Grave Journal Entries

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• Another Sale Wohoo.
  by Dave Warren

  A real nice surprise this morning, i have sold a copy of At The Gates Of Silent Memory, i would like to thank whoever bought it, it has …

  A real nice surprise this morning, i have sold a copy of At The Gates Of Silent Memory, i would like to thank whoever bought it, it has made my day, THANK YOU! / Dave

• Grave Houses
  by HarrietRN

  I became interested on Gravehouses after a conversation with an acquaintance, when I asked if one of the photos that was taken was one of…

  I became interested on Gravehouses after a conversation with an acquaintance, when I asked if one of the photos that was taken was one of a house over a grave, this acquaintance had never heard of a house over a grave, and had never seen one, and quite frankly I think they thought I had lost my mind, but gravehouses are a part of Oklahoma History and can be seen in many of the cemeteries in this area. It is a tradition that is still used today, although most of them are now on private Indian land, in family cemeteries. Below are a few of the more modern Gravehouses: In these structures there is more than one person buried, and there is usually a child among them buried inside with a tombstone. Among the more expressive of the decorative artifacts is the graveshelter, a house-form structure of small to modest proportions commonly erected over individual graves. The typical gravehouse, graveshelter, or spirit house as some may refer to is seen below. I will also try to explain what they represent and the purpose of a gravehouse, much of the original history is forgotten, even tho the practice is still used today. The earth is a spiritual part of the Native American, and people are a part of the earth. People must live in harmony with plants, animals, the earth and other people. Living in harmony includes respecting the feelings and cultural beliefs of other people, even if they are different from your own. The small house is a little larger than the grave and about two feet high, having a gabled roof. Some of the structures are wood and are covered with shingles, while / some are of concrete and are flat on the top. Some families put tombstones at the head and foot of the little house. Often the picture of the deceased is placed on the headstone. Some only have markers as this one below: The body of the deceased was kept covered inside the dwelling for half a day after death; then it was prepared for burial by the blood kin and dressed in their finest. Items of honor such as feathers and favorite weapons were included. The interior of the grave was sometimes lined with stone slabs, but usually wood and bark were used. The body was wrapped in a skin or covered with bark. Some of the bodies are bound in a sitting position, and some are buried standing up. Some had their horses buried on top of them. One must investigate the spiritual beliefs of a group of people in order to better understand their culture. Some Indians today still practice burying food and other possessions In the casket. Quite often a nursing bottle and canned milk is placed in the coffin with a baby. Scissors, thread, needles,and a thimble is buried with a woman. Tobacco, food, clothing,and cherished possessions of the deceased are often buried with the body or placed in the little house over the grave. Missionaries say that they have covered up in graves many hundreds of dollars worth of valuable blankets and shawls. Also those that have had limbs amputated are taken and buried, and then when the person dies they are once again reunited with their limbs. None of the gravediggers could be related to the deceased nor be of the same name group. The funeral rites last four days and included purification rites, burial addresses, feasts, vigils, and condolence ceremonies. First a communal meal is ‘shared’ with the dead. Then the mourners gather outside and share recollections of the life of the dead person. Each night for four nights, a fire is lit on the grave. After everyone who wants to has spoken, elders relate myths and legends until dawn. This is repeated for four nights, when the spirit of the dead is finally thought to depart the earth at dawn of the fourth day. After the spirit has departed the home can be purified Many of the graves have been desecrated, so some have built or had built stone structures, as seen in the photo below, notice the triangular windows and the square windows in the houses this is called a spirit window, so the spirit can come and go, and some say it is also so the spirit can breathe. Most Native American tribes believed that the souls of the dead passed into a spirit world and became part of the spiritual forces that influenced every aspect of their lives. Many tribes believed in two souls: one that died when the body died and one that might wander on and eventually die. Food and other things are left at the graveside and families also go and eat with the spirits and take food for the spirits at the graveside. Below you will also see some other grave monuments and notice the tiny cars left on the one of the baby, they are left there and are untouched, so that when the spirit comes out to play it will have something to play with. Also below is a picture of other things left at a grave. Most likely these were favorite things of the deceased. These are pictures of some other stone graves, most of them are of babies and children. You may also notice the name Harjo on many of the markers, this means “No Name” in English. The sad thing is that these graves have been desecrated and robbed, and the artifacts sold. In was not until 1997 that a statute was adopted to protect the desecration and robbing of Indian burial sites, it is called the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act… NAGPRA. There is so much more I could tell of the history of the Native Indians, so much is sacred, but they are people who care deeply for their families, and are family oriented, they believe greatly in spirits and this is a part of their everyday lives. It is unbelieveable to me that it was not until 1997 that the grave sites of the Native Indians were considered sacred and a law was passed to protect them, even tho grave robbing still goes on today. Bobby C. Billie a Seminole Elder says this: “Grave desecration is a very bad thing for all peoples of the earth! Peoples of the earth of all colors! My ancestry is White, Black, Indian, Spanish, French, African, Cheyenne, Choctaw, Iroquois, and so on. I am a man-woman of the earth of all colors! My ancestors of these many nations are also enraged over how the governments and scientists of this nation desecrate graves and disturb the resting spirits. They mess up the cycle of birth and death, life and regeneration! The spirits talk to each other just like we talk to each other. When a spirit sees another spirits’ bones desecrated he feels it too!” Bobby C. Billie, Seminole Elder

