Symbolism on Monuments

SYMBOLISM ON MONUMENTS

some people in the 17thand 18th centuries had little education, they were certainly wellgrounded in the scriptures and the catechism. Village schools had beenset up from the times of the Reformation, so there were many peoplefrom humble homes who could read and knew the scriptures. The emblemsof mortality and immortality were seldom used after the 18th century,but many other forms of symbolism were the stock-in-trade of 19thcentury monumental masons.

A B C D E F G H I J KL M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Please note that this section is under construction

ACACIA	Immortality of the soul.
ACANTHUS	Heavenly garden; one of the oldest cemetery motifs, acanthus is associated with the rocky ground where the most ancient Greek cemeteries were placed.
AGNUS DEI	See Lamb
AMORINI	See Putti.
ANCHOR	Hope, security, or ‘At Rest’ See: Hebrews 6, 19. If held by a female figure, Hope. One of the seven Christian Virtues of Wisdom,Fortitude, Temperance, Justice, Faith, Hope and Charity.
ANGEL	The messenger of God, often depicted pointing heavenward: also guardian of the living and the dead. If shown with a trumpet, indicative of the approach of God.
ANGEL OF DEATH	Rare, and shown as a putto (qv), with dart and/or hour-glass,and/or scales. It may have wings
ANGEL OF THE RESURRECTION	Clad in loose robes, standing trumpet in hand, or flyingthrough the air, feet bare, knees bent.
ANGEL’S HEAD	Usually winged, symbolises resurrection and the metamorphosis of the soul
ANKH	Eternal life, peace andtruth
ARCH	Victory in death, beingjoined with partener in heaven
ARK	Symbolic of the Church, since in the Ark all living thingsfind refuge.
ARROW	The 'dart of death'
AXE	Weapon of death.
AZALEA	Temperance
BAMBOO	The emblem of Buddha. The seven-knotted bamboo denotes theseven degrees of initiation and invocation in Buddhism. On Japanesememorials, symbolic of devotion and truthfulness.
BAYLEAVES	Victory over death.
BED	A deathbed, sometimes depicted as merely a pillow.
BEEHIVE	Symbolic of industry, for a community of those whose work is beneficial to all. Also of domestic virtues, education, faith, abundance in the Promised Land
BELL	The Dead Bell was rung to give notice of funerals, and at the funeral itself. Depicted as a small hand bell, it was a favourite emblem in Northern England and Scotland.
BELL & BRAZIER	A bell founder.
BIBLICAL SCENES	A number of Biblical scenes appear as low reliefs ontombstones, the more frequent being those of the Resurrection, the Day of Judgment, the Sacrifice of Isaac, the Good Samaritan, Christ and the Samarian Woman, Noli Me Tangere, the Agony on the Garden and the Flight into Egypt.
BIRD	Eternal Life; a 'winged soul'
BIRD IN FLIGHT	Rebirth
BOOK	The ‘Book of Life’,i.e.the Bible; a cross lying upon it symbolises Faith. See: Philippians 4, 3 and Revelation 3,5. If held by a female figure, Wisdom. One of the seven Christian Virtues of Wisdom, Fortitude, Temperance, Justice, Faith, Hope and Charity.
BONES	In the 17th century the death's head was often accompanied bycrossed bones. However, by the 18th century there were many morevariations, including such items as jaw bones. The bones were sometimesshown as trophies or suspended on ribbons.
BOW & ARROWS	Weapon of death.
BROKEN COLUMN	See Column,broken
BUTTERCUP	Cheerfulness.
BUTTERFLY	Resurrection; as the butterfly emerges from the pupae so toowill our souls emerge from our bodies and soar upwards towards Heaven.
CADAVER	Mortality. See Corpse
CADUCEUS	Wand entwined with snake sand surmounted by a dove, carried byMercury. A Familiar emblem on the tombs of those of the medicalprofessions.
