Melon Tracks travel

"Mourning art"—one of the oldest (and sometimes strangest) of all art forms—exists in almost every culture. But one culture's funereal celebrations are another culture's disturbing practice, as evidenced by the typical outsider's reaction to some of Mexico's Day of the Dead decorations, and Victorian-era family photographs with dead infants. The most extreme ritual, though, belongs to the Amazonian Wari tribe, who honor their dead by slow-cooking and then completely devouring them (no doggie bags allowed).

Around the world, they honor the dead in many odd ways. Some of these peculiar rituals came into being due to the local geography. For instance, I've found in the fields of Belize graves are entirely above the ground due to the high rainfall and in southern Louisiana the same due to the sea level. Entire families are compacted generation after generation into the same tomb.

Space is always an issue in overcrowded parts of Egypt, and so housing is sometimes built on top of cemeteries, leaving some with noisy neighbors and others with dead neighbors. In Europe, many cities feature underground catacombs; when I visited the one in Paris, I had my first bout of bad claustrophobia in those cramped halls covered in skull siding.

I recently checked out the Museum of Mourning Art in Drexel, Pennsylvania (near Philadelphia). It has exhibits displaying the more craft-oriented versions of art for remembrance and bereavement, including woven German Fête Farturs and items woven from the hair of the deceased's head. Make sure to see the "cemetery gun" which was supposed to help protect against grave robbing physicians back in the good old days.

Below are three more of my favorite resting places... (Click on the photos)