As many people know, a cemetery is a place where the deceased are buried. But how do they differ from graveyards? A graveyard is also a place where the dead are put to rest. However, graveyards are burial grounds that are located next to, and part of a church.
A few reasons graveyards made way for cemeteries are:
- a sharp rise in the population; possibility of people residing farther from the center of town
- outbreaks of infectious diseases made people want to bury the victims far from cities and towns, where most graveyards were located
- lack of space in graveyards
- the church refused to bury the bodies of people that did not attend their church
There are a few superstitions or old wives' tales centered around cemeteries.
- A person traveling past a cemetery needs to hold their breath so they don't breathe in the spirits of the dead.
- A person should not step on the graves in a cemetery, or they could inhale the spirit of the body that is buried beneath.
- Tombstones put weight on the bodies so they don't rise from the grave (as in ghosts, vampires, ghouls, etc.).
