A graveyard is a place where people are buried. It is often associated with a church. However, a cemetery is not necessarily affiliated with a church and can contain followers and non-followers of religions.
Graveyards tend to be small affairs and are usually limited to those that are buried within the vicinity of the church. Cemeteries, on the other hand, are larger and can accommodate anyone willing to pay for a plot.
Definition
A graveyard is an area where people are buried. It is often located near a church. People who work the graveyard shift work late at night, usually from about midnight until 8am. The name comes from the quiet of this time of day, when most people are sleeping.
The word graveyard is sometimes confused with cemetery. The two are similar, but there are some differences. Graveyards are usually smaller and affiliated with a particular church, while cemeteries are larger and are open to anyone who wants to be buried there.
Some countries have laws that prohibit certain activities in graveyards. These include sex and drugs. Many also have rules about where to put flowers on a gravestone. Other activities that are not allowed in cemeteries include devil worshipping, grave-robbing (for gold teeth or jewelry), and other clandestine happenings. Some people believe that there are spirits that roam the grounds at night, looking for bodies to inhabit.
History
A graveyard is a place where dead people are buried. It is usually located beside a church, although it can be a separate burial ground. Earlier people used to keep their dead at home or near their work site, but as populations grew it became necessary for towns and cities to have a place for burials. The earliest graveyards were simply patches of land where the dead were buried, but as time went by they became more organized and had rules about what could be done there.
In addition to a place of rest for the dead, many graveyards have statues and memorials. Some have been turned into parks, with paths for walking, trees, and benches.
There are also graveyard shifts, which are the late night or midnight shifts in healthcare, emergency services, and other industries that require round-the-clock operations. People working graveyard shifts often receive extra compensation, known as a shift differential, in recognition of their late hours.
Locations
As church graveyards began to run out of space, non-church-associated cemeteries were formed. Because they are not associated with a particular church, they tend to have more stringent rules when it comes to burials, including headstone requirements.
Typically, the graveyards that are attached to churches have only their members buried there. Those who wish to be buried at a cemetery that isn’t affiliated with a specific religion are usually given the option to do so.
Some people have their ashes scattered at multiple locations, allowing them to be buried in different countries or places. For those who want to have their ashes buried together, there are joint grave sites. This is more of a modern concept and is common in the US. However, there are also individual graves for loved ones in many other countries around the world. These are often known as mausoleums. Some of these mausoleums are privately owned and managed by family members or close friends.
Etymology
The compound word graveyard comes from the proto-Germanic “graban,” meaning “to dig,” and “gardan” (enclosure). During the Middle Ages, wealthy or otherwise influential Christians were generally interred inside a church after their deaths. But less wealthy congregants were buried outside in a section of the churchyard called the graveyard.
Today, a cemetery is defined as a place where the dead are buried, but the term graveyard is still used to refer specifically to a burial ground attached to a church. Using the terms interchangeably is acceptable, although if linguistic precision is your jam, you may want to use graveyard when referring to a resting place on church grounds and cemetery for more modern, separate burial sites.
Medical professionals who work graveyard shift often have to stay on the job late at night and early into the morning. They may have to monitor vital signs, respond to emergency calls, or ensure overall safety at a facility even when everyone else is asleep.