Paria, Utah

Pahreah is the heart of the Grand Staircase-Escalante. With this areas beautiful scenery and rich history it makes the most wonderful spot for a three day hike and play trip.

But you want to know my favorite part of this area? 

The Cemetery!!!

The Gates.
Welcome to Paria

"Those people had a hard life but they were hardy people."
"The families and friends of pioneer and Paiute people
buried in this cemetery still live in this area
and honor their ancestors."

This is the memorial of the Paria cemetery.

The names of the people buried here are on this memorial

 because all of the head stones have weathered away

and are no longer visible.

This is the plack on the memorial with all the
names and dates of the people.
They date from 1877-1897!

(To see these photos enlarged click on them)

The memorial is covered in flint.

Flint is a type of rock the the Native Americans
use to make arrow heads for hunting.

A silent stare......

The cemetery is covered with wild flowers.

Look over the cemetery.

The beautiful scenery of the cemetery.

An original head stone.

Overlook

Beautiful

Puppy butt :)

Head stones  -New-

Up-side-down?

Enter.....

Tilt-a-whirl

Taking a peek through the fence.

What a beautiful day.

And most of all DON'T FORGET THE FAMILY PET!

Because there is so much to explore, so many different 

smells to sniff, and the Paria river is fun for them to

splash and play in to cool off.  Please be considerate

and carry a leash, extra water, and a pooper pick-up bag.

Thank you for reading this article.

Hope you have fun!

LoVe,
                       Morticia

Obon Festival

Obon or just Bon is the day of the year that the Japanese celebrate

their deceased loved ones and ancestors.  

Its about spirituality, being with family, and having fun!

The Japanese honor their ancestors

by cleaning the graves and preparing the favorite dishes of their loved ones who have passed on.

Yummy!

This one looks like it might be my favorite :3

 And there is a street celebration, where vendors sell food and the 

dance odori is done in the evening.

     

      There are drummers on a 6 foot tower/stage or on the ground 

playing beats for the odori dancers.

  Odori dancers dance around the tower that the drummers are on or dance down the street, 

bystanders are encouraged to join the bon odori dance as well.

 dancing around the stage

 dancing down the street

Dancing around the tower.

 
"Many sources say that the origins of the dance are due to the story of Mokuren, a disciple of Buddha. For those of you that have not heard the story, it goes something like this:

 please go to this link

 --------> http://www.mauitime.com/Articles-i-2008-07-03-181203.112113-Bon-Odori.html <-------

 Altars, Memorials and Graves. Oh, my!






and finally at the end of the bon festival we make floating lanterns that guide the deceased back
 to the realm of spirits.

Thank You For Reading, Have A Nice Night!


Love, Morticia

Cremation

Are there other options to my burial?  Do i HAVE to be buried in a box??? NO!!! 

There ARE other options to death..........CREMATION!!!  Its cool and you can always have that special person in your home or scatter them...Sorry I'm getting ahead of my self here.

Cremation is in stead of being buried in a casket you are burned in a cardboard or wood box in a cremator  its like a HUGE fireplace.  The cremator gets up to 1600-1800 degrees and it takes almost 

2 -1/2 hours for a body to completely burn down, But most of the bones and any metal doesn't burn down. So the bones are crushed and ground to dust.  The metal is picked out because its not part of you when you are born. Then the remains are scraped out and put in an urn (an urn is a jar that holds human remains). 

As you would guess its inexpensive because your not embalmed (embalming costs about $800.-$900.) All the professional services like staff for service, bathing, cosmetics, filling out important paper work, transporting the body, housing the body, can cost up to $3600.!!!  It all comes to about $8,050 to be viewed and buried.  And about $1200. to be cremated.

Columbarium is a chapel-mausoleum that has a lot of little compartments (called niches) that hold urn's with remains in them.  You can scatter the ashes almost anywhere you would like, Or you can be buried in the ground after your burned.

  

 Here's a pic. of a old cremator. and urn.

And a pic. of a modern cremator.

                                                           There are lots of different urn's.

 

One of a pet kitty cat.

These are mausoleum's

 
And a few pics. of niche's (below)

Niches with urn's and memorial's in them.

Thank you for reading