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Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Lovely Lilies Lead the Way

Riegelsville Cemetery, Riegelsville, PA

Lilies are my favorite flower. I have about twenty different kinds in my flower beds, mostly the Oriental varieties. I can only enjoy them outside, though, as their strong scent causes my husband's throat to close up. Such a whiner. :) But lilies are probably best enjoyed "au natural," on their tall stems of simple slender green leaves, with their elegant elongated almond-shaped petals unfurled like the rays of the sun, and their pistils stretching up to the sky.

Lilies were a common symbol adorning 19th century grave stones, and continued to be popular into the early 20th century. They represented purity and innocence, and according to Douglas Keister in Stories in Stone, the lily was a metaphor for the deceased leaving behind earthly things and ascending into heaven...the plain green leaves on the stem terminating in a glorious bloom at the top. Keister also mentions the practicality of using lilies at 19th-century funerals, as their strong scent covered up the nasty odors of decaying bodies.

The Madonna Lily or Easter Lily was a particular favorite of stone masons who expertly wielded the pneumatic carving tools developed at the end of the 19th century; below, you'll see the incredible carvings they made bloom in hard, cold granite. Many times, though, the lily's pistils (where the pollen is stored) were not included in the carving, as their phallic significance did not jive well with the concept of purity and innocence. Ah, those Victorian prudes!

I really appreciate the intricate and detailed carvings of the later portrayals of lilies on grave stones. But I still have a preference for the marble and sandstone carvings of the earlier years, before the steam-powered tools, when a mason with a hammer and chisel powered by his own steam carving simple two-dimensional lilies. When I gently trace their petals with my fingers, I can almost smell that intoxicating fragrance.

