Today is “Cemetery Day”. A day to commemorate and share our love of cemeteries, and our loved ones who have passed.

I’ve had the opportunity to visit numerous cemeteries as I’ve travelled. I mean, why go to the tourist sites, when you can visit your great great grandparents grave, eh? That’s so much more interesting. So here’s a collection of just a few of them for you, for #CemeteryDay.

I’ll start off with one that’s close to my heart, and that is one of my little brother, whom I never knew.

my brother’s grave, Cudlee Creek Cemetery, South Australia

Frederick Hannaford’s grave (my 3x great grandpa), Cudlee Creek Cemetery, South Australia

Phebe Randell (nee Robbins), she was my 2x great grandma. Her grave (along with her brother Abner) is at the Salem Baptist Church, Gumeracha, South Australia

the tall pointy one is the grave of William Beavis Randell, husband of Phebe (photo above). He is my 2x great grandpa. His grave is at the Salem Baptist Church, Gumeracha, South Australia

the headstone of George and Mary Ann Phillips (my 3x great grandparents), who are buried at Kadina Cemetery, South Australia. They were one of my immigrant families.

Now for some others more distant … firstly here’s some from Scotland. I don’t have relatives here, but the cemetery was gorgeous.

Cemetery at St Magnus Cathedral Church of Scotland, Kirkwall, Orkney

Cemetery at St Magnus Cathedral Church of Scotland, Kirkwall, Orkney

In 2014 when visiting England, we (my family and I)  went to a number of towns our ancestors came from, so here’s some photos of those cemeteries.

Lamorran, Cornwall – looking for relatives of my 3x great grandma who was born in the parish (didn’t find them)

Kenton All Saint’s churchyard, Devon

Kenton All Saint’s churchyard, Devon – such a beautiful old graveyard

I’m busy transcribing some Randell/Randle headstones at Berry Pomeroy church, Devon

more lovely headstones at Berry Pomeroy churchyard, Devon

And when I visited Finland, naturally I visited the cemetery there too … and found some relis!

this is Gustaf Wilhelm Winter’s grave in the Helsinki cemetery. He was my 3x great grandpa. And that’s me with my dad standing next to it.

Otto Edvard and his wife Hedvig Winter are my 2x great grandparents. They’re also buried in the Helsinki cemetery in Finland

And one last photo … the Helsinki cemetery is incredible. So quiet, so picturesque it was very “park like”, so here’s a ‘general’ photo of the cemetery, though it really doesn’t do it justice at all.

a small portion of the huge, park-like Helsinki cemetery in Finland

So till next year, that’s my collection of a few of my cemetery photos.

I’m a follower of the “Days of the Year” website.

For those who aren’t familiar with this site, here’s what their About page says:

“Days Of The Year aims to bring all of the world’s weird, funny, wonderful and bizarre holidays under one roof, and to create the ultimate guide to celebrating each and every day.”

Scroll on through and you’ll find some weird ones like False Teeth Day (9 March), Pecan Day (25 March), International Axe Throwing Day (13 June), Lamington Day (21 July), Save Your Photos Day (last Saturday in September) or Name Your PC Day (20 November) and literally hundreds, if not thousands more.

I tend to use the site to see if there’s any “Days” that are coming up that I could use as a blog idea. For Recipe Day (or even Biscuit Day) I’ve thought of popping up my grandma’s fav Rock Bun recipe, Wedding Day I could find some old wedding pics, Grandparents Day should be easy enough to come up with something, Old Stuff Day (2 March) sounds like a fun one … and so on.

And for those who are genealogically-minded pop these on your calendar:
– Genealogy Day (2nd Saturday in March)
– Ancestor Appreciation Day (27 September)

Anyway I have some cemetery photos I’ve been wanting so share, so I was looking on their site for for any listing of “Cemetery Day”, “Headstone Day”, “Gravesite Day” or even a “Taphophilia Day”. But as there doesn’t seem to be any, so in lieu of any official “Day”, I’ve decided to make this coming Sunday 18 June “Cemetery Day”.

I’ve come up with some ways that those who wish to take part in Cemetery Day can do so:
– visit a cemetery
– visiting a cemetery is good, but photographing it is even better
– if you’ve been to a cemetery before and have photos, why not upload them to a BillionGraves or FindAGrave
– share a pic or two on your blog, or on social media of a cemetery you’ve been to

I looked into making this an “official” Day, but it seems that it has to be run as an unofficial Day first, and prove that it has a following. So that’s now my plan. As with any of the “official” Days feel free to interpret Cemetery Day as you wish.

I’m already looking forward to Sunday 18 June, and I hope you’ll join me in taking part in Cemetery Day.

For those taking part who are on social media, I’ve chosen the hashtag #CemeteryDay to keep it simple.