Places of the Dead and the Living: A Study of Cemetery Religious Symbolism as Funerary Expressions of Religiosity
Places of the Dead and the Living: A Study of Cemetery Religious Symbolism as Funerary Expressions of Religiosity

Summary/Abstract: This study examines attitudes towards the afterlife and the death of close relatives of the deceased. The research focuses on cemeteries and tombstones, understood as places that can provide information about the bereaved’s funerary expressions of religiosity. We have focused through the perspective of the academic study of religion (Religious Studies) on two Central European regions, specifically along the borders of the Czech Republic, with different levels of declared religiosity. These regions were influenced by different national (Czech, German, and Polish) and religious groups (especially Catholic and Protestant). In total, we have documented almost 10,000 gravestones and developed a quantitative method for the data processing. Our study confirmed the correlation between funeral expressions and declared religiosity as revealed in the Censuses. The research also proved that it is possible to track changes in such expressions over time, as well as differences among national attitudes. Moreover, our results suggest the suitability of the research method for studying relatively small localities rather than large areas with huge populations.

• Details
• Contents