Topic 89 of 92: American Folkways
Thu, Jul 31, 2003 (12:09) |
Marcia (MarciaH)
Don, this topic is for you. You are its inspiration and the reason for being.
3 responses total.
Topic 89 of 92 [Geo]: American Folkways
Response 1 of 3: Marcia (MarciaH) * Thu, Jul 31, 2003 (12:20) * 164 lines
Response 1 of 6: Marcia (MarciaH) * Tue, Aug 20, 2002 (21:50) * 3 lines
As soon as I get my CuteFTP reinstated (pay for it) I will post things archaeological about America instead of
burying them in the world-wide archaeolgy topic. Watch for me. I'll be right back!!
Thanks, Don! You suggested the perfect title. *HUGS*
Response 2 of 6: Curious Wolfie (wolf) * Tue, Aug 20, 2002 (22:16) * 1 lines
so what is american folksways? duh! marcia, you just told us above! *laugh* maybe we oughta have topics for
specific areas or continents? whatdaya think?
Response 3 of 6: Marcia (MarciaH) * Tue, Aug 20, 2002 (23:10) * 1 lines
Rob had New Zeland. Julie has the Cascades. John has topics for his research. Absolutely, if anyone is interested,
please create a useful topic to which you are willing to contribute. I cannot know everything so I wish to learn
from your interests. That is a great idea, Wolfie!
Response 4 of 6: Marcia (MarciaH) * Wed, Aug 21, 2002 (23:04) * 1 lines
Please do not think I am departing Geo for other topics. I can find something of nature in just about anything.
Geology and folkways? Absolutgely Yes. I will shortly work on posting grave houses. They are made of things
mined from the Earth. Ever see a cast Zinc headstone? I managed to find 5 different styles in one cemetery in
Indiana a few days ago. They look brand new! It was with great astonishment that I found they had been in the
ground as long as the people whose lives they marked. More to come!
Response 5 of 6: Marcia (MarciaH) * Fri, Sep 20, 2002 (07:16) * 41 lines
This perhaps falls under archaeology - and what really does not?!
English armour found at old US base
An armour breastplate has been found which could date
from earliest days of English presence in what is now the
US.
It was found at the site of a fort built when the Jamestown
settlement was founded in 1607.
It was found in a well which archaeologists have been
excavating for weeks.
The brick-lined well, found earlier this summer, also is
thought to date from the early period of Jamestown, the first
permanent English settlement in North America.
The armour was found sitting upright about three feet below
the surface and was in remarkably good condition, said
William Kelso, director of archaeology for the Association
for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities and a leader of
the Jamestown project in Virginia.
Evidence suggests the well was used as a rubbish dump
after it outlived its usefulness as a water source.
The armour and other artifacts recovered from the well may
help paint a picture of life for early settlers.
"The English found themselves in a strange new land,"
Kelso said. "Some of the equipment they brought was
useful and some was obsolete. They had to adapt to their
environment.
"What we're discovering is the process by which
Englishmen became Americans."
Story filed: 17:32 Thursday 19th September 2002
http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_674246.html?menu=news.scienceanddiscovery.archaeology
Response 6 of 6: Marcia (MarciaH) * Mon, Jul 28, 2003 (11:10) * 47 lines
This article I am posting because this practice still exists in the more rural areas of the US.
Question: Why do we place pebbles on grave stones?
by Rabbi Tom Louchheim
Answer:
There is no clear answer to this question. We can only guess as to the origins of this tradition.
1. An early Midrash Lekah Tov (also known as Pesikta Zutra) 35:20 relates that each of Jacob's sons took a
stone and put it on Rachel's grave to make up Rachel's tomb. Here and elsewhere we learn that by placing stones
on the grave one participates in building the tombstone. We do not find any direct connection with our present
practice, but we might ask if this is an ancient memory of this tradition.
2. We learn in the Tosefot to Tractate Sanhedrin 47b (in the Babylonian Talmud), that Rabeinu Tam interpreted
the "golel"; as a large stone slab that they place on the grave as a marker and this is called the tombstone as is
written (in Genesis 29:35) "It is the tombstone of Rachel's grave."
Rabeinu Tam, the grandson of Rashi, goes on to explain that there were smaller stones that were set under the
sides of the large stone that rests on them so that it will not bear down too heavily on the deceased. These smaller
stones are called the "dofek" (upright stones upon which the large stone rests). To these smaller stones it was a
custom to attach a marker until a large slab is found, lest the place of the grave be lost.
