The family burial ground on the family farm was the first of the frontier cemeteries. The custom of family burial grounds kept its strong hold on the rural south, especially in the Appalachian and Cumberland Mountain areas. The local church cemetery came next, but while the family farm and the local church cemeteries were frequently surveyed, the determination of true east was not usually established. They simply did not have the luxury of good surveys, and it is unlikey that even a compass was used later to determine true east for the graves.
Undoubtedly, the east direction was determined by sunrise and that changed every day of the year. In early land records, we often find disparities between legal descriptions and the actual surveys.
The cause of this is declination, which is the difference between true north and magnetic north. Longitude lines run true north - south, while the compass needle points to the magnetic north - at least on our north side of the equator. The possible cause for the misalignment is that it was challenging to establish east only by the position of the sun on the eastern horizon at sunrise. People may have sensed that they are using the east, but the compass would have proved otherwise.
As the people moved westward toward the Indian lands, it became apparent that the need for gravesites would increase. Family farms would use the family ground for burial, and it was prevalent for the rural south, especially for the Cumberland and Appalachian regions. The next option was the local church, but it was difficult to establish the actual east as many people would choose the local cemetery.
Truth be told, people weren't accurate when choosing the placement of the grave, and it's not sure that they used the compass after burial either.
It's beyond a doubt that they would use the sunrise for establishing east. Little that they know that the position would change every single day of the year.
Should you be curious enough to check the early land records, you would notice that there are many inadvertences between the legal descriptions and the real surveys. The declination is the leading cause for the difference, with the magnetic north being different from the true north.
Many years ago, the "meets and bounds" was the survey system, and it was no good at all. It goes without saying that nobody should rely on the old surveying methods when we have accurate modern surveying systems. The trustedcaskets. One particular aspect refers to the position you're buried relates to one of the spouse. Next time you go to a cemetery, you could take a look at the burials.
Take a look to find out how many are facing east. See if the headstones of the husbands are on the left as you're standing in front of them. There are no strict regulations about the position of burial in the Catholic religion, and the direct burial is also taking place time to time. And the rule is only available during the funeral Mass. If the church would be built so that the priest honoring Mass always faces the east, it makes perfect sense why the deceased would also face east throughout the funeral service.
The majority of churches today would honor Mass with the priest facing his parishioners across the alter. Many Egyptian temples were built so that the dead faced east. Christians believed that if the deceased were buried to face east, they could rise again on the day of resurrection.
Many Fijians and islanders cultures saw west as the land of the dead. Although they had different reasons, most early cultures and religions endorsed an eastward facing gravestone which is why it is still done today. Despite that some early procedures remained, there is a more diverse range of personal beliefs in society today. Not everyone has to follow a religious based method. Couples are requesting to be positioned next to each other facing the direction they faced on the day they were married.
Some people would prefer to face in the direction of a significant place like the ocean or a mountain. Council and private cemeteries do follow design procedures with a focus on higher functionality rather than traditional placement, however there are no rules regarding the direction that a headstone faces.
At MMS we understand how precious maintaining your loved ones memory is.
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