"It's the real life of a person. If he likes to drink, you say that; if he likes to work, you say that ... there's no hiding in a small town," Pop said. The families actually want the true life of the person to be represented on the cross."
Lets face it: jokes at funerals are probably not going to go down well amongst the bereaved, and it is often considered highly disrespectful in most parts of the world. The small Romanian town of Sapanta has its own tale of the dead, however, with the local villages tying humour to death.
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The cemetery here has brightly coloured tombstones lining the points where their loved ones are buried, each with epitaphs that are humorous, brimming with wit and even going as far as to poke fun at the dead - definitely something that would be considered taboo in a lot of other places! Not these folks, though. Theyve embraced death and the dead in the most honest way possible, even telling the life stories of the deceased, dirty secrets and all.
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These unusual epitaphs are accompanied by intricate and moving paintings carved out of oak wood with splashed with red, black or yellow customised to fit in with the persons life.
One epitaph read:
"Underneath this heavy cross
Lies my mother-in-law poor
Had she lived three days more
Id be here and she would read
You that are passing by
Try not to wake her up
For she comes back home
Shell bite my head off
But Ill act in the way
That she will not return
Stay here my dear Mother-in-law."
Definitely no mincing words there.
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This unique and hilarious tradition was started in 1935, when the village carpenter Stan Ioan Patras engraved his first verse onto a tombstone. This was inspired from the time after the 3 day funerals when villagers would converge to have a few rounds of drinks and tell stories about those who had passed away, and Patras went on to build more 800 tombs inscribed with limericks. Dumitru Pop, his apprentice, took over and the tradition has endured ever since, full of wit, dark humour and cheeky references to the dead persons life including their indiscretions and vices.
Till today, the cemetery remains a little bit of a culture shock for foreign visitors, who come across a riotously colourful area lined with over 800 eye-catching grave markers. If you have a fondness for dark humour, this is one experience to put on your bucket list!
