Are Cemeteries Just For the Dead?

by  Connie Neumann

Dieter Pausch has formed a close connection with the departed over the past 25 years as caretaker of Munich's eastern graveyard. But the jovial Bavarian's job also includes taking care of the living.

The cemetery keeper ensures that plots and pathways are clean so the bereaved can lay their loved ones to rest with dignity. Moments like the solemn procession from the funeral parlor to the open grave are planned in exact detail. Pausch knows that these few minutes, though they have become routine for his colleagues and undertakers, are filled with grief for relatives. Before the bell rings and the ceremony begins, he has checked the route through the headstones, removing any potential obstacles, even the gardener's wheelbarrows.

"It is about our values, how we get along with one another," Pausch says.

But not all the cemetery's visitors see it that way. Supervisors are sometimes forced to interrupt funeral processions because a growing number of people there are more concerned with a long and healthy life than a final resting place. A growing number of Munich residents looking to escape crowded parks in favor of more tranquil landscapes have adopted the cemetery as part of their fitness route. Neon-clad runners, their ears stuffed with iPod earphones, sometimes appear, puffing and panting, in front of a solemn funeral procession. Such encounters usually happen in the morning during the first funeral of the day, or after offices have closed for the evening. The offenders are usually women, because "they are more figure conscious," Pausch says.

They jog through the rows of gravesites, along gravelled pathways, beneath the shade of the old trees. Thanks to its thick brick walls the graveyard is free of traffic noise and exhaust fumes. Exercise fans stretch their muscles on grave stones and marble angels. "Thoughtless," Pausch calls them, saying he is often tempted to reprimand them for the interruption. But he bites his tongue. "The service has already been spoiled enough already," he says.

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[ed.  This practice isn't confined to Europe;  my mother used to walk through the local cemetery every day for exercise, along with other walkers and joggers.  I doubt the deceased minded being a part of life.  Beyond the peace of place, cemeteries also stimulate reflection on how other lives were lived.  That said, activities not directly related to honoring he dead should always be respectful.]

 

images:  markk