What does a cemetery look like in America? Why are American cemeteries so well-kept, but we have these little fences everywhere? General Lee's Rose Garden
US National Cemetery
On November 22, 1963, shots rang out in Dallas, Texas, fatally wounding John F. Kennedy, the 35th President of the United States of America. Half an hour after the shots were fired, the president died, and a shocked America plunged into deep mourning. John Kennedy's body was transported to Washington, and then the coffin was placed on the same gun carriage on which he committed his death in 1945. last way Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and was transported from the White House to the Capitol to the stern beat of drums. Day and night, an endless stream of people came here through the Rotunda Hall - congressmen and farmers, workers and housewives, students and employees... The late president’s wife with her son and daughter, relatives and new president USA - Lyndon Johnson.
Three days later, John Kennedy's funeral took place. A platoon walked ahead of the funeral procession Marine Corps, six horses carried a carriage with a coffin, followed by Jacqueline Kennedy, the brothers of the late president and high-ranking representatives from different countries. The bells rang dully, and hundreds of thousands of people bowed their heads in mournful silence.
John Kennedy's final resting place was Arlington Cemetery, located in Washington on the other side of the Potomac River. The President was buried on the hillside - right opposite the massive cemetery gates, and the Eternal Flame was lit above his grave.
The history of Arlington Cemetery dates back to before the American Civil War. The land on which it is now located was bought in 1778 by John Parke Custis, the adopted son of George Washington, the future first president of the United States. On his 1,100-acre plantation, he built a house with six heavy columns, called it Arlington House, and built a memorial in which he housed the world's largest collection of artifacts related to George Washington. Three years later, John Parke Custis died, and George Washington adopted the youngest of his four children: a son and a daughter.
The boy was named George Washington Park Custis. From him Mary Ann Randolph Custis was born, who later turned out to be the heir to the Arlington House estate. She married General Robert E. Lee and lived with him on the estate for more than 30 years. When the threat of civil war became imminent, the Lee family left the estate. The Union of American States captured Arlington House because, bordering Washington, it had a strategically advantageous position. Brigadier General Montgomery Meigs, commander of Unionist troops in the Arlington area, had a big grudge against the Southerners, and he urgently needed a place to bury his dead soldiers. He convinced the federal government to set aside 200 acres of Lee's estate for a cemetery, and the estate soon began burying wounded men who were dying at a nearby military hospital. It is said that the first Confederate soldier to be buried in Arlington Cemetery was in 1864. That same year, the federal government confiscated the land and officially turned it over to the military for a cemetery, and General Montgomery Meigs ordered burials near the house itself so that the former owners would not be able to return after the war.
There was a very curious reason for the confiscation of land: during the Civil War, a law was invented according to which the owners of estates in the territories of the rebel states occupied by the northerners had to appear in person to pay taxes. The Washington-Lees did not appear and did not pay taxes. It is not known how widely this law was generally applied, but in in this case The decision to confiscate Arlington House was made on the initiative of the Minister of Defense.
After the war, General Robert E. Lee, who commanded the Southern army during the Civil War, found himself without a livelihood with his wife and seven children and accepted the position of president of Washington College in Lexington. The hypothetical rights to the Custis estate passed to his eldest son, George Washington Custis Lee, who also served in the Civil War on the side of the South. He accused the federal government of illegally invading his land and won his case in the Supreme Court. After this, in 1883, he agreed to sell the national military cemetery home country for $150,000 and gave up the idea of living in Arlington House.
After the Civil War, Arlington Cemetery was used only for the burial of the poor and unknown persons, but now it has become an honorable burial place for veterans and their families. While neither the oldest nor the largest, it is nevertheless the most famous memorial complex USA. 230,000 American veterans and their families are buried here on 612 acres of land. From Pierre Lanfant, George Washington's aide-de-camp, to the servicemen killed in Operation Desert Storm, Arlington Memorial Cemetery contains the remains of veterans from every military conflict in which the United States has been involved.
Only those killed in action, with 20 years of military service or certain military decorations, and their spouses and family members may be buried in a U.S. National Cemetery. An honor guard carries a covered coffin national flag, and during the burial a gun salute is fired and the bugler sounds the all-clear.
However for a long time Americans did not bury their black heroes in Arlington Cemetery. Only 80 years after the First World War, the command of the American army finally decided to honor the black soldier, who, with his heroism, earned a place in the country's national cemetery.