CANDLE	Either alight or extinguished, symbolises the imminence ofdeath.
CATTERPILLAR	Metamorphosis to a newlife
CHAIN	If of three links, anassociation with the Odd Fellows
CHALICE	The most familiar symbol for a priest, usually shown with itspaten.
CHARITY	Shown as a femalefigure succouring, or with, children.
CHERUB	A winged child of indeterminate sex.
CHERUB SLEEPING	Innocence
CHRISTMASROSE	Cheerfulness
CINQUEFOIL	Maternal affection; beloved daughter.
CIRCLE	Eternity, often incorporated into the Celtic cross or shown asa snake.
CLEMATIS	Skilfullness
CLOCK DIAL	The passage of time.
COCKERELL	Awakening to a newlife, i.e. resurection
COFFIN	The shape is realistic and is normally recognisable. In the17th century the device was often placed in a row of emblems oroccasionally appeared as a sole emblem.
COLUMN	The support of life. If held by a female figure,Temperance. One of the seven Christian Virtues of Wisdom, Fortitude,Temperance, Justice, Faith, Hope and Charity.
COLUMN, BROKEN	The broken column traditionally signifies mortality, thesupport of life being broken.
COMPASS &SET-SQUARE	Masonic symbols
CORNUCOPIA	Symbolises abundance.
CORPSE	The corpse usually appears in a winding-sheet or lying in, orrising from a coffin.
CROCUS	Youthful gladness.
CROSS	Has several meanings, such as the symbol of The SupremeSacrifice and of the Christian religion If held by afemale figure, Faith. One of the seven Christian Virtues of Wisdom,Fortitude, Temperance, Justice, Faith, Hope and Charity.
CROWN	Emblem of the Christian martyr, and of the ‘Crown of Life’,the reward for those who stayed faithful until death. See: 1Corinthians 9:24-27, James 1, 12 and Revelation 2, 10.
CROWN OF THORNS	Symbol of suffering, based on the crown plaited by thesoldiers and imposed upon Jesus during his trial before Pontius Pilate.
CROWNED SKULL	Triumph of death
CROZIER	see Pastoral Staff.
CYPRESS TREE	Mourning and death on account of its dark colour, and becauseonce cut down it will not grow again. Also a symbol of Hope
DAFFODIL	Regard; death of youth; desire; art; grace.
DAISY	Innocence of childhood; Jesus the Infant Youth, Son ofRighteousness.
DART	A weapon of death
DEAD LEAVES	Sadness; melancholy.
DEATH BED SCENE	Death bed scenes on headstones are usually simple, thedeceased shown in a box-like bed sometimes with curtains
DOLPHIN	Resurrection,salvation, bearer of sould across the water.
DOOR	Entrance to Heaven;also, entrance to the heart.
DOVE	The Holy Spirit, also for peace, innocence, purity and love
DRAGON	Eternity
DRAPERY	See Urn
EAGLE	Strength and endurance. Also the symbol of St John theEvangelist
EFFIGY	The sleep of death
EYE	Humility; alsoemblematic of the deceased watching over the living
EYE OF HORUS/RA	Life and death (Horus),Sun and Moon (Ra); protection against evil
FATHER TIME	Known in ancient mythology as Chronos. With hisscythe, symbolic of gathering in those whose hour to depart has come.Portrayed standing, stalking or seated with elbow on hour-glass. Insome scenes he is shown together with the Skeleton, the King of Terrorsto two ready for action
FEMALE FIGURES	Other than sculptural representations of Our Lady, see Psyche.
FEMALE FIGURES with CHILDREN	Charity. One of theseven Christian Virtues of Wisdom, Fortitude, Temperance, Justice,Faith, Hope and Charity.
FINGER	Pointing down: callingthe Earth to witness. Pointing up: indicates that the deceased is nowin heaven
FIR CONES	Ancient symbol of fertility
FISH	A symbol of Christ used by the early Christians re story ofFeeding the 5,000.
