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Social Studies
 On this stone is carved an urn and a willow tree. To learn what these and other symbols found on gravestones represent click on the stone!
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Nancy and John Laughton
1850
Lancaster, Massachusetts |
"Within each community, cemeteries are among the most fascinating, richest, and often the most neglected sources of historical information. The age of the community, its ethnic composition and the impact made by immigration can be determined by 'reading' gravestones. The style of headstones, the symbolism of their art, and their inscriptions reflect religious beliefs, social class and values, as well as cultural change over time. The cemetery field trip and the related classroom activities described in this lesson will allow students to tap this source of information and thus gain a better understanding of their community."
History Comes Alive in the Graveyard is a site from the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation which provides a series of 6 lessons which can be adapted for grades four through twelve.
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| Joseph Palmer
1873
Leominster, Massachusetts |
Persecuted for wearing a beard? Imagine coming across a gravestone that displays an inscription of a person who was "persecuted" for wearing a beard back in the 1800's! Here's a gravesite that proves to be an interesting study of the times. Click here to read about Joseph Palmer.
This gravesite is a good example of how cemeteries can be used to study the culture of the past. Was it very common for men to wear beards back in the 1800's? Why was this man looked down on by family or community for the beard that he wore?
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| Día de los Muertos
Photo of an Altar
Mexico |
All cultures have customs for burying, remembering, and honoring their deceased. In the United States, on October 31, we celebrate Halloween which can be a scary time. In Mexico El Día de los Muertos is celebrated. To provide students with the culture of Mexico and valuable practice using the Internet as a research tool, have them click on the picture and visit this wonderful, award winning and graphically rich site! The site is written in Spanish which will also provide an opportunity for students whose first language is Spanish to interpret the site for others and become classroom experts. It is also a perfect site for Spanish world languages.
Information at this site includes:
- General information about the celebration
- The celebration before the arrival of the Spanish (Prehistoric Mexico)
- The celebration after the conquest (Colonial Mexico)
- The celebration in Mexico today
- The celebration of Halloween in The United States
- Foreign influences on the celebration
- The celebration in the state of Quer&eactue;taro
- The celebration in Santiago de Quer&eactue;taro
- A description and pictures of the altars.
For English only speakers, Altavista's Babelfish provides an approximate translation.
 For excellent lessons about Mexican culture and also for Spanish as a Foreign Language, visit this page. Click on the Mexican flag to learn more about it's symbolism.
For beginning Spanish students and home economics classes here is a recipe for Pan de Muertos or Bread for All Soul's Day!
For six excellent lessons, all written in Spanish, to explain El Día de los Muertos and its cultural implications, see these activities
reproduced here with the permission of their autor Consuelo Manríquez.
Science
Physical and Chemical Weathering are two environmental processes that can easily be studied in local cemetaries. Changes caused by these forces occur over a long period of time.
As a result, older cemeteries are ideal places to study the effects of weathering. Click here to see some examples of these and plan a trip to a local cemetery to gather your own evidence of these environmental processes.
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