California Genealogy and
History Archives
Cemetery Symbols
Cemetery symbols used by
stone carvers and monument companies from the 1700s 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 -- angels of heaven,
trumpeting they accompany the soul heavenward announcing 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.
- CHERIBUM -- guardians of a sacred
place, servants of God; divine wisdom or justice.
- COCKS -- fall from grace and
resurrection.
- COFFIN -- coffins, skulls, pickaxe
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 sacrifice.
Hint: Did you know...that a block
of Styrofoam will clean off moss
and soil debris from old tombstones and will not damage the stone?
|