FLAG	Patriotism or militarysupremacy
FLEUR-DE-LYS	Our Lady; passion; ardour; mother.
FLOWER	Frailty or brevity oflife
FOO DOG	Almost entirelyrestricted to monuments to those of the Chinese community, being one ofthe four animals of power, energy and bravery.
FROG	Worldy pleasure, i.e.sin
GARBE	The heraldic term for the sheaf of corn. Common feature onheadstones to farmers. Also associated with the bread of the LastSupper
GARLAND	A wreath of flowers, for remembrance. Also victory over death
GATES	The entry into Heaven.
GLORY OF GOD	Depicted by clouds, sun, sunrays, trumpets and more simply bya sunburst.
GRAPES	Sacrifice; immortality.
HAIR FLOWING	Penitence
HAMMER	If shown with pincers, indicative of a smith.
HAND/S	As an admonitory finger a pointer to Heaven, with a heart asan emblem of Charity, when clasped as a symbol of brotherly love,farewell or reunity. On Jewish tombs, two outstretched hands with thethumbs touching symbolises a descendant of Aaron, the High Priest(nearly all named Cohen).
HAND BELL	See Bell
HARE-BELL	Tenderness
HARP	Instrument of theangels; divine/heavenly music
HEART	Divine love and devotion. When flaming, the fire of Divine Love
HEART,PIERCED	When pierced by asword, indicative of the Virgin Mary's sorrow
HELMET	Military service;also occasionally used on monuments to firemen and policemen.
HOLLY	Symbolic of the Crown of Thorns
HORSE	Strength, courage or the swiftness of the passage of time.
HORSESHOE	Protection against evil
HOURGLASS	The ‘sands of time’; passage of time, mortality and death;also a symbol of Father Time. Portrayed either in a vertical orhorizontal position. Sometimes a flaming hour-glass was carved torepresent eternity.
HOURGLASS,WINGED	Passage of life/time
HYACINTH	Truth and hope
IHS	First three letters (Iota, Heta, Sigma) of the Greek spellingof Jesus. Also In Hoc Salus (‘In this cross, Salvation’) and In HocSigno (‘In this Sign [ye shall conquer]’).
IRIS	Light and hope.
IVY	The evergreen, symbolising immortality, everlasting life or friendship.
LABYRINTH	In popular useage, symbolises eternity; used in esoterictradition to represent the inward path.
LAMB	The Agnus Dei, the Lamb of God. Signifies innocence, oftenused on infants’and children's graves. See: John 1, 29 and Revelation5, 6-14.
LAMP	Immortality, knowledge of God. See: 2 Samuel 22, 29 and Psalm119, 105.
LANCE	Weapon of death
LAUREL	Fame or Victory, often of a literary or artistic figure.
LILY	Symbol of Our Lady, of the Easter resurrection and ofchastity, innocence and purity.
LILY of theVALLEY	Rebirth
LION	Courage, strength and the Resurrection (tradition being thatthe lion’s whelp is born dead and remains so for three days until itsfather breathes on it). Also the symbol of St Mark.
LOTUS	Purity,perfect beauty, spiritual revelation.
MALE FIGURES	The commonest male representations – apart from that of OurLord - are of Eros, carrying or resting of a reversed torch, Thanatos,shown as a young man leaning against a tree trunk and lowering hislighted torch towards a small altar, and Hypnos, the son ofNight, often standing next to Thanatos with more gracious mien. Ifwinged, the symbol of St Matthew theEvangelist.
MALLET & CHISEL	Symbolic of a joiner.
MENORAH	Divine wisdom
MILITARY EMBLEM	A soldier.
MIRROR	Symbolises truth and knowledge, may alsopossibly refer to 1 Cor. 13:12, ‘For now we see in a mirror, darkly; but then face to face etc
MISTLETOE	Immortality
MITRE	Symbol of episcopal status.
