1/7/2023 0 Comments Grave old fashion love![]() In some parts of the country, such as Denver, the congregations of grave picnickers grew to such numbers that police intervention was even considered. Instead it led to debate over proper conduct. But plenty of Americans believed that picnics in local cemeteries were a “ gruesome festivity.” This critique, notably from older generations, didn’t stop young adults from meeting up in graveyards. People picnic among the dead across the world, from Guatemala to parts of Greece, and similar traditions involving meals with ancestors are common throughout Asia. Library of Congress / LC-DIG-ggbain-19433Įating in graveyards had, and still has, historical precedent. ![]() Enjoying a book and a snack in a Lower Manhattan cemetery. Flower motifs replaced skulls and crossbones, and the public was welcomed to enjoy the grounds. Whereas American and European graveyards had long been austere places on Church grounds, full of memento mori and reminders not to sin, the new cemeteries were located outside of city centers and designed like gardens for relaxation and beauty. The picnic-and-relaxation trend can also be understood as the flowering of the rural cemetery movement. “We’ve brought somethin’ to eat and a spirit-lamp to boil coffee.” ![]() “We are going to keep Thanksgivin’ with our father as was as live and hearty this day last year,” explained a young man, in 1884, on why his family-mother, brothers, sisters-chose to eat in the cemetery. Courtesy of Roger Meyer Family and the Schaumburg Township District Library Sausages are served at a picnic at the Greve Cemetery in Hoffman Estates, Illinois. Death was a constant visitor for many families, and in cemeteries, people could “talk” and break bread with family and friends, both living and deceased. One of the reasons why eating in cemeteries become a “fad,” as some reporters called it, was that epidemics were raging across the country: Yellow fever and cholera flourished, children passed away before turning 10, women died during childbirth. Meanwhile, New Yorkers strolled through Saint Paul’s Churchyard in Lower Manhattan, bearing baskets filled with fruits, ginger snaps, and beef sandwiches. In Dayton, Ohio, for instance, Victorian-era women wielded parasols as they promenaded through mass assemblages at Woodland Cemetery, en route to luncheon on their family lots. A historic image of the Woodland Cemetery in Dayton, Ohio. The tombstone-laden fields were the closest things, then, to modern-day public parks. Since many municipalities still lacked proper recreational areas, many people had full-blown picnics in their local cemeteries. It wasn’t just apple-munching alongside the winding avenues of graveyards. Within the iron-wrought walls of American cemeteries-beneath the shade of oak trees and tombs’ stoic penumbras-you could say many people “rest in peace.” However, not so long ago, people of the still-breathing sort gathered in graveyards to rest, and dine, in peace.ĭuring the 19th century, and especially in its later years, snacking in cemeteries happened across the United States.
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