Church Hill Cemetery, Martin's Creek, PA

Fairmount Cemetery, Thompson, PA

Hellertown Union Cemetery, Hellertown, PA

Holy Ghost Greek Catholic Cemetery, Jessup, PA

Nockamixon Union Cemetery, Nockamixon, PA

Odd Fellows' Cemetery, Philadelphia, PA

St. John the Evangelist Roman Catholic Cemetery, Honesdale, PA

St. John's Union Cemetery, Nazareth, PA

St. Paul's Lutheran Blue Church, Coopersburg, PA

St. Thomas Whitemarsh Cemetery, Fort Washington, PA

Thompson Cemetery, Thompson, PA

Upside-down Lilies, Mountainview Cemetery, Upper Exeter, PA

Falls Cemetery, Falls, PA

Hornbaker Cemetery, Madisonville, PA

St. Andrew's UCC Cemetery, Perkasie, PA

Arlington Cemetery, Upper Darby, PA

Belfast Union Cemetery, Belfast, PA

Bolkcom Cemetery, Rileyville, PA

Carversville Cemetery, Carversville, PA

Clinton Center Baptist Cemetery, Clinton, PA

Hand Holding Wilting Lily, Cold Spring Presbyterian Cemetery, Cold Spring, NJ

Cold Spring Presbyterian Cemetery, Cold Spring, NJ

Davisville Church, Davisville, PA

Doylestown Cemetery, Doylestown, PA

Dunmore Cemetery, Dunmore, PA

Durham Cemetery, Durham, PA

East Bangor Cemetery, East Bangor, PA

Evergreen Cemetery, Gettysburg, PA

Forks Cemetery, Stockertown, PA

Green Grove Cemetery, Pleasant Mount, PA

Greenwood Cemetery, Falls, PA

Greenwood Cemetery, Nazareth, PA

Hays Cemetery, Easton, PA

Hellertown Union Cemetery, Hellertown, PA

Hickory Grove Cemetery, Waverly, PA

Laurel Grove Cemetery, Port Jervis, NY

Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia, PA

Fallen Lily at Base, Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia, PA

Mountainview Cemetery, Upper Exeter, PA

Mt. Zion Cemetery, Snydersville, PA

Northwood Cemetery, Philadelphia, PA

Odd Fellows' Cemetery, Philadelphia, PA

Pleasant Hill Cemetery, Pleasant Valley, PA

Pleasantville UCC Cemetery, Pleasantville, PA

Prospect Hill Cemetery, Peckville, PA

Raubsville Cemetery, Raubsville, PA

Richboro Union Cemetery, Richboro, PA

Richlandtown Cemetery, Richlandtown, PA

Richmond United Methodist Cemetery, Bangor, PA

Northwood Cemetery, Philadelphia, PA

Riverside Cemetery, Norristown, PA

South Canaan Cemetery, South Canaan, PA

Springtown Cemetery, Springtown, PA

St. Andrew's Episcopal Cemetery, Yardley, PA

St. Cecelia's Cemetery, Hilltop, PA

St. Cyril Greek Catholic Cemetery, Blakely, PA

St. John's Union Cemetery, Nazareth, PA

St. Paul's Cemetery, Stone Church, PA

St. Paul's Lutheran Blue Church Cemetery, Coopersburg, PA

St. Peter's Episcopal Cemetery, Lewes, DE

St. Peter's Lutheran Cemetery, North Wales, PA

Stark Cemetery, Starkville, PA

Stroudsburg Cemetery, Stroudsburg, PA

Trumbauersville Cemetery, Trumbauersville, PA

Tunkhannock Cemetery, Tunkhannock, PA

Laurel Cemetery, White Haven, PA

Neshaminy Presbyterian Cemetery, Warrington, PA

Wentz's UCC Cemetery, Worcester, PA

West Laurel Hill Cemetery, Bala Cynwyd, PA

Norris City Cemetery, Norristown, PA

Sunday, April 1, 2012

Eternal and Innocent: Tulips & Daisies

Tulips, Immanuel Leidy's Cemetery, Souderton, PA

Daisy, Lake Winola Cemetery, Lake Winola, PA

(Sidenote: I am now a proud member of the Graveyard Rabbit Association (GYR). I am sooo excited!!)

When I started to do some Internet research on the history of tulips and daisies, imagine my surprise that "tulip" and "daisy" are acronyms for two basic teachings of Calvinism. Calvinism is a little too "heavy" for me to contemplate (pretty Puritanical), so this blog will be about lovely tulips and happy daisies. If you want the "heavy" stuff, do your own Internet research on it; a whole "bunch" of sites will come up.

Western Europeans discovered tulips in the 16th century in the Ottoman Empire, now known as Turkey. The Dutch especially became enamored with the tulip (which supposedly means "turban," as the flower reminded them of the Turkish headgear), which is grown from a bulb as well as from seed. The seed, however, takes about ten years to produce a flowering bulb, and while the "mother bulb" produces "daughter offshoot bulbs" that can begin to flower in just a couple of years, the "mother bulb" lives for only a few years herself. Hence, tulips were tantalizing to the Dutch because of their richly hued petals and color varieties, and also their challenge to be reproduced.

There is still much debate on whether or not a "tulip mania" bubble happened in the 17th century in the Netherlands. The history we've read tells us the price of coveted tulip bulbs rose dramatically and then collapsed just as dramatically, almost overnight, ruining the fortunes of many a person who had speculated in the tulip market. It's possible that an outbreak of the bubonic plague in the Haarlem marketplace caused buyers to stay away, initiating the decline of prices, which led to a panic, which led to the collapse of the market. Regardless of the exact happenings, the tulip became an important symbol in the life of the Dutch and other nearby European countries, such as western Germany.

Tulips on gravestones symbolize eternal life, because tulips are the only flower that continue to grow after they have been cut from the bulb. Try it. Cut a tulip bloom off a plant and measure it from bloom tip to the stem bottom. Place it in room-temperature water and then measure it again in a day or two. The stem will have grown in length. I am a recovering florist; I know such things. So for Dutch and German immigrants in America, the tulip was a symbol from their homeland that symbolized life everlasting: the body may die but the soul goes/grows on. I haven't found many examples of tulips on gravestones, but there are some, and those have been on stones of those of German or Dutch descent.

Also, as with any spring flower, the tulip symbolizes rebirth or the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It also is associated with love and passion, as it is thornless and demonstrates complete vulnerability.

The daisy is another flower that symbolizes vulnerability and innocence, especially the innocence of children. I assume that has something to do with its completely open bloom, face-up, totally exposed and trusting, towards the sun. And it could have something to do with the child's game of "he-loves-me, he-loves-me-not," the removal of daisy flower petals, one at a time, while repeating the above lines, until the last one remains, which would supposedly reveal the true feelings of the object of one's affections. I daresay this is really just the senseless destruction of a flower in trying to figure out the emotional workings of the human heart, and 50-50 odds aren't very good anyway. Keep batteries in his remote control; then he'll love you. :)

But daisies remain a symbol of youth and innocence, and are usually found on gravestones of children. I haven't found many examples of those either, as lambs and broken buds were more popular in the 19th century. But I did find some, and interestingly, some of them are found on stones in the Mennonite cemeteries, for those of German descent, and not just for children, either. Perhaps it is not a daisy but edelweiss, the little white-petaled flower that grows in the Alps. We may never know for sure. Here are a few gravestones that I would like to share with you. Thanks for reading.

