The Disappointing Churchyards of Scotland
Those who’ve read some of my previous travel posts already know that we consider cemeteries to be major tourist attractions. Ornate marble tombs and over the top life-sized weeping angels are what we crave when we visit. (See blog entry on Kerepesi in Budapest)
So you’ll understand why we were disappointed with Scotland’s churchyards. To tell you the truth, the’re boring.
But I believe that the best way to learn about a culture is to see how they bury their dead. So, even though the graves and tombstones aren’t particularily entertaining, they do seem to reinforce one of the sterotypes about the nature of the Scots.
Scots are thrifty.
Case in point – they don’t waste stone on multiple family members. One stone will do just fine, thank you very much…for several generations.
LOL. Perhaps in that environment, in past centuries, thriftiness was a matter of survival? Makes me want to read more about Scottish history (not English or British but Scottish).
Deborah responds: Kim, I can’t believe I forgot to give you your “Orkney by Bike” book when you were here! I need to pop it in the mail to you.
Your picture gives me such a visual: condo cemetery plots, with stacks of caskets (or urns) piled up. Please don’t tell me the graves are recycled… I can appreciate thrift but that would be too much.
Deborah responds: No, Brad, I don’t think so. In fact, I don’t even think they have put more than one body in each grave. I may be wrong, but I think they just add the names to the gravestones even though the people have their own graves. Kind of a chain letter of sorts.
It sure makes genealogy research easier to do! I have a few Scottish relatives. This gives me hope. If I am ever able to find the town(s) they came from, I will be able to trace the entire line!
Deborah responds: LOL. What we didn’t do (but probably should have) is look around for the graves of some of the other people listed on each tombstone. We were told they aren’t buried in the same grave.