Funny to Death: A cemetery with funny drawings and sarcastic verses

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

"About the dead, or good or nothing," - this is how the well-known proverb says. But the inhabitants of a small Romanian town Sapanta probably do not know about it. They pay tribute to the dead in a completely different way. Each grave is decorated with a tombstone with funny drawings and sarcastic epitaphs that colorfully describe the reason for the death of a person.

A strange, but very funny tradition of installing bright tombstones appeared in the town back in 1935, when a carpenter named Stan Ioan Patras at the funeral of his wife, he made an unusual gravestone for her. This fact caused a wave of indignation among the public, and a report was even written to Ceausescu himself. However, after several decades, more than 800 graves with a similar design can be counted on that site. The cemetery itself was named Cimitirul Vesel ("Merry Cemetery").

Drawings carved on oak tombstones and short epitaphs reflected the reasons why a person died, or facts from life. For example, on one of the plates you can read: “Here is my mother-in-law. If she had lived for 3 more days, then I would have been lying here. And on the tombstone belonging to a little girl who died in a car accident, angry curses are written to the one who hit her.

Stan Ioan Patras made tombstones until 1977. After the death of the carpenter, to this day, his work is continued by the student of Dumitru Pop. The "Merry" cemetery has become a popular attraction, without visiting which no tourist route passes.

The "Merry" cemetery is not the only picturesque place of the departed. An unusual burial site can also be found in Guatemala. Local residents paint crosses and tombstones with bright colors. Thus, they emphasize the transition of the departed to a better world.