The 369th Infantry Regiment, consisting of black soldiers, was transferred to the French command by the Americans, who considered that the Harlem Hell Warriors were a disgrace to the American army. In May 1918, Sergeant Henry Johnson repelled an attack by 24 German soldiers who had attacked a forward observation post. He had only grenades, a rifle and a homemade machete, but he saved his comrade N. Roberts, who was attacked by three Germans, and forced the rest of the enemy soldiers to retreat.
Henry Johnson was awarded the French Croix de Guerre for his bravery, but was never awarded the award in the United States because of the color of his skin. The American nation did not recognize the feat of Sergeant G. Johnson, and in 1929 he died in poverty. Even now, the Army command is reluctant to award him its highest honor, the Congressional Medal of Honor. When it turned out that Henry Johnson was buried in Arlington Cemetery, American politicians (including Senator Hillary Clinton) launched a campaign to ensure that the brave sergeant was at least posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. But the Pentagon agreed to award him only the Distinguished Service Cross.
Numerous veteran and civilian organizations and groups hold memorial services in the cemetery's marble amphitheater. From time to time, new monuments are erected at the cemetery in memory of special categories of military personnel and veterans buried here. However, memorial monuments are erected at Arlington Cemetery not only to honor soldiers who participated in combat operations. On February 1, 2003, the American reusable space shuttle Columbia crashed upon re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere. All seven crew members died, and although the investigation into this tragedy is still far from over, America has already decided to perpetuate the memory of its heroes. NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe said: "The memorial in our homeland will serve as a reminder of the ideals of the Columbia crew: integrity, courage and the spirit of discovery."
A memorial in their honor was erected near the monument, dedicated to memory dead crew space shuttle"Challenger". This disaster, which occurred in 1986, claimed the lives of seven American astronauts.
About four million people a year visit Arlington Memorial Cemetery, where the Tomb unknown soldier There is a constant guard on duty, changing every hour. The dedication ceremony for the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was performed in 1921 by President Harding. The stone tomb containing the body of an unidentified World War I soldier buried on Veterans Day in 1921 is only the visible part of the memorial. And under the slabs adjacent to the tomb there are burials of unknown people American soldiers who died during World War II, Korean and vietnam war. Twice a year, on Memorial Day and Veterans Day, a wreath is laid at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier by the President of the United States.
Cemeteries will be transferred into private hands, fences will be banned, everyone will have the same monuments - this is only part of the “innovations” that await Russians.
This fall, at a closed (!) meeting with First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov, the idea of amending the law “On burial and funeral business” was voiced.
All that became known to journalists: Igor Shuvalov demanded that the cemeteries be transferred to private hands for a 49-year lease.
According to the officials who came up with the new law, this will make it possible to bring cemeteries into divine shape - they immediately inspected cemeteries in the Moscow region and unexpectedly (!) found out that 80% were in unsatisfactory condition. State subsidies for the maintenance of cemeteries in the amount of 242 thousand rubles. per hectare, it is generally unknown where they go. “Only 30% of the 1.3 billion rubles allocated for cemeteries in the Moscow region is used for its intended purpose,” noted the Minister of Consumer Market and Services of the Moscow Region, Ekaterina Semenova.
“Corruption has corroded the industry,” says Vladimir Slepak, a member of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation, co-chairman of the Union of Consumers of the Russian Federation. “Information about the dead is sold by both ambulances and local inspectors. We need to restore order in this industry.”
How the transfer of cemeteries into private hands will restore order is not entirely clear. But Slepak has a ready answer here: “As for the transfer of cemeteries into private hands, I don’t see anything wrong here. For the most part, Russian cemeteries have always been family burial grounds. This is a long-standing tradition, this is the memory of one’s ancestors. Unfortunately, Today the state has exhausted its capabilities in this area.”
But the participants in the discussion of this law on the Internet greeted Shuvalov’s initiative without any optimism: “The housing and communal services were handed over to private hands and what happened? Now all that remains is to hand over the cemeteries to private hands. They want to legitimize another gold mine.”
Or another comment: “Now people don’t have enough money for funerals, and even more so for a private burial.”
