Personally I would rather be cremated, or have my body given to science than buried so I will try and give this my best shot. First I would like to be buried in my favorite jeans and a simple black shirt. As that is my most common appearance and would wish to maintain that look in the after life. For jewelry I would wish to be wearing the Maori symbol necklace I was given by my uncle while in New Zealand, for it reminds me of the fun I had their was well as the symbolic meaning behind it, which is eternal friendship.
Some objects I would wish to be buried with would be an image of my family emblem, which is a lion holding an anchor, in order for whoever found my body in the future to know that I am a part of that family and take pride in it. As well I would wish to be buried with a leather western bridle and a horseshoe. As I am rather obsessed with horses and western is my favorite riding style. I would also like something related to dogs-maybe a leash as they are also very important animals to me. I would not wish to be buried with either of these animals however, I would rather they still be living than accompany me. I would also like to be buried with books, however I’m not sure if I’m able to pick just one, instead maybe a collection of several books in different genres which I continue to read. Maybe some English Lit, and Canadian History as well as a favorite children’s book (Black Beauty-no surprise there!)
Talking to friends they would add a field hockey stick, as I have played for 13 years and I’m quite competitive about sports.
So what this says about me is that I am an outdoorsy, competitive woman who loves reading and is proud of her heritage. I think I can live with that (pun intended).
One of the things that I find interesting with these posts is to compare how people explain the symbols for themselves and how I might interpret the symbols if I didn't have the explanation.
ReplyDeleteI'd have thought the horse shoe was for good luck, although the bridle might have suggested that it was part of a set of stuff relating to riding.
I have the benefit of knowing what most of these objects are and how they are used in our society. I wonder what would happen if you lose that context...
My question is how would someone relate the Maori necklace with the family emblem. Given that contemporary New Zealand sites would have been dug up at the time and that they (Archaeologists) would have a feeling for the place where Maori culture and this symbol emerged... what would they say about its appeareance in a North American grave?
ReplyDeleteGiven also that your skeleton could probably be identified as female caucasian (maybe not with 100% certainty, but...), this sign might be interpreted as the proof that you were a great traveler (which seems to be the case). If we pitch in the lion emblem and the fact that lions do not live in North America, it becomes even more interesting... maybe they would think this lion was a representation of the one you killed during one of your traveling safaris?!
Of course, I'm projecting ridiculous thoughts (historical archaeologists will probably know that most of North American have never killed a real lion, and that those images were used as family emblems), but it's interesting to think about this!
I thought about those takes on the symbols, but if the lion symbol was researched it would be found as my family crest, as for the Maori symbol, I guess it would show the traveling, but at the same time they may believe I came from New Zealand, for it would be like an archaeologist finding the skeleton of a caucasian having Haida symbolism buried with them.
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