Warmest greetings everyone and welcome to my blog again. The topic for today's #aprilinleo is about #epitaph. I will just discuss a general aspect of epitaph without pointing to any individual.
An epitaph is basically a phrase or statement that is written on a gravestone to commemorate the life of the deceased person.
Epitaphs can be a snapshot of someone's life, capturing their essence in just a few words, or they can be more poetic and expressive, revealing a person's life and legacy.
Whichever it is, whether short or lengthy, it's good to have them engraved on ones gravestone. At least that's the only thing they've got to be remembered for and
it seems that's the reason some people even choose to write their own epitaphs before they die.
In my own part of the world, Nigeria, the usual practice in my culture in Igbo land is to bury the dead in their hometowns, either inside their homes or at a strategic place in their compounds. During the olden times, some families usually have the image of the deceased member sculptured right beside the gravestone and with brief inscription about the person.
This was usually found in a prominent and well to do families. Till date some of these sculptures are still standing, although they have experienced the touch of nature and with some parts falling off, while some only have traces to show there was once a gravestone there.
These days seeing such traditional epitaph on gravestones is now rare. The least could be just the person's name, date of birth and date of death, something like;
Late Isaac Cobbs
Birth: 5th of February 1850
Death: 5th of February 1990
Rather the most popular form of epitaphs we see here is funeral orations or eulogies delivered at funeral ceremonies.
During the funeral ceremony, a member of the deceased's family either a child or grandchild, if they have one, is usually called upon to deliver the funeral oration which is the biography of the deceased written in the funeral's program of event otherwise called brochure.
This type of epitaph is usually long and have a comprehensive description of the life and times of the deceased vis-a-vis birth, education, marital life, religious life, social affiliations, work life or business life, achievements and finally condition of death. Some families even go as far as having these biographies aired over the radios or television in the early mornings of the funeral day.
The eulogies or testimonies usually come after the biography has been read. Here, other people are given the opportunity to eulogize the deceased.
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Funeral orations can be more powerful and meaningful than the traditional epitaph. They allow for more reflection on a person's life, and legacy, and can be more personal and heartfelt. Most times those giving these orations and eulogies end up shedding tears.
Also it can be a way to honor a person's memory and give them some sense of immortality.
Furthermore, It offers people the opportunity to have more information about the deceased which the traditional epitaph didn't provide. From there one can be inspired by the deceased's life and learn one or two things from it.
Another form of epitaphs are tributes or condolence messages from family members, relatives, friends, and well wishers, which usually appear in the pages of the funeral brochure. This form of epitaph gives these individuals the opportunity to express their feelings, relationships with the deceased and to wish them the final goodbyes.
Since these types of conventional epitaphs are written in paper - the brochures, it makes for easy accessibility as people can go read them any time they want unlike the traditional epitaphs where you can only access them when you visit the gravestones, tombs or cemeteries.
Having epitaph whether the traditional type or the conventional one - funeral oration is important as it's a way of keeping the memory of the deceased alive.
Many thanks for reading.
Still the #threadsaddict 馃槀
Image 1 and 2 generated on bing.com. Other Images are mine