Ordinary citizens are afraid that “all cemeteries will be concentrated in the hands of some next moneybag.” So why won’t officials leave us alone even after death? After all, we are talking not only about the transfer of cemeteries into private hands - if there is money, then what difference does it make where it is located? Officials also plan to introduce whole line new requirements for burials.
Cemeteries in Russia are dark, overgrown with trees, lopsided fences, monuments and crosses in all sorts of ways. The USA is a different matter. There is a lawn, white monuments, all the same, like pioneers on a line.
We also need to bury our dead the way they do in America, officials say. Why?
The other day, the Minister of Consumer Market and Services of the Moscow Region, Ekaterina Semenova, said that Moscow and the region have been declared a cemetery “pilot” - from here, white monuments and lawns a la the USA will spread throughout Russia.
The dead will now have to be buried on the lawn and without any fences. If a Russian puts up a fence, a policeman will come and shake hands. The fence will be demolished, and the fence lover will be fined to discourage him.
However, for the first time, fences may be left in some places, the minister suggested. But these will be the same fences for everyone. And the monuments are certainly the same - their width and height are clearly stated in the law. So that, God forbid, no one gets out.
In a word, in Russia, before death, everyone will finally become equal.
So what do we get? “You can’t squeeze between the fences,” complained Ekaterina Semenova. And in some places the monuments stand tall and block out the light.
It was possible, of course, to take a different route - to give plots in the cemetery at a greater distance from each other. Then it would be easier to push into the cemetery. But no, this option is not suitable for our cemetery reformers. After all, the first problem of the Moscow region is the shortage of land, the minister said.
We will do it here American cemeteries- light, clean, with a lawn, we will soon be burying everyone in urns, and whoever does not want to be cremated can be placed on top of the ground directly in coffins.
This is a super-fashionable European burial - a semblance of a family castle is built, and the coffins are placed there. True, this non-standard costs a lot of money and therefore will be practiced mainly by the elite.
And plus, a seditious thought involuntarily creeps in: aren’t our officials going to spend budget money on the “dead” reform? Much money. After all, new cemeteries will be private, and old ones will have to be modernized at the expense of budgets.
For example, money will be spent on fencing all cemeteries. Without a fence, the management of the cemeteries imperceptibly, according to gray schemes, places and places the dead around the edges, explained Ekaterina Semenova.
So how much will a grave in a brand new private cemetery cost? Ekaterina Semenova explained that in developed countries A plot in a cemetery costs on average $12 - 15 thousand, in the USA - $25 - 30 thousand. And only in our incomprehensible country do they give out plots for free! This most outrages both the funeral business and officials.
There is only one nuance here - businessmen can sell off plots for crazy money, and then leave with the money to live and die in the same USA. In the meantime, the lawn areas will begin to be overgrown with weeds, identical tablet monuments will fall over, some to the right, some to the left, and the state will have to come to this former private cemetery and restore order there.
“When it is possible to buy a hectare of land for a million, then divide it into a thousand small plots, sell each plot for a million, it is not clear (when all the cream of the cemetery is skimmed) who will support it? The enterprise will safely go bankrupt, and all expenses will fall by municipality,” suggests Ekaterina Semenova.
This is most likely what will happen. Today for a good place at the cemetery, depending on the region, relatives give the cemetery management from 50 thousand to 5 million rubles into their pockets. This is shadow money. A stream diverging into thousands of pockets, into which it is impossible to get into without reform.
But with the reform, the entire country can be entangled in some kind of funeral network of private cemeteries, like food retail chains. And then money will flow like a river not into thousands of pockets, but into several. And most importantly - in the pockets you need.
A 40-minute drive from Manhattan, in a place called Nanuet, is the largest Russian cemetery. About 7,000 of our former compatriots are buried here, a small part of those Russians who once found (or tried to find) their second homeland in America. Immigration is like a millstone - it grinds everything that gets into it. And pretty soon people begin to dissolve in the new world around them and lose their roots. Most of loses. And they turn into ordinary Americans with unusual-sounding last names. Most likely, this large Russian cemetery would not have existed if not for one unifying factor - most of those buried here were Orthodox.