• Way of the Warrior meets Grave Digger
  by Angel Perry

  Last weekend I posted some work from the Mud Race at Dennis Anderson’s Muddy Motor way….Way of the Warrior and his Creative mind asked…

  Last weekend I posted some work from the Mud Race at Dennis Anderson’s Muddy Motor way….Way of the Warrior and his Creative mind asked me about Grave Digger. So I took a picture of it and sent it to him….. The Rest is history…..take a look at his fabulous work Thank you Tony!

• New Chapter, New Subject
  by Lenny La Rue, IPA

  Hello Kind Readers. Today marks the beginning of a new aspect to my photography, the images of graves, graveyards, and the things associ…

  Hello Kind Readers. Today marks the beginning of a new aspect to my photography, the images of graves, graveyards, and the things associated with both. If not for Red Bubble, I’d have kept any photographs of this topic in a private section of my personal galleries at home. But seeing the wonderful captures from at least one of the RB groups has inspired me to both take more shots and to publish them here. While the deaths of people are not the things we often find as casual as a photograph of a lizard eating a bug, the images their graves present is another story and one that deserves to be shared. The principle place I will be using is the very old graveyard at the edge of the downtown area of Sacramento, California. It is a national historic site due to many of the graves known to be here. California being the state that fostered the Gold Rush in 1849, numerous pioneers passed thru (or passed away in!) Sacramento so some are buried here in well-marked tombs. There are also hundreds of Veterans of many wars from the Spanish American War up to and including recent Gulf Wars. For me to be able to do this, I had to make some compromises. It’s not an issue with my religious faith but I find it a bit distasteful for me to be asking for money with any of these photographs. Don’t get me wrong: I find nothing wrong with anyone else doing so if they choose to. But for me, I can’t wrap myself around the concept of collecting anything from the deaths of these people except something that was left to remind us of their departure. A photograph seems like one of the most fitting tributes possible as long as I don’t personally gain from it. So, all the shots in this series will be listed as “for sale” in case anyone wants one but there will be a zero profit margin for me from their purchase, making them the baseline price that Red Bubble asks. Also, in my religion, death of the body isn’t all that big a deal – unless it’s someone I loved and then it sucks even if my religion says I should rejoice. This means I have absolutely nada concern for the physical bodies under these monuments but I have a deep reverence for the persons who inhabited them. Nevertheless, being in the graveyard does present some of the most hysterical images I’ve seen thru my lens to date so please don’t feel I’m disrespectful for the lives ended when I point those facts out in these images! I’m just maintaining the gifts God gave me for honesty, laughter, reflection, and documentation. If something appears to be in bad taste, please let me know in BubbleMail and I’ll see if I see your point and need to make a change somewhere. This may be edgy material and the odds of me knowing when and where it’s disturbing for the entire world’s population are zip. But I’m sensitive to all people’s feelings and will read and consider each piece of mail with concerns I receive. OK, all that said, here’s to a beginning for me. Hope it brings you something worthy of your precious time on earth ABOVE the ground. Be well. Literally. / Lenny La Rue

• Just an update...
  by Crockpot

  I added some pics of our dearly departed Chloe to a photo of her final resting spot...

  I added some pics of our dearly departed Chloe to a photo of her final resting spot. I thought the world should see how beautiful she was, even if they can’t know what a wonderful bunny she was and how much she means to us.

• The grave with no headstone
  by roymcdine

  I have decided to take this opportunity to write about someone who is remembered, not for the details on his headstone, but for what he d…

