Not to steal Coach's thread or idea -- but his Scottish Cemetery reminded me of some pictures I took in northern IL of a Serbian cemetery.
In a sense, I grew up with this place, and it reflects part of my Slavic heritage. But the "growing up" was not centered around the cemetery itself, as there is a mix of functions that this property serves. Yes, it is a cemetery. On the same property is an adjacent monastery, which is the seat of the Serbian Orthodox Church in America. My Dad attended this church, and brought us to Sunday services here. For my growing up years, when I was an early teen, I often attended our summer church camp located on this property, too. When not serving as camp grounds, there were holiday picnics throughout the year, e.g. 4th of July, Labor Day, etc., and an exciting event was always going to see a soccer meet. Soccer was/is the national sport in the former Yugoslavia, where my Dad grew up. The competitions were fierce, and fun to watch.
[Reminder, if you click on either photo, it will enlarge and be even clearer.]
This picture is of the church located a the top of a gentle hill, and from where I stand taking the picture the cemetery is behind me and to my right. An unusual practice for this denomination is that all around the church itself are grave sites of various bishops of the church. These are placed practically up to the church walls. The design is to be a memorial to church leadership.
DSCN0562.JPG
In this newer section, notice the large size of some stones, and that the names are written either in Serbian using our English alphabet, or in actual Cyrillic letters. It's interesting to read the stones in this cemetery...many tell brief stories of peoples' lives and/or families. Lots of history here, and there are military veterans resting here, too.
crop of St Sava after.JPG
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