Death doesn’t have to be dark and gloomy. In fact, it can reflect art and humor, which becomes quickly obvious at The Merry Cemetery in Săpânţa, Romania. It’s said that one of the local carvers, Stan Ioan Pătraş, thought people needed to cheer up after losing their loved ones, and decided to make headstones in bright blue colors. These intricately designed geometrical crosses reflect the life of the person buried in pictorial stories, as well as firsthand narrations of how they lived and how they died. The cemetery became popular as more and more people began asking for the intriguing and fun headstones. Some also include comic poems, limericks, and familial stories. One of the crosses reads: “Underneath this heavy cross lies my poor mother-in-law. Try not to wake her up, for if she comes back home, she’ll bite my head off.” The colors used in images also have meanings. Green represents life, yellow fertility, red for passion, and black for death. The deep blue background represents hope, freedom and the sky. White doves are for the soul, and a blackbird is a symbol of a tragic or suspicious death.