  I have decided to take this opportunity to write about someone who is remembered, not for the details on his headstone, but for what he did during his life and those who have inherited his courage. / ‘We regret to record the death of Mr James Willie McDine DCM, who succumbed after a short illness, on Sunday, at the age of 54’. Was the line in the Newport County Press on the 11th January 1920. The local Isle of Wight newspaper recorded a very touching tribute about my Granddad, who died over 30 years before I was born, and 2 years younger than I am now. / James Willie was christened John Willie, however when his elder brother died in 1878, as was tradition, he took the family christian name. He was the youngest of seven siblings, the first child, Alfred Henry being born when his mother Harriet was only 14. / The odd thing to me is that I always was under the impression that my Granddad James Willie was Scottish and my Gran, Emily Louise, was from Ireland. It was only after researching my family tree a few years ago that I discovered they were both true ‘Caulkheads’, being born in the Isle of Wight. My Great Granddad, also James McDine was the true Scot, born at Dumfries in 1814. I also later discovered that as a child I had been told she was from the ‘island’ not Ireland! In fact Emily was previously a Cushen, the ancestry of which can be traced back to the 1600s. / How did James Willie appear to be Scottish to everyone, yet in fact was born on the typically English Isle of Wight? Well it appears that over the years, the ‘Caulkheads’ or Islanders were suffering from the interbreeding associated with such a limited community. It was decided that the Black Watch regiment was to be stationed on the Island to bring some fresh blood into the Isle of Wight community, and what now is Parkhurst Prison was their extensive barracks. / My Great Granddad was in the regiment, as was his son James Willie and later on Willie James, James’s first born. / “Daddy what did you do in the war?” Is the famous line we hear mentioned so often. Well, James Willie joined his father’s regiment in 1880, at the age of 14, when the regiment was stationed at Parkhurst Barracks, and after serving 15 years was transferred to the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders for the purpose of going on the staff of the old Volunteers. At the outbreak of the South African war, in 1899, he rejoined his old regiment, and went to the Front almost immediately, and his distinguished conduct at Magersfontein gained him the D.C.M. His other decorations included the Egyptian medal, with four bars (the Nile, Tel-el-Kebir, Kerbekan, and El Teb), the Egyptian star and the South African medal (Queen’s). He was severely wounded in the thigh at Paardeberg on February 18th 1900. On the outbreak of hostilities with Germany he joined the 12th Battalion Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, but owing to failing health was invalided out in the latter part of 1914. / His son, Uncle Willie James, born in 1896, who I see every day in the sepia photo in our study dressed in his kilt and glengarry fought bravely in the First World War. / He was wounded in March 1915 and in September was in hospital suffering from gas poisoning. By October 1915 he was back at the ‘Front’ in France and news came that he had been killed in action on the afternoon of the 13th. The Isle of Wight County Press in their obituary stated “He was a gallant son of a gallant father”. He is remembered with honour at Loos Memorial, France and also is named on the memorial at St Edmund’s Church, Wootton, Isle of Wight. As a mark of respect, we attended the memorial service on Remembrance Sunday last November, where they read his name out. I felt proud but humble of the gallant efforts of the young boys sent into the fields of slaughter. / My Uncle Archie, again another poignant photo in our study, was James Willie’s 4th child. Born in 1907 he was in the 2nd Battalion of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders as a Warrant Officer Class II. He died in action aged 34 on 21st December 1941 and is remembered with honour at Taiping War Cemetery, Malaya. My elder brother Peter resembles Archie and I often wonder what it must have been like for my father losing his brothers in the prime of their lives. I am so glad Peter is still around. / My Uncle Roy, no guessing where I got the name then, survived his ship being sunk in a World War II battle; he went on to be the Isle of Wight pilot until his retirement, navigating ships like Queen Mary and Queen Elisabeth in from the Solent to the mouth of the Medina. / Even my dad Ken joined the army as a rugged PT Instructor, but was invalided out before he could serve in battle due to having a heart defect, caused by a severe bout of rheumatic fever as an infant. / Well James Willie, my gallant Grandad I mentioned earlier had a marvellous send off by all accounts. “The funeral took place with full military honours on Thursday, / 70 Royal Irish Rifles attending from Parkhurst. Eight warrant officers acted as bearers, with the Comrades of the local post. The polished coffin was draped with the Union Jack, on the top of which were his glengarry, medals and red hackle. The procession wended its way to St. Mark’s Church, to funereal music by the band of the Royal Irish Rifles. The Rev. T.A.B. Canston officiated, and at the close of the service in the church the band played “Abide with me”, the congregation singing it.” I must admit, when I read that last bit of the account taken from the County Press cutting, I remember the many times I have watched the FA Cup on the TV and had a tear in my eye at that powerful tune. / I have been helped in researching my Isle of Wight ancestors by several islanders, one of who is Doreen Gazey, the church archivist where my Grandad is buried. It was perhaps a sign of our times that James Willie’s headstone was removed some years ago when the council sold off the old graveyard. The land was levelled and apart from records that Doreen showed me, all is gone. The touching ceremony he had in 1920 counting for nothing in the eyes of those who did not know about him or his neighbours in the Wootton cemetery. / I have never witnessed what my brave ancestors have endured, never had to battle with enemies to honour my country, but although I abhor violence and war, I admire the bravery of those who have given me the freedom I take for granted. / I am proud to be a McDine.