"CEMETERY  SYMBOLS"

Cemetery symbols used by Stonecarvers and Monument Companies from the 1700's forward included traditional religious symbols as well as symbols borrowed from art and literature.

• ANCHOR -- Identified with Saint Nicholas, patron Saint of seaman and a Christian symbol for hope and steadfastness




• ANGELS -- Trumpeting Angels of heaven accompany the soul heavenward announcing the arrival




• ARROWS -- Fatal arrows sent by God




• BATS -- Bats of the underworld




• BELLS -- Tolling for the dead




• BIRD -- From earliest times, symbol of the soul; child's death




• BROKEN COLUMNS -- Death




• CANDLES -- Being snuffed out by death's imps




• CHERUBIM -- Guardians of a sacred place, servants of God; divine wisdom or justice




• COCKS -- Fall from grace and resurrection




• COFFIN -- Coffins, skulls, pick-ax and spade -- tools and other objects associated with burial, reminders of our ultimate end




• CROWN -- Glory and righteousness




• COBRA -- Death (an Egyptian influence)




• DEATH'S HEAD -- With soul effigy over mouth (early New England motif)




• EYE -- Divine wisdom




• FATHER TIME -- Old man with a beard




• FLOWERS -- Impermanence
  CALLA LILY -- Majestic beauty
  DAISY -- Youth
  MORNING GLORY -- Resurrection
  LILY -- Purity, chastity, flower of Virgin Mary
  PANSY -- Humility
  ROSE/ROSETTE -- Love
  SHAMROCK -- Holy Trinity or Ireland
  THISTLE -- The fall of man




• FRUIT -- Fertility and abundance
  GRAPES -- Fertility and sacrafice

Did you know ... that a block of styrofoam will clean moss and soil debris from old tombstones and will not damage the stone?

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