot.com/2009/06/little-history.htm