zads

This is not run of the mill question and appologies to anyone who may have just lost a loved one. Me and the missiz have just got back from a sunday morning walk and while we were out we came across the local cemetary. So as you do we had a respectfull nose around. Now as most of you will know the spanish bury their dead in purpose built 'walls', but as we were nosing we came across a couple of empty chambers with the fronts open and to our surprise the chambers are only about 4 feet deep, 'errr, how do they get you in there?' i said. Now i know the spanish are not renouned for their height but most of them are more than four feet tall ! . Also over the last six months that we have been here we havn't seen a funeral cortege anywhere. Don't want to be morbid or morose but sometimes curiosity just gets the better of you, especially as cremation is not so popular, just have visions of the body being crammed in and the front bricked up, job done.

anyone?

crispy

Hello zads

What I am going to say may not be to your liking and I am sure there will be others that will tell you different but here goes. My friend is Spanish and both her parents have died her father many many years ago in Cadiz and she does not have memories of that but when her mother died she was placed in the same chamber as her dad and she told me that when they put her in they had to push very hard and she could her the bones crunching and cracking until she fitted in. Now how true this is I do not know as I have never attended a funeral here in Spain but her brother did confirm this story when I spoke with him. By the way in the case of my friends parents they were placed in strong white sacks (sure they have a name) no wooden coffins were used although they were in coffins for transporting.

poshnbucks

Those brit builders eh they were told 6 foot long They would skimp on Jordens Bust Size


Here is some info http://www.spnfuneralplans.com/deathprocedures.html


<Please do not cut and paste other peoples text as it breaches copyright, just put the link in>

Any way Mrs Posh has just swore at me though the open window to get off the something computer and to join her poolside for light refreshment and feta salad washed down with a blushed Cava. Ahhhhhhh remember there are no pockets in shrouds.You can't take it with you. I want an illegal build 7 foot long no cracking bones here thank you. Posh and company Funeral Directors We are the last to let you down................Getit

Rosemary

I always presumed that these chambers were a similar size a grave so this is news to me. What happens if the people are cremated? Do the ashed live in a pot in the chamber or is there a separate place for them?

As you say this subject can be very upsetting for people but we all do need to know what happens and what to do when someone dies.

Rosemary

Sally Simpson

That would bring a whole new meaning to 'chamber pot' now wouldn't it?

EsuriJohn

The white sacks would be "Shrouds" just as Christ had when taken down from the cross. In Spanish it seems to be Sudario but could be mortaja with amortajar being the laying out and wrapping.

The above ground burial chambers are often owned by the local authority and are only rented out per annum and when the decendants stop paying the remains are removed and the niche re-let. Or they may have a fixed time limit on the rental period. The bones are removed to an "Ossuary" crypt (bone store) at a local church. Due to cost cremation is becoming much more popular in Spain and most larger local authorities now have crematoria.

PS I think an above ground bone store were called a "Charnel House" in medieval England.

Beachcomber

I'm sure poshnbucks intended to credit their source:

http://www.andalucia.com/living/funerals.htm

scampicat

We have been to the funeral of one of the villagers who died. Couldn't see them put him into the wall as it was not right to push in front of his family and neighbours, but can say that the bricklayer was there with his bricks and cement and as soon as Emilio was put in the niche the front was bricked up, even while the family were still there mourning!

I did feel that it would have been more sensitive to wait until the family had left, but obviously things are done differently here.

Some weeks later a marble plaque appeared with his name, dates of birth and death and a religious text on it, and a place for the ubiquitous plastic flowers.

I did notice that none of the occupied niches in this tiny cemetery were dated earlier than 2002.

jdr

There is more info in Age Concern link in Free Beer.

Sally Simpson

I think this is a really interesting thread.
The cultural differences suurounding death and dying across the world are fascinating. Or perhaps I'm just morbid?

EsuriJohn

Fascinating but aren't you glad you are not Indian where "Sutti" is practised.

Sally Simpson

Not familiar with that

And perhaps I should edit my last post as I just love hearing about different rituals in diff places, hence my looking at this thread!

crafty little devils

Sutti is when a wife shows her devotion to her dead husband by jumping onto his funeral pyre......they say it still happens in remote parts of India

COWBOY_BUILDER

And when they pull her off she's " sooty"

zads

.The latest ones we saw were 1999/2000. nothing after that. And to confuse matters even more, there were a couple of 'walls' where the chambers were at least seven feet deep. Could these be for the more 'well off ' folk and they are laid to rest as we would be, as in a coffin. Also, there were umpteen chambers with two names on, mr and mrs, and these were the four foot ones. Do they then open up the grave and squash in mr or mrs died last?