3. Rabbi Solomon B. Freehof quotes the book Ta-amey Ha-Minagimim (The Reasons for the Customs, pp.
470-471) of late nineteenth century author, Ithak Sperliing: "We put grass and pebbles on the grave to show that
the visitor was at the grave. It was a sort of calling card to tell the deceased that you have paid him a visit." (See
also Orah Haim 224:8). Furthermore, we find in the Shulhan Arukh Yoreh Deah 376:4 : Now it is practiced after
the grave is covered to pluck up grass or pick up a stone and put them on the gravestone, which is only for the
honor of the deceased that the grave was visited. (See Freehof, Reform Responsa for our Time, 1977, pp.
291-293).
A contemporary respondent, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, confirms this custom, relying on Eliyahu Rabba 224:7 as his
source (Responsa YabiaOmer IV, Yoreh Deah 35).
In former days one did not mark a grave with marble or granite with a fancy inscription, but one made a cairn of
stones over it. Each mourner coming and adding a stone was effectively taking part in the Mitzvah of matzevah
("setting a stone") as well as or instead of levayat ha-meyt ("accompany the dead"). Of course, the dead were
often buried where they had fallen, before urbanization and specialization of planning-use demanded formal
cemeteries. Nowadays one can no longer bury a relative in the back garden, or on their farm, nor may a deceased
traveler be interred by the roadside.
Therefore in our day one tends to stick a pebble on top of the tombstone as a relic of this ancient custom, and it is
still clear that the more stones a grave has, the more the deceased is being visited and is therefore being honored.
Each small pebble adds to the cairn - a nice moral message. This has become slightly spoiled by the cemetery
authorities clearing accumulated pebbles off when they wash down the gravestones and cut the grass.
There is a custom of plucking grass from the cemetery. The Chief Rabbi of Safed, Moshe ben Yosef Trani,
(1500- 1580) stated that we pluck the grass after the burial as a reminder of the resurrection. The idea stems from
Psalm 72:18: They shall spring up as the grass of the field.
If you prefer, there is a psychoanalytic explanation of this custom. Dr.Theodor Reik explains:
People in different parts of the world believed that the soul of the deceased haunts the grave for a long time. On
account of that continued fear, prehistoric men rolled great rocks in front of to graves, so that boulders should
prevent the dead from escaping and plaguing living relatives.
If so, what is the role of the small stones?
Reik elucidates: The many small pebbles form a substitute for the one big boulder. It is as though the survivor who
had visited the grave of a relative and so exhibits his piety to the dead, protects himself from their envy or hostility
by putting those stones in their abode, preventing the dead from escaping. (Theodor Reik, Pagan Rites in Judaism,
1964, pp. 44, 48.)
My colleague, Rabbi Andrew Straus offers the following explanation:
Ritual is a way of expressing our emotions and spiritual needs. We need physical acts to express these things for
us, to make them concrete.
Placing a stone on a grave does just that. It works in several ways:
1) It is a sign to others who come to the grave when I am not there that they and I are not the only ones who
remember. The stones I see on the grave when I come are a reminder to me that others have come to visit the
grave. My loved one is remembered by many others and his/her life continues to have an impact on others, even if
I do not see them.
2) When I pick up the stone it sends a message to me. I can still feel my loved one. I can still touch and be
touched by him/her. I can still feel the impact that has been made on my life. Their life, love, teachings, values, and
morals still make an impression on me. When I put the stone down, it is a reminder to me that I can no longer take
this person with me physically. I can only take him/her with me in my heart and my mind and the actions I do
because he/she taught me to do them. Their values, morals, ideals live on and continue to impress me - just as the
stone has made an impression on my hands - so too their life has made an impression on me that continues.
http://www.templesanjose.org/JudaismInfo/time/Life_Cycle/pebbles.htm
Topic 89 of 92 [Geo]: American Folkways
Response 2 of 3: Marcia (MarciaH) * Thu, Jul 31, 2003 (12:22) * 1 lines
Now that I will be posting the real information and posting pictures I took, I wanted it spelled right.
Topic 89 of 92 [Geo]: American Folkways
Response 3 of 3: Marcia (MarciaH) * Thu, Jul 31, 2003 (13:58) * 1 lines
And, when one dedicates a whole topic to someone special, it should ne a perfect as I can possibly make it. *;)
Geo conference 
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