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Taphophilia (dot) Com...
A repository of morbid curiosities:
Thanatology and Taphophile Issues, Cemetery,
Funeral Industry and Death Related News.
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Guardians of the Soul: Angels and Innocents, Mourners and Saints, Indiana's remarkable cemetery sculpture
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West Springfield Massachusetts: Stories Carved in Stone by Rusty Clark features information on early New England gravestone carvers with more than two hundred photos and illustrations. Please visit the Dog Pond Press website.
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A procession rich in symbols, some stretching back centuries |
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Written by DeadGirl
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Wednesday, 09 June 2004 |
By LISA HOFFMAN
June 8, 2004
CORRECT: The soldier will use his right hand to guide the rider-less horse.
The rituals and symbols of a presidential state funeral reach back as far as Genghis Khan, providing a rich tableau for a stirring ceremony that the nation has not witnessed for more than 30 years.
With its caisson, cannons and caparisoned horse, the official national farewell to the late President Ronald Reagan, which begins Wednesday evening in Washington, is at heart an elaborate military operation planned down to the smallest of meaningful details.
The script is contained in a 130-page Army document that has been refined over the 139 years since the first national presidential funeral was cobbled together on the fly in 1865 for Abraham Lincoln, killed by an assassin's bullet.
Each element of Reagan's funeral procession, which is slated to begin at 6 p.m. EDT sharp and proceed at precisely 20 mph up Constitution Avenue to the U.S. Capitol, will carry with it both historic significance and roots from the earliest days of the republic.
Here's a look at some of the state funeral customs that will be present Wednesday in the first such somber event since the 1973 full-honors funeral of former President Lyndon B. Johnson:
- Flag-draped coffin. According to a history compiled by the Military District of Washington, this practice began during the Napoleonic Wars, when battlefield casualties were wrapped in flags. Today, the U.S. flag is arranged on the casket so the blue field of stars representing the 50 states is over the left shoulder of the deceased, near his heart.
- Horse-pulled caisson. This tradition is believed to have begun in the 1800s, when horse-drawn caissons (or wagons) that pulled artillery pieces also were used to cart the dead from battle.
The Old Guard Caisson Platoon of the Military District of Washington's 3rd Infantry Regiment will use an oak-and-iron caisson built in 1918 and designed to lug 75-mm cannons, ammunition and tools to war. (When new 56-inch wheels are needed now, the Army hires Amish craftsmen in Pennsylvania to build them.)
Pulling the black caisson will be six black horses matched in color and size. They are a mixed breed created by combining huge, easygoing Percherons with agile, tough Quarter horses.
The horses are grouped into three pairs, and although all six are saddled, only the ones on the left carry riders. That follows the old wartime practice of using three of the horses to carry their feed and other provisions. The riders, who train using the same manuals employed by Army artillerymen through World War I, wear Army blue uniforms with riding breeches, boots and spurs.
Another matched horse bearing the unit's commander walks to the left of the lead pair of horses.
- Caparisoned, or rider-less, horse. Following the caisson will be a single black horse, saddled but led by a soldier on foot. In the saddle's stirrups will be a pair of black boots arranged so the heels face forward. This tradition, begun at Lincoln's funeral, represents a fallen warrior facing the troops he never will lead again.
Attached vertically to the saddle will be a ceremonial saber. A black wool blanket will lie under the saddle. One of the reins will be attached to the saddle's pommel. Using his right hand, a soldier will guide the horse, gripping the other rein precisely six inches from its bit.
This custom is believed to have its distant roots in the 13th-century era of Genghis Khan and the Mongols. In those days, a horse would be sacrificed to serve its dead master in the next world. As recently as 1781, during the funeral of cavalry Gen. Friedrich Kasimir at Treves, Germany, his horse was killed and deposited in his grave.
- 21-gun salute. A cannon salute of 21 rounds will roar from 105mm artillery rounds fired from the Capitol grounds, with five-second intervals between rounds.
Salutes were born from ancient practices in which guns or other weapons were lowered to allow the armies to remove their dead from the battlefield. In 17th-century Europe, three gun volleys would be fired by one side to let the enemy know that, having retrieved their fallen, they were ready to resume the fight.
In its day, the British Empire demanded that vanquished parties prove they were unarmed, and enemy warships would have to fire seven shells to ensure their seven guns were empty. As the capacity for more firepower grew, the number of rounds fired rose to 21.
Beginning in America's earliest days, one ceremonial shot was fired for each state in the union. The 21-gun salute started in 1818. By 1841, the addition of more states brought the salute to 26 guns. In 1875, the volleys dropped back to 21 to comply with new international standards.
http://www.tcpalm.com/tcp/nation_world_news/article/0,1651,TCP_1022_2949048,00.html |
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Taphophilia?
taphophilia (taf′ō-fil′ē-ă)
ORIGIN:
From the Greek words taphos, meaning "tomb" or "sepulcher" and philia, meaning "attraction or affinity to something, in particular the love or obsession with something"
DEFINITION: 1. An excessive interest in graves and cemeteries. 2. A love or fondness for funerals, graves, and cemeteries. 3. In psychiatry, a morbid attraction to graves and cemeteries
Quote Repository
“Where life is more terrible than death, it is then the truest valor to dare to live.” Sir Thomas Brown
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