This is a very strange place. In general, it’s strange to see so many crosses with Russian surnames in a small town in New York State. There was just a highway, then a road to shopping center and a turn to a huge hypermarket, and right opposite, among the trees, stands an overgrown and slightly dilapidated monastery with shiny domes and a huge cemetery, where people stand in rows blocking each other orthodox crosses. Subjects of the once huge and great country, which has been gone for a long time. A country about which we know only from textbooks and books, and about the death of which we were told from childhood that it was not at all what actually happened. In these stories, the heroes became scoundrels, and the scoundrels became real heroes. Everything is so mixed up in life and in our heads that it is almost impossible to figure out who is who.
This is the most un-American cemetery I have seen in America and the most un-Russian of the Russians. The first thing that catches your eye is the absence of fences and photographs. By the way, does anyone know why plots in Russian cemeteries are usually fenced off? All my life I have been wondering where our people have such a love for fences during life and after death. So there are no fences here. Almost identical crosses made of gray granite and identical tombstones. There are no photographs or any portraits of the deceased on the tombstones. More precisely, almost none. Portraits are occasionally found on more fresh burials and very rarely on older ones. The first burials date back to the early 50s. It was then that a convent was created and a cemetery was established. What caught my eye was this unusual surnames. A lot of German ones. There are many Russified Polish ones and there is not a single one that looks like a Jewish one. Maybe there were, but I didn't see them. Even Russian surnames are somehow different. I've never heard anything like this in my life.
2. The cemetery is located on the territory of Novo-Diveevsky Uspensky convent, which belongs to the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad. You can read about the monastery on Wikipedia. 
3. The monastery was founded in the early 50s and is now experiencing far from the best best years In my life. 
4. Right behind the fence there is a huge construction supermarket building. Once upon a time, one could say about this place that it was located far from the city. After the construction of the Tappan Zee Bridge, the area began to rapidly develop and is now a nearby suburb. Now all the free land has already been somehow developed and built up. The Orthodox monastery looks somewhat alien there. 
5. It’s possible that the gray weather and the lack of greenery on the trees are to blame, but it seemed to me that everything looked a little faded and a little unkempt. It is clear that the monastery does not have enough money and labor to properly care for the buildings and grounds. 
6. Such announcements are clearly not from a good life. 
7. The inside of the main temple is clean and cozy. It was closed, but the nun kindly opened it for us and, so as not to waste time, started cleaning. 
The Orthodox Church in America is a subject for a separate discussion. It is completely different here than in Russia. In my opinion, much less commercialized and somehow closer to people. I'm not talking about religious ceremonies, but about the relationship between parishioners and the church.
8. The monastery collects donations and offers join him on facebook. 
9. Behind the monastery buildings the cemetery territory begins. There's a lot on it famous names. I didn’t set myself the task of looking for anyone, but simply walked around its territory and photographed what I found interesting. 
10. There are also two very controversial memorials in the cemetery. This is probably the most. It was installed in memory of “those who fell in the fight for free Russia", and in honor of a man who never set foot on American soil, whose ashes were poured into a ditch thousands of kilometers away. 
11. This is a memorial to “participants of the liberation movement of the peoples of Russia 1941-1945.” General Vlasov and the soldiers of the Russian Liberation Army. In fact, the majority are collaborators and traitors to the motherland who went over to the side of the enemy. All this under the Russian and St. Andrew’s flags, which were used by the ROA as symbols. 
12. There is also a chapel dedicated to the soldiers of the Russian Corps. Here everything is even more complicated than with Vlasov. The fighters of the Russian Corps were not citizens of the USSR (that is, they did not betray their country), did not go over to the side of the enemy (their enemy was communism) and fought for the freedom of Russia. But they fought by making a deal with the devil - swearing allegiance to the Fuhrer, being a unit of the Wehrmacht and the ROA (since 1944), fighting (at the end of the war) against Soviet troops and receiving awards from the hands of the Germans. You can read more about the Russian Corps on Wikipedia. 
I will refrain from making judgments because my task is to tell and show what is. Let me just remind you that the memorials were installed in a private monastery cemetery, installed in the 60s of the last century (during difficult times), and the people to whom they are dedicated have long been dead. Interesting to hear your opinion. Especially regarding the soldiers of the Russian Corps. Who are they: heroes of a disappeared country or traitors who collaborated with the enemy?
13. Now it will be clearer to you why a cross with the inscription RK is stamped on some slabs and what it means. Let's walk through the cemetery. 
