Funerial social distance, May 13 west Michigan

Late afternoon Wednesday more than a dozen people gathered at the burial ground next to the hole in the ground that had been prepared for interment. Most were wearing masks to keep from transmitting the water droplets of their breath or talking or praying or singing or crying. A line of personal automobiles lined the access lane to the left of this picture taken at the streetside western boundary to the cemetery. The graveyard appears to be city owned, since the municipal symbol appears at the entrance road and the bright yellow vehicles in this photo belong to the city: backhoe to excavate the sandy ground, and the hydraulic liftbed truck to hold the sand to be returned to the grave after the body of the deceased is laid to rest.

click image for larger display: black hearse bearing the casket at left (5/2020)

At the end of the ceremony the bereaved family and friends stepped to the side to allow the liftbed truck to line up and the workers to guide the stream of backfill into the grave, burying the casket for all time. Then the mourners arranged some hanging baskets (on the ground for now and later to be retrieved as memory of the occasion to be cared for and displayed at home), as well as wreath stand. Each of the attendees left a single cut spring flower to dress the grave.

With the precautions to minimize transmission of the coronavirus during this pandemic, in addition to most people wearing masks, for the most part everybody kept their distance from each other (social distancing) - about six feet. At least one group photo was taken, though, in which some of the people pushed together to fit into the composition frame. According to radio reporting, funeral parlors have allowed visitors to pay their last respects at set intervals to keep physical distance and time gaps between each person. And in churches, too, funeral attendees have been limited to remote viewing (online streaming or recorded view) and/or physical spacing in the worship hall by blocking some of the pews to create buffers between those seated.

The full-size photo is online at https://www.flickr.com/photos/anthroview/49897923666 and the grave photo is at https://www.flickr.com/photos/anthroview/49898233317

flag avenues

Evening view of Mt. Rest Cemetery on May 30, 2014 in St. Johns, Michigan 48879

So far there are 570 flags at the city cemetery, “Mt. Rest,” in St. Johns, Michigan. Four times a year the poles and flags are unfurled: Memorial Day (not the 3 day weekend that varies its date each year, but rather the May 30 date of the traditional Civil War holiday), Independence Day on July 4, Labor Day (the first Monday of September), and Armistice Day (the World War I cessation of hostilities, November 11). This panorama stitches 2 photos to show the view south and east from the paved road that runs along the west side of the 1919 era mausoleum located at the center of the present grounds, but at its beginning it was near the eastmost edge of the burials made between the early years of the city in 1856 and 1919. Tombstones of that early time often were large, while those of the recent generations are normally more modest. Some burial grounds specify flush to the ground must be made to facilitate easy lawn mowing.

    What will future observers and inquiring minds think about the ceremonial handling of the national flags, the Memorial Day speech-making and frequent references to “freedom” [but whose? and under what terms] and “freedom is not free” (but rather has been paid for in the blood of the draftees and volunteers and career soldiers and sailors and aircrews).
--see also video clips from the remembrance ceremonies

--see also the July 2016 display:
Avenue of Flags - set of cemetery festooned with U.S. flags
[at Memorial Day and again at Independence Day the hundreds of flags are placed]

http://miserybay.usanethosting.com/indylite/archives/3460 =article
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lywSMljkiTU =slideshow of scenes

Cemetery for Civil War Veterans (& spouses) in Grand Rapids, Michigan

Graves continue up to the present day. The original design has expanded, according to the historical plaque at the east gate, adjacent to the Grand Rapids Home for Veterans, just south of River Park (on the Grand River) and west of I-196 and the Plainfield exit [photos as of May 15, 2013; playback time 1:56].

view this clip at 640x480 pixels at youtube, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWomtYQ9ESA