Hornbaker's Cemetery, Madisonville, PA

Franconia Mennonite Meeting Cemetery, Franconia, PA

Glen Dyberry Cemetery, Honesdale, PA

Towamencin Mennonite Cemetery, Harleysville, PA

Mount Bethel Presybeterian Cemetery, Mount Bethel, PA

Trumbauersville UCC Cemetery, Trumbauersville, PA

Dalton Jewish Cemetery, Dalton, PA

Hatfield Cemetery, Hatfield, PA

Immanuel Leidy's Cemetery, Souderton, PA

Indian Creek Christ Reformed Cemetery, Indian Valley, PA

Montrose Cemetery, Montrose, PA

St. Peter's Tohickon UCC Cemetery, Keelersville, PA

Whole Stone of above, St. Peter's Tohickon UCC Cemetery, Keelersville, PA

Towamencin Mennonite Cemetery, Harleysville, PA

Lake Winola Cemetery, Lake Winola, PA

Bristol Cemetery, Bristol, pA

Richlandtown Cemetery, Richlandtown, PA

St. John's Evan. Lutheran Cemetery, Ridge Valley, PA

St. Paul's UCC Cemetery, Swiftwater, PA

Trumbauersville Cemetery, Trumbauersville, PA

Trumbauersville UCC Cemetery, Trumbauersville, PA

West Swamp Mennonite Cemetery, Bucks County, PA

Sunday, March 25, 2012

Indeed, It Doth Pass Quickly

Easton Cemetery, Easton, PA

"Time flies, death urges, knells call, Heaven invites, Hell threatens."

Night Thoughts, Edward Young, (1683-1765)

Edward Young was an English poet who wrote Night Thoughts in 1742. Even though it is a more of a collection of "stream of consciousness" thoughts, some of them are very insightful. His work was very popular in his time, and received a new audience when it was mentioned by Edmund Blunden's WWI memoir, Undertones of War in 1928. Blunden said he read it while in the trenches, and it brought him comfort. Some other lines that still hold true today:

“Tired nature’s sweet restorer, balmy sleep”!

“Procrastination is the thief of time.”

“All men think all men mortal but themselves.”

“At thirty, man suspects himself a fool. Knows it at forty, and reforms his plan.”

“A death bed’s a detector of the heart.”

I so understand the fourth one at this point in my life. But I am most interested in the first line I copied from Young, starting with "time flies." I would have thought that phrase was more modern, but Young penned it in the middle of the 18th century. In the late 18th century and early-to-mid-19th century, a symbol of that phrase, "time flies," appeared on tombstones to illustrate the swiftness of human life as it passes through the universe. The hourglass filled with a finite amount of sand depicts the passage of time in a mortal's life. Add the angelic wings from the Divine, and time does fly, past the man who is unable to stop its flight, and with God overseeing its course.

I haven't found a bounty of the hourglass, winged or plain, but I have uncovered some examples. I hope you enjoy them, and keep in mind something Edward Young almost 300 years ago: "Wishing, of all employments, is the worst." And it wastes that most precious thing--the time we have left.

Hourglass on the base, Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia, PA

Dr. Sidney Phoenix Williams, born in Mass., died in Philadelphia at age 35, Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia, PA

Close-up of last photo, also note the sycthe of the Grim Reaper/Father Time, Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia, PA

Zinc Tombstone, Bethany Presybeterian Cemetery, Bethany, PA

Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia, PA

Zinc Tombstone, Bethany Presbyterian Cemetery, Bethany, PA

David D. Wagener was the president of Easton National Bank, and served 4 terms in Congress. In 1860, the year he died, the census estimated his estate at $300,000. Easton Cemetery, Easton, PA

Similar to above...same carver?, Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia, PA

Hourglass above angel, mother and child, Easton Cemetery, Easton, PA

From Mausoleum, West Laurel Hill Cemetery, Bala Cynwyd, PA

From Mausoleum, Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia, PA