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French Cemeteries
I’ve always had this fascination with European cemeteries. Not like the boring ones back home, the graveyards here have museum-quality statues, 300 year old rusted crosses in “fer forge”, charming smiling angels from above, intricately carved tombs and painted naves.
When I lived in Paris in the 20th near the Père Lachaise Cemetery, I would make special detours to stroll through the grounds, taking in Parisian history as told through grave markers and stone reliefs. I pass Arago, astronomer and discoverer of the Méridien de Paris, then a bust of writer Honoré de Balzac, who watches me as I cut though the winding walkways. My respite from the busy city, it is here that I could meander between the artists, composers, and writers of Paris, feeling their artistic energies penetrating me and pointing me in the right direction in life.
For Father’s day, we 
took our “mamie” (French grandmother) to see her relatives. I brought my camera this time, feeling a bit disrespectful, but also really wanting to capture these precious moments. She brought red roses for her father, and while cleaning the ledge in front of the family crypt, she told me for the hundredth time the stories of each person that rested there. Each time, she adds another morsel of information, so I always listen intently. This time she told me that “our” (and this gave me a shiver, because this is where I will end up, right?) cross had been on top of the tomb, and when her family broke from the Catholic church (another story) they took the heavy cross off in defiance. She said it is discarded behind the family crypt in case I am interested.
As we turned to leave, I saw a pack of cemetery cats roaming the gravel pathways, pouncing on graves and chasing flies from dead chrysanthemum flowers. I followed them to their hiding place and found four darling black kittens peeking out from a 400 year old tomb that had conveniently cracked along the bottom and was now their home. I thought of Egypt and the City of the Dead, whose inhabitants live on top of the family crypts, protecting their family heritage and claiming their plots in life.
© Riana Lagarde