14. Mstislav Lvovich Golitsin - prince, participant White movement in the South of Russia, captain of the division of His Imperial Majesty's Own Convoy. Member of the First World War. After the October Revolution of 1917 - in the white troops in the south of Russia. He was evacuated from Crimea as part of the Russian army. Participant in hostilities on the territory of Yugoslavia against the pro-Soviet partisans I. B. Tito (1941-1945) and Soviet troops (1944). Chief Lieutenant of the Wehrmacht (as of September 1944, renamed esauls in Russian service). On February 26, 1945, he was wounded in battle near the Budzhanovtsy station. After May 1945 - in Austria, from where he moved to the USA. Participated in the life of Cossack and Russian military organizations, chairman of the New York department of the Union of Officials of the Russian Corps. 
15. Son of Baron Wrangel - Peter. He worked all his life as an engineer in the field of aeronautics, engaged in the design spaceships for a flight to the moon. His mother, Olga Mikhailovna, is buried in the same cemetery. 
16. Masya and Grinya. 
17. Cadet of the Imperial Navy. 
18. Russian name and a French surname. 
19. Dobzhansky Arnold Iosifovich - Russian naval officer, staff captain in the Admiralty. Participant Civil War on the white side. During the Civil War he was in Armed Forces South of Russia. He was evacuated with Wrangel's Russian army to Turkey. Member of the Union of Naval Officers in Constantinople. Later he emigrated to the USA. 
20. Captain 2nd rank Kartavtsev Vsevolod Evgenievich. 
21. Zigern-Korn Georgy Anatolyevich - painter, graphic artist. Son of Colonel of the Engineering Troops A.I. von Siegern-Korn. From 1914 he lived with his family in Alexandropol (now Gyumri, Armenia). My father was in the active army, after the revolution he joined the White movement. In November 1920, with the army of General Wrangel, the family was evacuated to Constantinople, and from there to the Kingdom of SHS (Yugoslavia). After graduating from the Russian-Serbian gymnasium, he simultaneously entered the Faculty of Engineering and Technology at the University of Belgrade and the Academy of Arts. During the war he joined the cavalry division of General G. von Panwitz. In May 1945, the entire personnel of the capitulating division was handed over by the British Soviet authorities. Spent ten years in Stalin's camps in the Urals, Siberia and Kazakhstan. Worked in coal mines, logging, construction railway and oil pipeline. I sat with L.N. Gumilyov, the future famous historian, the son of Nikolai Gumilyov and Anna Akhmatova; with Admiral Sablin, former adjutant of Nicholas II; with the son of General Krasnov, Nikolai Krasnov, and others. In the 1950s, he was amnestied as a Yugoslav citizen and received permission to go to his family in the United States, where he worked as a draftsman and graphic artist. He painted pictures and created a series of drawings “Stalin's Gulag through the eyes of an artist.” Author of the memoir “Tales of a Bright Past.” 
22. Literary scholar, botanist and geographer. Many tombstones give the professions of the deceased. 
23. The only burial with a fence. 
24. There are only a few such stones with portraits in the cemetery. 
25. Scoutmaster. 
26. During all my time at the cemetery I met only a few people. One of them was a priest who said prayers at some of the graves. Apparently he was American. 
27.
28. Wooden tombstone. Wood is a short-lived thing. The inscriptions are almost unreadable. 
29. Wooden crypt. There are dry leaves inside and the wind is blowing. 
30.
31. While walking among the graves, I suddenly came across this epitaph written in back side stone To be honest, I got it. The author has clearly thought through the lines and their effect. 
32.Baron and Baroness Gerlach. Pioneers. Thanks to Google, I learned that Vladimir Gerlach wrote a book called “Traitor”, which tells about his participation in hostilities on the side German army during World War II. You can download it.
“I am not a traitor, neither from a legal point of view, nor from a moral point of view. Legally I am not a traitor, because I have never been a subject Soviet Union. I started fighting this bastard in St. Petersburg, continued this fight in the south, first with Kornilov, then with Denikin and finally with Wrangel. Then I left my homeland, then the Bolsheviks deprived me of citizenship, although I was never their subject. All the same, and I, a citizen, continue to fight against them now, together with the Germans, because all the time while I was abroad they continued to torture and destroy my people. Morally, I therefore consider myself obligated to help my people throw off this damned yoke. Where did you manage to find treason here?”
