Dying

Okunoin, Kyosan : The Temple at the End 🇯🇵

“There are no dead in Okunoin, but only waiting spirits.”  Spending a night on Mount Koya is filled with many beautiful must-see sights but none more so than Okunoin Cemetery, Japan’s largest graveyard. It was early afternoon when we set out, but we were immediately blessed with gorgeous dappled light, showcasing the Autumn leaves in …

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The colour of grief: Burying the dead in Morocco

Morocco is synonymous with colour. Cities glow with burnt yellows and rich rusts; deep majorelle blue; verdant roof tiles. The towering spice displays in the souqs are a kaleidoscope of ochre, burgundy, mustard, cherry and khaki. However, this abundance of colour is completely removed when it comes to the colours of death and mourning. Traditionally, …

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Death in Japan ⛩

Graveyards can be sombre and contemplative spaces.  Coming across a 17th century burial site just above the Kanmangafuchi Abyss in Nikko, that was interring “The Graves of the Self-Immolation”, was especially intriguing. I’ll admit that I wasn’t exactly sure what ‘self-immolation’ meant and had to have Geoff explain to me that self-immolation is the act of …

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Norwegian Cemeteries: Not so easily “dust to dust”…

Driving through Norway, one passes through one picturesque village after another. At the heart of some of these towns you may even come across an historic wooden or stave church built in the Middle Ages and looking like something out of Grimm’s Fairytales. Each churchyard houses manicured grounds with well tended graves, swamped with flowers …

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Death with a view

I have a fascination with graveyards. I am drawn to their peacefulness, their interminable silence, their other-worldliness. Death is a mystery to all of us, but a cemetery compels you to engage with the concept whether you want to or not.