My first one is very very old, these are cairns really. When researching after our walk in The Dome Heritage Site, Parys, Orange Free State, we realised an influenza epidemic had swept the area in the 1600's and therefore wiped out whole villages. Hence the untraditional way of burial in what was white settlers in those days. We counted 17 graves, of which maybe 4 or 5 were children, the old way when coming upon a burial in the wilderness is to place a stone on the grave and say a small prayer. There is no headstones, no names, no history to show who lived here, who died here. The old homestead behind the graves has disintegrated though we could make out the corner stones of the main house and also where the herds had been kept in corrals during the night to be safe from wild animals. It was very quiet up there and eerie with just sounds of birds and the wind in the long grass.
My second is a bit more recent and traditional with a headstone still standing from the Jerusalem Site in Fairlands. The only headstone standing, the rest of the informal grave site has fallen down. Some old graves just has a klip sitting on them.
My last one is from Northern Transvaal, just outside Magaliesberg, the site was bought by the Plumari family and turned into a game reserve with a large conference center, Askari Ranch, and also the largest private collection of old ox wagons in South Africa. They have a whole village built around an old church, which has been recreated to look like it did in the 1800's. The proviso of the Grobler family that owned the farm was that the graveyard not be disturbed and it is being maintained.
Have a wonderful week all, see you next Saturday for more PT fun, I hope.
Much Love
Marianne
All three had a sad solemn feel, you have captured well through your lens!
ReplyDeleteThank you for popping past Danette and your kind words
DeleteHi Marianne!! Thanks for posting a little earlier this time :-))
ReplyDeleteThree very somber and thought-provoking shots. The first one in particular is very sad. I wonder if anyone knows who they were. It's great that the owners of the game reserve agreed to maintain the graveyard. It looks as if they have done a very good job, too.
Hi Mitch ..... sarcasm gets you nowhere, promise you LOL
DeleteI tried the bureau of history, Mithc and is still digging to try and find out who they were, seems as if the whole farm originally belonged to Terblance family, but they reckon the graves goes way back before that, to the time when you just hitched your ox wagon to a pole and said "ons bly hier" we stay here ........ and started digging a field and putting up a small shelter and adding and adding. There is water there, a fountain, so a good place to stay, it is very rocky up on the hill but the valley is extremely fertile due to the Meteor fall out in the Dome area.
A lot of history in this post too. Very nice indeed.
ReplyDeleteThank you Randall
DeleteThe abandoned graveyard is truly melancholy.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful headstone and very orderly arrangement in the last one.
How very interesting, Marianne. I know that Semite people, Jews and perhaps Arabs, also, even to this day, place a small stone upon a grave when visiting. Apparently the custom started when people were buried in cairns, as in your top picture, and putting a rock or stone on the burial site was a way of keeping it up. Your photo is hauntingly beautiful, something I will remember a long time.
ReplyDeleteThat whole walk up the mountain across looking at the old sites, haunted me for a very long time. We were thinking of maybe building our cottage up there, as the view is so lovely, but I felt it should remain untouched, we now have decided to build down on the other side of the stables rather, as there is also a lot of baboons in the mountain that would probably eat my vegetables and disturb my birds.
Deletelike me I don't go to these places either hmmm
ReplyDeleteyour choices are very good
Thank you Heidi for visiting
DeleteThe first one is really something different. Who knows what lays beneath our feet, some parts of London are built on plague pits. South africa certainly has interesting graves, I love the second for its individuality and the third is really something different.
ReplyDeleteThank you for coming past, Pat. Yes indeed, parts of London is most certainly haunted, don't you think
DeleteMarianne, your posts provide insight into your country. The first photo is an historical footprint. It's sad to think that plagues could wipe out villages. The second photo depicts a cemetery in neglect. There's some devotion shown by the placement of the Infant of Prague statue. It's a good thing to see that new owners respect what is there. This looks like a graveyard from America's Old West.
ReplyDeleteI'm so sorry that I'm so late in commenting on your entry, Marianne. There's been a lot going on. I just love all of your photos, and I especially love the stories you tell behind each shot. My favorite is the last. Like Robert said above, it looks like an Old West graveyard - Boot Hill comes to mind.
ReplyDeleteAgain, I apologize for being late
Not to worry, Joanne, better late than never they say, I am always late LOL
DeleteI was wondering where you were, missed you on FB too.
Hope all is fine with you now, will pop over to say hello on your page.
I must say I like your first photo the best. I almost felt I was there looking down at it. Three very different and beautiful shots Marianne.
ReplyDeleteThank you Shayna and thank you for visiting
DeleteMwah
Very interesting shots, Marianne and I appreciate the history behind it.
ReplyDeleteI want to add "so dear" to the headstone in the second picture.
LOL, you are right "so dear" seems to be missing
DeleteThank you Debby
Hugs