(KMDL-FM) If there is one subject that every culture known to mankind has struggled to understand, it would be death. It is truly our final mystery in our time on the planet. And because no one has “officially” been there and back conundrum continues. That enigma is never highlighted more than it is in our different burial customs. And according to those customs, one Louisiana cemetery had done it the wrong way.
That’s not an uncommon opinion about burials and graveyards in Louisiana. We tend to send our dearly departed to their eternal rest differently than the rest of the country and the world, for that matter. Our funerals turn into parades, and our burials don’t go that deep.
To the uninitiated, the whole “buried on top of the ground” conundrum is more a function of geography than it is theology. The water table in many Louisiana locations is not conducive to planting boxes with bodies in them six feet beneath the ground’s surface. All of that water would tend to make the casket and the dearly departed rise up and float away during a heavy rainstorm.
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What Makes a Cemetery “Wrong Way”?
But the practice of above-ground burial is not why a certain Louisiana cemetery has earned the moniker the “wrong way” cemetery. The reason the cemetery at St Joseph’s Catholic Church in Rayne, Louisiana, is called “wrong way” has to do with the direction the bodies are buried.
In pagan rituals, bodies were buried with their feet pointing toward the east and their heads to the west. This was so the deceased could face the rising sun. As Christianity and Catholicism became more acceptable over time, the reason was adjusted.
Which Direction Should Bodies Traditionally Be Facing in a Cemetery?
Yes, the bodies should still face to the east, but it wasn’t to meet the rising sun. It was to meet the rising Son, as in Jesus. Christian teachings suggested that when Jesus returns to Earth, he will do so from the east, hence the bodies should be buried facing that way.
Guess which way the bodies don’t face in St Joseph’s Cemetery? The unique style and structure of the cemetery have earned it a mention on Ripley’s Believe It or Not. Plus, you can see information on the cemetery on various YouTube videos about travel in Louisiana and near Rayne in particular.
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