Cemetery Picnic: Why Food and Relaxation at Burial Grounds in the 19th Century Became Fashion in the United States

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

For many people, the cemetery is associated exclusively with a place of sorrow and sorrow. But in the United States, only a century and a half ago, it was in the cemeteries that real picnics were held. And here young people met, relatives communicated with each other, and they just went to dinners arranged at family plots with the graves of the dead. This tradition was especially popular in the late 19th - early 20th centuries.

Cemetery as a recreation area

In the 19th century in the United States, people often gathered in cemeteries to relax and dine in peace. One of the reasons for choosing such an exotic vacation spot was simple: at that time, many municipalities simply did not have proper recreation sites, and the territory of the cemeteries was always well-groomed and really looked like modern parks. Only with numerous gravestones in the territory.

In Dayton, Ohio, women could ceremoniously wave umbrellas as they strolled between graves on their way to their site at Woodland Cemetery. And in New York, residents walked leisurely through St. Paul's Churchyard (Lower Manhattan), carrying baskets filled with all kinds of food.

The second reason for the appearance of the "fashion fad" was more sad: at that time epidemics of various diseases were raging in the country, there was a high infant mortality rate, and often women could not stand childbirth. Death was such a frequent guest in many families that only in the cemetery could people calmly talk and dine with their family or friends. At the same time, they “visited” their deceased relatives.

Family members came to celebrate Thanksgiving with their deceased father or bring gifts to the cemetery on Mother's Day. They took with them not only sandwiches and other snacks, but even spirit lamps so that they could boil tea or coffee.

Historical precedent

If in cities the old cemeteries were usually located on the territory belonging to the church, then new places of rest appeared outside the city and were designed as beautiful parks, conducive to relaxation.

Already at that time, America attracted immigrants, for whom the commemoration of the dead in the cemetery with food was a national tradition. It was widespread: in Russia and Germany, in Guatemala, Greece and other countries, and today it is customary to eat food with the dead on holidays and special days of remembrance.

Many older Americans viewed this tradition as a "terrible celebration" and a real barbarism. But young Americans continued to picnic in the cemetery. True, a little later the question arose about the proper behavior in places of rest.

Cemetery etiquette

The wide spread of the tradition led to the fact that many cemeteries were literally littered with garbage, and in some cases even police intervention was required in order to pacify overly amused fans of this kind of entertainment.

True, there were also supporters of spending time in the cemetery, especially noting the optimism of people who find a reason for joy even in such sad circumstances. All that was required of the picnickers was decent behavior and careful cleaning of the trash after themselves.

However, over time, the tradition of picnicking in a place of mourning became less and less popular. Medicine has stepped forward, mortality has dropped significantly, and parks and squares have appeared in cities, where you can arrange real family holidays, meetings with friends and relatives, and decent catering establishments have become more widespread and accessible to the population.

Nevertheless, in some cities in the United States, you can still have a picnic in a cemetery, observing all the same simple rules: decent behavior and cleaning up the trash after you. Failure to comply with at least one of them can lead to serious punishments that will affect all participants in the "sweet" celebration. It is worth remembering that such a pastime is allowed on the territory of far from every cemetery, and this applies more to places where family members of those whose relatives once arrived from countries with traditional commemorations of relatives at their graves are laid to rest.

Every country and even every city has its own laws and prohibitions, sometimes quite strange. In China, for example, you can't watch time travel movies, and in Singapore you can't buy chewing gum without a doctor's prescription. But all this is small compared to the fact that in some places it is strictly forbidden by law to die.