Funeral Service Times August 2017 November 2018 | Page 49

CEMETERIES AROUND THE WORLD 49
Cemeteries
around the world
Merry Cemetery, Sâpânta
W
hile in most European
cultures the dying
process is looked
upon with a sombre
and melancholy eye,
in Romania, at Sapânta’s Merry Cemetery,
they do things a little differently. The first
of its iconic epitaphs was sculpted in 1935
by Stan Ioan Patras, a local artist who was
looking to add some humour to the funeral
profession. Patras sculpted and inscribed
each colourful epitaph with a humorous or
lighthearted poem, the themes and events
of the lives of the dead took centre stage in
his work with their working and social lives
documented. During his life it is thought that
Patras created over 800 epitaphs, at first
he worked anonymously, however by 1935,
Patras’ secret was out and the colours in his
work began to become more significant. The
blue used frequently by Patras was coined
as ‘Sapânta blue’ by art experts, the other
colours used by the artist also had high
significance with green representing life,
yellow symbolising fertility, red representing
passion and black for death. The cemetery’s
celebratory approach to death is derived
from the local Dacian culture which sees
death celebrated as part of evolution with
historic Dacians even laughing as the coffin
made its way into the cemetery. Dacians
believe in the immortality of the soul
meaning that in dying, leading to a sense of
anticipation for a better life from the friends
and family of the deceased.
Today the cemetery is an open air
museum and workshop and is a popular
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NOVEMBER 2018