Rituals of Death - From Prehistoric Times to Now written by Stan Beckensall
and published by Pen & Sword Books - £20 - Hardback - Pages 176
Burial customs change, so the book includes a section on events such as the Black Death and cholera to show how such catastrophes change people's minds and customs.
The present problem of burial has been highlighted as it was then by the horror of an invisible disease, the effects of which we have to cope with. In the past the causes of the disease, when discovered, led to Public health inquiries into the causes, and to improvements in some burial grounds. The traditional burial in “God's little Acre' around a church provides with much information about people through their headstones and other monuments – something accessible to all who visit our churches today, and examples from Northumberland give a typical range of what we find there.
They say never judge a book by its cover, so my first impression was that this might be a bit of a bleak read due to its subject matter. Far from it, this book was interesting, revealing and very comprehensively research, thought out and written. The book goes from the prehistoric times of stone circles and mounds to more formal gravestones we see today. But that is only part of the story because the book looks at the rituals and the ways we celebrate life and death. For example, if you were a warrior you’d be buried in a shallow grave with your weapons and shield to show you were a warrior in life. Today this can’t really happen and so the gravestones have become more elaborate in look and design, therefore the gravestone tells the story of the person through text and ‘add ons’. An excellent and fascinating book that has been beautifully written but not in an overly sensible way. The pictures throughout the book are brilliant and actually tell the story, I’ve now learnt to look at the whole headstone including the back. I thoroughly recommend this book to all.