MOON	Rebirth
NEPTUNE	With trident, anchor and accompanying puffing-cherubrepresenting Wind, usually found on mariners' tombstones
OAK LEAVES	Hospitality; strength, honour; eternity; endurance; liberty.
OAK TREE	Temporal human strength, and the male head of the family.
OBELISK	Eternal life, from the Egyptian sun-worshipping symbol
OLIVE BRANCH	Peace, harmony and healing. If in a dove’s beak, a symbol ofrefuge.
OPEN GATES	Entrance to heaven
ORB	Faith
OWL	Wisdom
PALM	Triumph of a martyr over death.
PANSY	Remembrance, meditation
PASSION FLOWER	Christ’s passion, sacrifice and redemption. The five petalsand sepals representing the ten Apostles (Peter and Judas are omitted),the five anthers the Wounds of Christ, the tendrils the scourges,hammers, the three stigmas the nails and the filaments within theflower the Crown of Thorns.
PASTORAL STAFF	The standard symbol for a bishop.
PEACOCK	Early symbol of resurrection; when the peacock sheds itsfeathers, he grows a more brilliant one than that which he lost.
PELICAN	Piety and atonement. The pelican was believed to draw bloodfrom its breast to nourish its young.
PEONY	Honour, love oraffection
PHEASANT	Beauty and good fortune
PHOENIX	Christ’s resurrection. A mythical bird which at death burstsinto flame but rises to immortal life from its own ashes.
PICK	The sexton's tool, symbolising mortality.
PILLOW	Symbolising the deathbed.
PINEAPPLE	Symbolises fertility.
PINK	Genius
POPPIES	Sleep;usually associated with WWI military death, i.e. poppies in FlandersField
POPPY HEADS	Sleep
PLOUGH	Symbolic of a farmer.
PRAYING HANDS	see Hands
PSYCHE	Love.
PUTTI	A wingless pot-bellied naked infant, usually male, cherubic inorigin.
PYRAMID	Eternal life,enlightenment and spiritual attainment
RAKE& SPADE	Agardener.
RAINBOW	Fulfillment of thepromise of resurection
RIFLE	Military service
ROCKS	Solidarity, strength, the Church, or steadfastness of theChristian faith.
ROD or STAFF	Comfort to the bereaved
ROPE	Symbolic of betrayal or arrest, after the rope used to bindJesus following His arrest.
ROSE	Sinless, innocence, a paragon, one without peer, usuallyassociated with Our Lady (the Rosa Mystica of the Garden ofthe Saints) or Paradise.
ROSEBUDS	Strong bond between two people, usually children or mother andchild.
ROSEMARY	Remembrance
SCALES	Weighing the soul on the day of Judgment If held by a blindfolded female figure, Justice, being one of the sevenChristian Virtues of Wisdom, Fortitude, Temperance, Justice, Faith,Hope and Charity
SCALLOP SHELL	Birth, baptism,everlasting life
SCARAB	Transcendance
SCEPTRE	Fortitude
SCISSORS & GLOVE	Emblematic of a glover
SCYTHE	The passage of time and death. If held by a female figure, Fortitude, being one of the sevenChristian Virtues of Wisdom, Fortitude, Temperance, Justice, Faith,Hope and Charity
SET-SQUARE & COMPASS	Masonic insignia.
SHAMROCK	The Trinity. Also emblematic of Irish descent
SHEATHof WHEAT	Abundentlife or final harvest
SHEARS	Symbolic of a lady, or of the wife or daughter of a woolstapler or clothier, or of a sheep farmer.
SHELL	Pilgrimage. The badge of those who travelled to Santiago da Compostella
SHEPHERD'SCROOK	Charity
SHIP	The Christian Church, carrying the faithful through the world.
SICKLE	see Scythe.
