4/17/2023 0 Comments The raven poem with sidenotes![]() ![]() Here in the United States, where the predominant religion is Christianity, the dove is the primary bird of choice. Winged creatures of many kinds hold spiritual significance to the deceased. 4 In China, images of cranes were painted to decorate the tomb of a fourteenth-century Taoist priest, 5 while ancient sculptures of birds atop cedar trees remain throughout Iran’s ancient Dar al-Salam cemetery. 3 Similarly, American Indians thousands of years ago included so-called birdstones in graves. Besides mummifying ibises 1 and falcons, 2 they placed wooden human-headed bird figurines with their dead. The ancient Egyptians were particularly fascinated with birds in this regard. Ornamentation, of which carvings and sculptures of birds are especially noteworthy, accentuates this connection.Īvian iconography, among the most pervasive of contemporary animal-based cemetery themes, is widespread, having been linked to burial and entombment for millennia. By way of these chiseled features on marker stones, the deceased communicate with the living. On them are dates, epitaphs, and symbols, altogether the final expressions of the dead. Inside such sanctuaries, past the wrought iron fences, stand rows of headstones and tomb monuments (including mausoleums). Yet these places can have the opposite effect, awakening in visitors a newfound sense of the sacred and beautiful, offering an intimate perspective on history, and stoking spiritual contemplation. Many people tend to be creeped out by graveyards and memorial gardens, especially around Halloween and the Day of the Dead. Sailors and Swallows: Clearing up a Tattoo Mystery.So this Artist and a Cormorant Walk into a Bar.Tweet Dreams and Flights of the Imagination.The American South: Blue Jays and Ol’ Prejudices.Turkey Day: The Evolution of a Thanksgiving Tradition.Easter Eggs: Their Colorful History and Symbolism.House Finches: The Hollywood – New York Connection. ![]()
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