subject: Even Dying Can Be Merry Affair! [print this page] Even Dying Can Be Merry Affair! Even Dying Can Be Merry Affair!
We often think of funerals, cemeteries and death as sombre and sad affairs where we grieve and shed tears. Certainly they are not events to laugh or be cheerful at. But in a remote town in northern Romania, they do literally make it a laughing matter!
The Merry Cemetery
You may not have heard of the 'Merry Cemetery 'in a town called Sapanta where locals and increasingly 100's of tourists casually stroll by the headstones and epitaphs of the local dead. Bizarrely, they are usually smiling or laughing out loud, quite unashamedly. Why?
Well, there is a long tradition in this area to celebrate death with laughter, funny anecdotes and quirky headstones that reflect the dead person's life. Sapanta is now very famous for its colourful painted oak tombstones, portraits and poems that describe the person buried there. It is believed that there are approximately 800 colourful tombstones in the Merry Cemetery.
Of course the name 'Merry Cemetery' is a paradox of it's purpose due to the bright colours of the crosses and satirical epitaphs carved on them. This now traditional and joyful attitude towards death is a legacy of the Dacians who believed that death was a passage to a better life. They did not see death in tragic terms but as a chance to meet with their supreme God.
You will often see short poetic eulogies on the tombs that are relevant to what the person did or believed. For example:
"...Now I will tell you a good one
I kind of liked the plum wine
With my friends at the pub
As I used to forget what I came for"
Tourism Is 'Dead'
The Merry Cemetery is a sight to behold, many hear about it and want to see it for themselves. So it has now been declared a national tourist attraction and open-air museum by the Romanian government.
However, very often the hoards of tourists that descend on this famous cemetery with their cameras ready make it impossible to "rest in peace"! Tourists will often mingle with quietly grieving families. Daily, the tour buses come here and so now there are many souvenir stands lining the main street.
This tradition is about 80 years old now. It was started by local woodcarver called Stan Petras who would carve brightly coloured crosses and write funny rhymes to help ease the pain of the local departed. Stan died in 1977 but his work carries on through his apprentice, Dumitru.
Together, Stan and Dumitru have managed to preserve the memories of their local friends and family in such celebration and style.
Read More / View Images:
You can read more about the Merry Museum at: Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merry_Cemetery.
You can view the colourful photographs of the Merry Cemetery here:
