Well, I'm home from the funeral marathon. Three different events across three days, which was a lot for me, so I can't even imagine how the immediate family must feel. The services were all in Ukranian, so I spent a lot of time watching the attendees and trying to catch the emotion of what was being said, but I had little clue as to what was actually happening. It's more about showing up than understanding the language. Today's service took place in a beautiful Ukrainian church that is built out of wood without the use of nails (so I've been told - I'm skeptical). At any rate, it's amazing, and oh so effing cold. My feet STILL haven't warmed up from sitting there for 90 minutes listening to the singing and watching the priest toss around burning ashes in a ceremonial metal holder that I'm sure has a name. The light in the church is incredible. There are small windows towards the ceiling that let in huge diagonal streams of light. Sadly, the light wasn't enough to keep anyone warm.
Now back to life on animal planet in which the cats roam around while the dog is gone and then he comes barging in the door from his evening walk yodeling because the orange cat didn't scramble out of the kitchen quite fast enough. And now for the short form:
cold toes and running
noses, crumpled tissues and
questions of what's next
picture: headstones at Greenwood Cemetery, Brooklyn, NY, fall 2011, film, Canon Tlb
2 comments:
Too bad you couldn't get some photos of that slanting light in the church -- but I guess taking pictures during a funeral would be uncouth. (I would have been tempted!)
I was also tempted! and i had planned to sneak one at the end of the service, but then everyone was expected to file out in an orderly fashion, and it felt rude to whip out my phone. should have done it before it started, but I was too distracted by the cold. next time (it's the church brother and his in-laws attend, so I expect there will be more events to attend there).
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