If you have ever attended a Church of England funeral you will probably have heard the words ‘In sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life’ – either at the graveside while earth is being thrown onto the coffin or as the curtains close around the coffin at a Crematorium. They point toContinue reading “‘In sure and certain hope…’: Church of England funeral rites from the Tudors to Today”
Category Archives: Memorial
Standing to the Last: Extreme Embalming as a Practice of Resistance
It seemed like a regular day at Tato’s Heart Ambulance in July of 2010. Edgardo Velázquez Velázquez was in the driver’s seat of one of the fleet’s vehicles. Velázquez Velázquez seemed ready to go, but he would not be driving off the company premises. He would actually be interred at the end of the day.Continue reading “Standing to the Last: Extreme Embalming as a Practice of Resistance”
Valley of the Victorians: Egyptianising Mortuary Structures in Victorian England.
If you happened to wander around a Victorian garden cemetery in England, it’s not unlikely that you would stumble upon an Ancient Egyptian style (or ‘egyptianised’) grave. Whilst moss-covered obelisks and pyramids might seem a curious sight in predominantly Christian burial grounds to the modern viewer, it reflects a society that took delight in allContinue reading “Valley of the Victorians: Egyptianising Mortuary Structures in Victorian England.”
Hair Work: A Meditation
Hair is deeply personal and something expected to be attached to a person’s body. But in many museum collections, antique stores, and family collections one can encounter complex, knotted, sculptural wreaths constructed out of human hair. These objects, known as hair wreaths, hair work, or hair art, are fascinating objects that can reveal much aboutContinue reading “Hair Work: A Meditation”
Memory and Memorial in Yeats’ ‘The Black Tower’
W. B. Yeats’ final poem, ‘The Black Tower’, is dated one week before his death on the 28th January 1939. The poem contains multiple layers of interwoven memories that stem from a particular moment that demonstrates its lasting impact on Yeats. He lived through a period of major violence within Ireland and uses this lastContinue reading “Memory and Memorial in Yeats’ ‘The Black Tower’”
Life is a Flower: Memory and Memorial in the Language of Flowers
The Victorian language of flowers spoke not only to the affairs of lovers, but to universal human concerns about life stages and remembrance of the departed. In this blog post, follow examples of nineteenth-century floriography that contemplate transience, memento mori and the possibility of second flowerings. The language of flowers was a publishing craze alliedContinue reading “Life is a Flower: Memory and Memorial in the Language of Flowers”
Grave Matters 