Symbols of Our Lives

Part of a continuing series on Niles' historic Silverbrook Cemetery, provided by Friends of Silverbrook Cemetery, a group working to preserve and restore the cemetery.

NILES – A stroll through Silverbrook Cemetery is more than a relaxing walk. It is an education.

We meet those we feature in this column and are inspired to learn more about the area's history. Often such research leads us to knowing more about the region, country and even the world during their lifetimes, just as we do through our stories on local veterans.

Inscriptions tell us the details of their birth and death. We learn something of their relations and perhaps how they were thought of by the poetry or scripture chosen for the stone.

Sometimes we learn of their association with a particular organization or group as was the case with the story of the Woodsmen of the World and their members' tree trunk markers.

Now we take a look at other gravestone symbols and what the choice of these carvings might suggest.

For instance; what might the person who chose the hands shaking on the stone of Christian Nieb, who died June 6 of 1889, have been thinking?

Handshakes carved into gravestones carry a variety of meanings: greeting, goodbye, friendship, solidarity, unity and agreement and the doubling of power achieved through partnership. The right hand symbolizes the life-force or hand of power.

The shaking-hand motif can be interpreted as the deceased meeting their maker, although when an eye is associated with a hand it can symbolize clairvoyance. For some reason the two hands are always depicted as men's hands even in the event of a woman's grave.

While a lamb on a stone often depicts the death of a child, some graves seem protected by more common pets. As in life, a carving or statue of a dog is a symbol of faithfulness and dogs often appear at the feet of women on medieval tomb engravings.

Loyalty, vigilance and courage continue to be represented by the canine guard in death as they were in life. In Christianity, the dog guards and guides the flock becoming an allegory of a priest.

In ancient Egypt and Greece it was believed that a dog would follow its master into the afterlife therefore becoming a companion of the dead on their crossing.

Many cultures believed that dogs were mediators with the realm of the dead as in the case of the Egyptian god Anubis with his jackal-head, who oversees embalming and weighs the heart of the dead.

A draped bed, with or without occupancy, symbolizes the death itself with drapes indicating mourning and mortality.

"During the Victorian Era, mourning was raised to an artform, especially for women," according to one website on history of graves. "Widows were expected to wear black (and, as time passed, shades of gray) for years after the death of their husband. They also donned mourning broaches and created wall ornaments made out of the hair of the deceased."

This could explain the iconic representation seen on certain headstones of a woman clutching at a cross, either kneeling or leaning on the religious symbol of death.

Some stones use quotations from hymns as epitaphs.

The common occurrence has led to the supposition by some that the mourning woman at the cross could be based on the 18th century hymn "Rock of Ages." Words of the song make this a plausible idea:

"…Thou must save, and Thou alone. Nothing in my hand I bring, Simply to thy cross I cling; Naked, come to thee for dress, Helpless, look to thee for grace: Foul, I to the fountain fly, Wash me, Saviour, or I die."

Some symbols like anchors can represent either what a person did in life – a seafaring profession – or their faith as when an anchor appears wrapped in vines designed to show firm Christian faith.

A broken column can indicate the loss of the head of the family, while a broken ring symbolizes that the family circle has been severed.

When a clock or watch is depicted the transitory nature of human existence is the theme while an hourglass suggests mortality and the swiftness of time. Sands running out represent the cycle of life and death and heaven and earth. In Christianity it personifies temperance and gives the hourglass wings the representation is that of a short life.

The common key takes on a number of meanings. In Catholicism it is a papal emblem of the keys to the gates of heaven as opposed to Greek mythology when the opposite was the case. In Judaism the key of god controls both birth and death. In Japan it is the key to happiness.

A dove with a key suggests the spirit opening the gates of heaven. Ancient Egyptians gods were depicted holding the ankh from the top as if it were a key possibly to immortality.

Whether seen as the key to insight or simply decorative artwork, the carvings and sculptures within Silverbrook Cemetery add to its peaceful beauty.

If you would like to help discover the secrets and maintain the legacies of Silverbrook, contact: Friends of Silverbrook Cemetery c/o 508 E. Main St. Niles MI 49120, Tim and Candace Skalla at 684-2455, wskalla@sbcglobal.net, or Ginny Tyler at 684-3687, SPHINX1974@aol.com.