SKELETON	Death. Frequently shown carrying a scythe, since death is thecutting of this life, or with an hourglass, the symbol of thepassing of time, or with a dart/spear. Sometimes depicted as lyingdown or on a bed or in a hammock like object. When portrayed standing(with the weapons of death, the dart, spear, scythe or lance) it is thepersonification of death, the King of Terrors. Anatomical details arecarved according to the mason's skill and knowledge.
SKULL	Death of mortality. On 17th century monuments, usuallyportrayed either in partial profile or facing front or above or oncrossed bones. The 18th century masons carved the skull in many ways:with or without lower jaw, full face, three quarter or half profile, noses triangular, U-shaped, heart-shaped; eye sockets deep or shallow,large or small.
SKULL, CROWNED	Triumph over Death
SKULL, WINGED	Death or mortality; more commonly found on 17th centuryheadstones. Also symbolises flight of the sould from mortal man.
SNAIL	Laziness
SNAKE	With its tail in its mouth, symbolises eternity. With applesor with a tress symbolic of the Fall of Man
SPADE &PICK	The sexton's tools,symbolising mortality
SPADE & TURF CUTTER	The sexton’s tools; the latter has a triangular blade. Veryoften the two tools are crossed
SPIDER'S WEB	Human fraility
SQUARE &AXE	A stonemason.
STAFF or ROD	Comfort to the bereaved
STAR	Divine guidance
STAR OF DAVID	Fraternity; also a Masonic insignia.
SUN -RISING	Renewed life, i.e.resurrection
SUN - SETTING	Death
SUN - SHINING	Everlastiong life
SUNDIAL	The passage of time.
SWORD	Justice, constancy or fortitude. Part of the Armour of God’.See: Ephesians 6, 10-18.
SWORD - BROKEN	Life (usually amilitary one) cut short
SWORD -INVERTED	Relinquishment of power, i.e. victory
SWORD -SHEATHED	Temperance
TETRAGAMMATON	Four Hebrew letters -Y, H, W. E - spelling the true name of God
THISTLE	Earthly sorrow. Alsoindicative of Scottish descent
TORCH	Taken from a Greek emblem. Symbolised immortality; if upturned, symbolises life extinguished
TOWER	Strength.
TREE	Regeneration and immortality.
TREE WITHLOPPED BRANCHES	Life cut short
TRIANGLE	Holy Trinity. Sometimesalso used as a Masonic device
TRIQUETA	Three interlocking circles or triangles: the Holy Trinity,eternity
TRUMPET	Announcement of thesoul's entry into Heaven; resurrection
TULIP	Honour
URN	Draped and empty, symbolises death, derived from classicalcinerary urns; if flaming, indicates new life.
VENUS	See Psyche
VIRTUES	The Seven ChristianVirtues (shown as female figures with their attributes) comprising theFour Cardinal Virtues of Wisdom (Book), Fortitude (Scythe), Temperance(Column) and Justice (Blindfolded with Scales); and the ThreeTheological Virtues of Faith (Cross), Hope (Anchor) and Charity (withchildren or child)
WATER	Symbolises life; a hand pouring water from a flagon may occuron Jewish tombs of the Levites whose duty in the synagogue is to pourwater upon the hands of the priests.
WEEPERS	Usually shown in full relief on the top slopes of theheadstone, and in the form of putti
WHEAT	The Bread of Life; fruitfulness harvested; bounty.
WHEEL	The 'Circle of Life'
WILLOW	Grief and mourning. Folklore held that the willow dispelledevil, purified, and facilitated contact with the spiritualworld
WINGED FACE	A cherub
WINGED MAN	See: Male Figures.
WINGED OX	Symbol of St Luke theEvangelist.
WINGED SOUL	member of the elect, the soul being received straightinto heaven
WINGS	Divine mission, thus angels and cherubim are depicted withwings.
WREATH	Eternal life, victory.
YEW	Mourning, on account of its dark colour and association withchurchyards

©Julian W S Litten April 2004-November 2010
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