33. Alexey Borisovich Jordan. Son of Colonel B. Jordan. Mother, Kira Anatolyevna, born. Gudim-Levkovich, former maid of honor of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. Graduated from the First Russian Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich cadet corps in Yugoslavia. He was a vice sergeant major of the XXI class (1940-1941). Name A.B. Jordan was listed on the marble plaque of the corps for excellent success. Then he studied at the University of Belgrade. Since 1941, he served with his father in the Russian Corps, who fought against the communists in Yugoslavia. 
34. Monument dedicated to cadets. Installed in 1994. 
35.
36. Explicitly Italian surname and an Orthodox cross. 
37. I also came across this interesting combination. 
38. Icon on the artist’s grave. 
39. Warrior of the White Army.
- Russian officer, hero Russo-Japanese War(was then a 12-year-old boy), a participant in the First World War and the White movement; in exile - an active participant in the anti-communist activities of the EMRO and the reconnaissance and sabotage struggle against the USSR, a participant in the Second World War as part of the ROA. 
43. According to the decree of the People's Commissariat of Education of the RSFSR dated December 23, 1917 "On the introduction of new spelling", it was proposed to write prefixes (iz, voz, raz, roz, niz, without, through, through) before vowels and voiced consonants with "z", but replace “z” with the letter “s” before voiceless consonants, including before “s” (sorry, appeal, overthrow, weak-willed, extremely, - correct, educate, germinating seeds, part, painting, sent down, useless, striped, striped) . Immigrants did not read Soviet decrees and continued to use pre-revolutionary rules. 
44. Prince Diasamidze. 
45.
46. Zaev Alexey Nikolaevich - participant in the Russian-Japanese and First World Wars. The rank of rear admiral was awarded by General Wrangel on April 14, 1920 - “for distinction.” Since 1922 in exile in the USA. First he was a worker in Philadelphia, then he worked in a match factory in New York. He was chairman of the Society of Former Officers of the Imperial Navy in the USA. Author of the memoirs "The Beginning of the War with Japan. According to the impressions and experiences of a midshipman from a destroyer in Port Arthur" (pdf). 
47. Borodii Nikolai Dmitrievich - officer of the 42nd Yakut Infantry Regiment. Knight of St. George. In the Volunteer Army he served in the detachment of General Bredov, then in the Drozdovskaya Rifle Division. In 1920 he emigrated through Crimea to Gallipoli, then to France. Worked at an aluminum plant. Then he became DP in Ludwigsburg and left for the USA. 
48. Prince Golitsin and Baroness Tizenhausen. 
49. Everlasting memory far from eternal. 
50. Big photo You can see the cemeteries in the album on flickr. 
Of course, when visiting a foreign country, tourists rarely pay attention to such attractions as local cemeteries. Meanwhile, many of them really are unusual places worthy of the attention of travelers. Arlington national cemetery, which is located in the suburbs of the US capital, is certainly one of these.
The cemetery is old, originally soldiers who died during the Civil War of 1861–1865 were buried here. It is noteworthy that this piece of land was confiscated from General Robert E. Lee, who commanded the army of the southerners during the conflict between the North and the South. Then they began to bury unidentified soldiers and poor people here, whose relatives could not afford to choose another burial place.
However, over time, the trend changed and Arlington National Cemetery became a very prestigious place where several American presidents found their final resting place. Today, the cemetery in Arlington occupies almost three square kilometers and is one of the most famous in the city.
To get the right to be buried here, you must be a war veteran, an astronaut, a president, a chief justice of the Supreme Court, a recipient of the Medal of Honor and a Purple Heart, in general, just anyone will not be buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
Each cemetery attracts attention not so much for its monuments and memorials, but for those buried here famous personalities. Arlington was no exception - this is where John Kennedy, his wife Jacqueline, as well as brothers Robert and Edward, the famous US Secretary of State John Dulles, dozens of generals, famous military men and politicians are buried. Every year on Memorial Day and Veterans Day, Arlington National Cemetery hosts the laying of wreaths from the president of the country.
Arlington National Cemetery - PHOTO
memento Mori
Most Americans think about funerals while they are still alive. In a newspaper or on a website you can see advertisements from funeral homes (in English: Funeral house, an analogue of Russian agencies funeral services), who offer to purchase a place in the cemetery in advance with a significant discount. Private owners can also sell a place in a cemetery; if the cemetery refuses to purchase it, they can sell it themselves. Afterwards, a re-burial can be made at the site of the existing grave. Sold and family crypts. The price of mausoleums depends on its size and location. The cost of the crypt starts from 30 thousand dollars.
