Are cemeteries evolving into lively social hubs?

Cemeteries have long been considered as places of quiet reflection, but changing mourning practices redefine them as spaces not only for the dead.

“Above the ground, a cemetery is also a place of life,” explains Christian Jäger, director general of an association of funeral directors in Germany.

In many places, the park -shaped park serves as a green lung for city microclimates. And, much more possible, explains the association of Undertakers, although within reasonable limits.

Although the burial place is still in a “deep sleep”, recreational activities and social events in cemeteries become increasingly common in certain countries.

In Scandinavian countries, an urban case study of town planning notes that there is an increasing interest in transforming urban cemeteries into recreational areas.

The study based on interviews in Norway and Sweden shows that if silent activities like walking or sitting are widely accepted, views are divided on more active uses such as jogging or dog walking.

Cultural and religious horizons, personal intention and the conception of the cemetery have all shapes what is considered respectful, he reports.

In Germany, certain municipalities create mobile cafes in cemeteries. Once a month, around twenty people come together to chat in the center of a Rhée cemetery, near the Dutch border.

“Talking, laughing, exchanging ideas – these are things you can also do in a cemetery,” said Anna, held a pastoral agent at the Catholic parish of the Eschendorf district.

The program brings together people who would only visit the graves of their loved ones in silent mourning, she said.

The new understanding of mourning suggests that, contrary to traditional Western approaches that tend to break ties, people are now seeking to maintain their links with the deceased and to integrate their memory in life even in their absence.

Many cultures from around the world have means of mourning which openly consider death as a part of life that deserves to be celebrated. For example, the “day of the dead” of Mexico is celebrated each year while families honor families and remember their deceased relatives with music and festivities.

Souvenir spaces and rituals also change

Some cemeteries organize events with music and illuminations. In Dusseldorf in Germany, an event in all saints allowed people in deuil to visit the northern cemetery of the city to live space as a cultural center and natural framework in the middle of the city.

The features included folk and jazz music, trees and tombstones illuminated in bright colors and a Torch tour.

A variety of colors and creativity also play an increasing role in funeral. “One thing that we have been watching for a few years now is that farewells become much more colorful,” said Jäger. Often, while they are alive, people decide how they want goodbye, he said.

“Customers sometimes come to funeral dressed in shiny colorful clothes.”

Others organize ceremonies in different spaces, explains Marie Thimanmann of the Lebenslicht funeral show in Dusseldorf – which results in a light of life. “Most of the time, life is colorful and diversified,” she says, so farewell and funeral should not be different.

Urns and coffins can be painted in bright colors. People have organized what Thimann calls the “celebration of life” in a zoo, in a pub or in an arena of indoor driving.

There is no limits to the creativity involved, she says: “Whether we use the land of the cemetery, Sawst of the Grandpa workshop or confetti to commemorate the organizer of the deceased carnival.”

The grave itself can also be colorful. “Leaves in the wind” is a type of burial that is made possible at the Würselen cemetery near Aix-Un.

It involves colorful glass leaves that can be inscribed with the name of the deceased and float on a thin stainless steel tubes frame. The deceased are buried under the installation of the leaves in a common urn tomb.

A new trend? Digital QR code on tombstone

There are many ways to say goodbye, not only in a cemetery but also online. “We have become a very dispersed company,” explains Jäger. Often, these days, people choose to celebrate a hybrid farewell, for example via an online mourning site where family and friends can download photos or a film.

An unusual tombstone has scored a QR code after the television presenter and scientific journalist Jean Pütz told several media that he wanted his tombstone to have a code that people could scan to see a video he recorded a few years ago.

It is not the only equipped for visitors experienced in digital. The tomb of the inventor Heinz Kunert in the Cologne de Melaten cemetery also has a QR code which provides information on his life.

Jäger had never seen a QR code on a tombstone before, but says that what is more and more common is that people plan and select their funeral services, their burial and their place of rest during their life.

It shows “death is no longer a taboo subject,” he says.