Graveyards - Cemeteries

Ardara - Rich and Poor

Family Guinness and Family Gough, close together, but what a difference. It is said, in death we are all equal, may be, but the memorials still keep the way of life, people had before. The huge cemetery of Ardara in County Donegal is built in steps up the hill. Many graveyards are covered with coloured stones, one in blue, another in yellow, even pink, and people exchange colours (or just take them from other graves) to create stony mosaics.

Ardara - In loving Memory

St. Brigid's Cross as a symbol of eternal life can be found on many graves. It's touching to walk Irish cemeteries and read the very personal signs, people leave on the graves. This one reads:
 
'Times goes by without you.
And days turn into years.
Each moment holds a memory.
And many silent tears.'

Dublin - Michael Collins

One of the most famous graveyards in Ireland is the one of Michael Collins, who obviously was killed by his own people. Since he signed the contract, which yielded a division into Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland his old friends turned against him, not comprehending, it was the only chance to have freedom for at least one and the bigger part of Ireland. Times have changed and the question of a reunion is discussed in both parts.

Dublin - Michael Collins

When I visited his grave at Glasnevin Cemetery in Dublin on a rainy and dull October morning with a white rose in my hands, looking at the little statue that shows him as soldier and the flag of Ireland, a verse of the song 'They wounded old Ireland' came to my mind, written by Andy M. Stewart:

My heart it holds a vision clear
that thousands more can see
of Ireland free from hatred
and death and bigotry
where Irishman to Irishman
can in friendship clasp a hand
if we banish fright from the Ulster night
then we free old Ireland.

Killorglin - Angel

An angel is pointing to the sky as if to say:
'There's the one you are crying for.'
Angels don't seem to have a big role in Ireland. It's all about Saints, whereever you go. But some may still have experiences that make them believe to have a guardian angel or that angels are the intermediators between humans on earth and the heavenly world.
John Ward, a poet who was born in Donegal, wrote a shortstory about little Brian's Guardian Angel.

Clonfert - Childs Grave

No one can get close to the grave on the old cemetery in Clonfert, County Offaly. It was obviously built for a child, who wasn't buried in the ground, but laid down in a coffin of stone. Roses and weeds sprawl all over the ground. The fence around the memorial comes across as repelling sign. Strange.

St. Dervla

A new and an old graveyard are situated at the feet of St. Dervla chapel, a ruin actually near Fallmore on the Mullet Peninsula, County Mayo. An Irish saying goes like:
"Whereever you are in this wide world, may you be back to the Isle of Green before you are going to die."
Well, I am German, but to be burried right beneath the Irish Atlantic Ocean, when my time has come, is my secret dream.

St. Dervla

The old burrial ground of St. Dervla is in big contrast to any German cemetery, where every grave looks the same. Stones have to have almost same size, stand in the same direction, more a maths game than a place of individuality. It's the most boring architecture, Germany has to offer.
Graves and stones on old burrial grounds in Ireland would never be removed. They are kept in respect and as long as the inscription on the old stones is readable, they are a source for ancestry researches.
A cemetery is a history of people - a perpetual record of yesterday and a help for all, who search for their roots. But a cemetery is also a sanctuary of peace and quiet today, a place where the mind can rest and the fear of death fades away.

St. Dervla - Auntie

Pretentious kitsch, some may say. To cover a grave with all the plasticflowers in pink might not be everybodies taste. But it's just one way of many to deal with the loss of a beloved person. Some take it sentimental.

St. Dervla - Brother and Sister

Two children are burried under simple white stones. Patrick, a baby of 9 months was buried in 1953 and Kathleen, a girl of 10 years, died 6 years after the brother. The chasteness is touching.
At the end of the second world war, Irish health care was a disaster. The infant death-rate was the worst in the whole of Europe. During the previous fifty years other European countries had at least halved the death-rate in opposite to the situation in Ireland 2001.

Belmullet - Traveller's Memorial

The memorial tells about a tragedy, that happened in the year 2000 in Belmullet, County Mayo. Two traveller children drowned with a little boat.

Belmullet - Memorial

Only four weeks later a family of Belmullet, shared the same destiny. The two sad stories are to read on an extra page as a memorial and in honour both families.