In this country, it is indeed customary to buy a cemetery plot in advance, since this purchase is expensive. The state can only pay the relatives of the deceased $250, and only after receiving a death certificate issued by the funeral home. Only families in need can receive the money, so the majority of Americans pay for their own funerals. Insurance payment, some time after the death of a citizen, can cover funeral costs if the death was not due to suicide.
The Protestant ethic of equality is not accessible to everyone
Funerals in the USA are a serious matter, so Americans often choose a funeral home during their lifetime, which helps book or buy a place in the desired graveyard. Funeral home specialists contact the cemetery administration to purchase or reserve a burial plot. America's churchyards are mainly located in private property. The land is either purchased or leased from the state. Therefore, prices for burials can vary significantly, but in any case the price of land in a cemetery is very high.
Each cemetery has its own traditions of decorating burials. In American cemeteries we will not find fences, massive monuments, earthen mounds, tall green spaces and colorful flowers. It is customary to install the same low marble monuments, white crosses or granite tablets. Wreaths are made from spruce branches. The spirit of equality hovers over the graves, so it is necessary to maintain the stylistic unity of the burials. These issues are also within the competence of the funeral home staff.
Funeral home
Funeral homes, as we have already said, completely take care of relatives about burial. There are quite a lot of funeral homes in America, most often they are located near cemeteries. For this reason, the choice of a funeral agency also depends on the choice of burial place. Employees funeral home take care of all the hassle associated with preparing the ceremony. After the morgue, the body is taken to the funeral home, and all further manipulations with the body are performed by its employees. They choose a funeral hall, dress the body, and even send death notices to friends and relatives of the deceased. Of course, the farewell script is drawn up taking into account the religion of the deceased. A funeral in America is not a sad event, but a calm farewell to a soul going to better world. Instead of loud lamentations and tears at funerals, one can often find restrained grief.
The body of the deceased remains in the farewell hall for 1-2 days. Usually the hall for the farewell ceremony is located in the funeral home itself, or in the hall at the crematorium, morgue, or less often at the temple of which the deceased was a parishioner. At the request of relatives, farewell can take place in the home of the deceased. For example, residents of the southeastern part of the United States still prefer home farewells. It is customary to decorate the room in the farewell hall with fresh flowers, mainly roses.
Traditionally, prices for funerals that include burial in a cemetery start from 10-12 thousand dollars.
Cremation costs from $700. Due to the low cost of cremation, this burial method is becoming increasingly popular in the United States. Environmental activists prefer so-called “green cremation,” which uses a mixture of water and potassium hydroxide instead of fire.
Funeral services can also be arranged by a funeral home. There are no standards for a funeral dinner. Usually relatives arrange a buffet for those closest to them.
Funeral homes in the USA are very profitable business. Strengthens it existing tradition delegate all work on organizing the funeral ceremony to the employees of the funeral agency. For this reason government agencies produce brochures explaining to Americans that they can save money on funerals by not using a funeral home. After all, when contacting an agency, the price can increase by 100%. Nevertheless, independent organization funerals are not very popular in the United States.
Funeral monopoly
In the US funeral business, like in any other, there is a monopoly. SCI Corporation, founded in Texas in 1962, is the largest provider of funeral services. The company owns 400 cemeteries in 43 states in America, Canada and Puerto Rico, and also owns 1,500 funeral homes. The corporation has 13,000 employees and an annual turnover of $2 billion. The company is actively buying cemeteries, funeral homes and crematoria, without advertising its activities. Acquired assets retain their former names. Often, the diversity of names does not indicate the actual diversity of service providers.
Today, some cemeteries even have their own line of souvenirs, if there is a grave in the cemetery famous person. City holidays and picnics are organized at cemeteries. People go for a morning jog along the paths of cemeteries. The crypt can be rented for a photo shoot or video filming.
As a rule, there is no financial crisis in the funeral services industry. You can purchase a cemetery plot for $5,000 or pay cremation services for $700 - the choice is yours. Only one thing is indisputable - everyone will need the services of a funeral home.
