Merry Cemetery (video)

Merry cemetery tombstones

The Merry Cemetery (Romanian: Cimitirul Vesel pronounced [t͡ʃimiˈtirul ˈvesel]) is a cemetery in the village of Săpânța, Maramureş county, Romania. It is famous for its colourful tombstones with naïve paintings describing, in an original and poetic manner, the people who are buried there as well as scenes from their lives. The Merry Cemetery became an open-air museum and a national tourist attraction.

The unusual feature of this cemetery is that it diverges from the prevalent belief, culturally shared within European societies – a belief that views death as something indelibly solemn. Connections with the local Dacian culture have been made, a culture whose philosophical tenets presumably vouched for the immortality of the soul and the belief that death was a moment filled with joy and anticipation for a better life (see also Zalmoxianism).

A collection of the epithaps from the Merry Cemetery exist in a 2017 volume called Crucile de la Săpânța, compiled by author Roxana Mihalcea [1].

The founder [ edit ]

The cemetery's origins are linked with the name of Stan Ioan Pătraş, a local artist who sculpted the first tombstone crosses. In 1935, Pătraș carved the first epitaph and, as of the 1960s, more than 800 of such oak wood crosses came into sight. The inscription on his tombstone cross says:

Romanian De cu tînăr copilaș

Io am fost Stan Ion Pătraș

Să mă ascultaț oameni buni

Ce voi spune nu-s minciuni Cîte zile am trăit

Rău la nime n-am dorit

Dar bine cît-am putut

Orișicine mia cerut Vai săraca lumea mea

Că greu am trăit în ea

English Since I was a little boy

I was known as Stan Ion Pătraş

Listen to me, fellows

There are no lies in what I am going to say All along my life

I meant no harm to anyone

But did good as much as I could

To anyone who asked Oh, my poor World

Because It was hard living in it

Funny epitaphs [ edit ]

Romanian Sub această cruce grea

Zace biata soacră-mea

Trei zile de mai trăia

Zăceam eu și cetea ea.

Voi care treceți pă aici

Incercați să n-o treziți

Că acasă dacă vine

Iarăi cu gura pă mine

Da așa eu m-oi purta

Că-napoi n-a înturna

Stai aicea dragă soacră-mea English Under this heavy cross

Lies my poor mother in-law

Three more days should she have lived

I would lie, and she would read (this cross).

You, who here are passing by

Not to wake her up please try

Cause' if she comes back home

She'll criticise me more.

But I will surely behave

So she'll not return from grave.

Stay here, my dear mother in-law!

Gallery [ edit ]

See also [ edit ]

References [ edit ]

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