With their unique blend of traditions, holiday gatherings, and quiet solitude, the darker months of the year naturally lend themselves to remembrance. Across the world, wreaths, candles, photos, and other mementos are placed at grave sites to honor and memorialize loved ones.
In some cases, these symbols are attached to gravestones in a more permanent way. Many are commonly found in engravings, sculptures, or the shape of the stones themselves. And each holds a meaning—often several meanings—which may add extra poignancy to cemetery visits this season.
Candles
Candles are a frequent sight in both cemetery visits and gravestone art. Across many practices and cultures, candles almost universally hold connotations of light and warmth—welcome symbolism in a season known for cold, dark nights.
On a gravestone, a lit candle embodies life. Thus, a snuffed or burned-out candle represents life that has ended, as in the scene depicted on Joseph Tapping’s marker.
Candle engravings can have a more optimistic symbolism as well. When depicted with a flame still burning, they may represent a commitment to one’s faith, Christ as the “light of the world,” or a belief in eternal life. They are also seen as a metaphor for hope.
Skulls
Grave of Antoine Michel Wemaer
Though not often considered a festive symbol, skulls and cemeteries are central to remembrance days like Día de los Muertos. This holiday honors departed loved ones with the celebratory energy of a family reunion—complete with sugar skulls to honor and represent those who’ve passed on.
The skull or skeleton is a common motif found on gravestones. A skull and crossbones can simply represent mortality, and a winged skull implies the soul’s ascension to heaven. In general, particularly before the 1900s, skulls were the visual version of the phrase “Memento Mori,” an acknowledgement of the inevitability of death. Some may find this a morbid message, but historically skull imagery was a straightforward reminder that death is part of life.
Wreaths and Garlands
A garland’s meaning can change depending on the foliage. One might spot familiar winter evergreens like pine, holly, and ivy, all of which share connotations of immortality. Each also has their own associations. Holly was linked to luck in ancient customs, while in Christianity the prickly leaves and red berries might reference Christ’s sacrifice. Pine (especially pinecones) is linked with regeneration, and ivy with friendship and fidelity.
Wreaths share many meanings with garlands, but their circular shape nods to the cyclical nature of life and death. They may also indicate a notable accomplishment in some area of the person’s life, especially when made of laurel, another evergreen. More generally, the wreath symbolizes victory over death itself through rebirth and the immortality of the soul.
Portraits
Some loved ones have been memorialized in a very literal way with permanent portraits. Such tributes can range from minimal to incredibly detailed, and from professional artistry to etchings by a passionate amateur. All provide a generous glimpse of those who’ve passed on that can be a true gift to both the deceased and those who visit their graves.
What is a sculpture made in a loved one’s image if not the three-dimensional version of the portrait? Both portrait and sculpture have the benefit of being highly personalized tributes to the departed, often standing for decades and even centuries beyond the lifetime of those they honor.
As with much of gravestone art, the individual’s beliefs, preferences, hobbies, and more can add even more depth to these symbols beyond their broadly understood meanings. A closer look at gravestones like these can provide an unexpectedly rich understanding of those memorialized.
Have you seen similar symbols on gravestones at your local cemeteries? Are there meanings we might have missed? Let us know in the comments. Keep safe and warm this winter, and thank you for the gift of your time and effort as part of this community!
My Great Grandfather Davis Brizzolari burried in Madisonville, Texas had a shell on his grave. What does this signify?
Scallop-shaped shells and clam shells may be a symbol of a person’s baptism in the church or their Christian journey through life
The scallop shell is linked to Saint James, the apostle associated with the Camino de Santiago – the pilgrim walk across northern Spain to the Cathedral in Santiago de Compostela. The shell can represent life’s journey to a spiritual ending.
The seashells i have seen on tombstones in the midwest seem to identify people born in Europe who crossed the ocean to get here.
When searching in an older cemetery in Pennsylvania, we discovered many of the old German stones depicted trees or plants that were native to the person’s homeland.
While living in College Station Texas about 40 miles from Madisonville I would travel to the small towns like Zebecksville and others in the area and visited their cemeteries. The cemeteries have a lot of European immigrants from the 1920s and 1930s. The tombstones have the deceased pictures on them which is a old European tradition . Many of the deceased were Czech and Latvian. They immigrated to Texas to farm . I noticed some seashells also.
I misspelled the towns name. It was Zabcikville Texas.
He preferred Shell gasoline???
The shell is a Christian symbol, signifying baptism. Not common but also very appropriate as baptism for a Christian is the pathway to the promise of eternal life and salvation.
Living in coastal Maine there are many mariner’s tombstones with ships or other references to the sea.
Could you do an article on how to properly clean gravestones?
Thanks for your question. We have more information about cemetery conservation in a blogpost here.
Best and easiest way to clean a grave stone is to use a tank sprayer with
Wet it and Forge It (exterior).
Just spray it on and in a couple of months the stone will look new.
Then spray it once per year.
If the stone has lichens on it you may need to do a 2nd spray after about one month. They will be dead and can then easily be removed with a plastic paint scraper.
House cleaners like ‘Wet it and forget it’s could damage the stone. A product suce as D/2 Biological Solution should be used.
I also am from Maine. People are using d2. There’s Maine cemetery associations that do do cleaning
We’ve used both products. They’re very similar in use and results. D/2 is a little more expensive, cannot be purchased locally here (MN) and seems to work a little faster than Wet ‘N’ Forget.
D2 is also what the National and Veterans cemeteries use on their stones.
I found d2 on Amazon.com. I imagine you can find it commercially elsewhere.
Fascinating article + pictures! 👍🏼
My Grandmother’s brother, drowned when he was five. He had an anchor on his headstone.
An anchor usually symbolizes Hope.
Several years ago when I visited the cemetery of Montmartre in Paris, I kept seeing little stones on the tombstones, obviously placed there by other visitors. After I returned home, I went to the internet to find out why. I learned that leaving stones on graves is significant in Jewish bereavement practices, an act of remembrance or respect for the deceased. And I learned this in my 60s! There’s still so much for me to learn!
The huge cemetery across the valley from the temple in Jerusalem has stones placed on many of the tombs.
No one knows for sure why we Jews place stones on our loved ones’ gravestones, but my mom always speculated that originally piling stones on top of a fresh grave was a way to keep wild animals from digging it up, and that the current custom is a vestige of that…
After my mother was born, her father passed suddenly, and my Italian grandmother remarried – a Hungarian man of Jewish faith, and this was the man I called Grandfather. His family told me when he passed that you must use pebbles from a nearby creek or river, that the stones must come from water. I have no idea as to the veracity of this tale overall…but I still walk down into Rock Creek from Parklawn Cemetery to find a smooth pebble every time I visit him to this day.
My great great granduncle who lived in NC during the Civil War has a rose on his headstone. What does that signify?
There’s a poem often found on sympathy cards which includes the line “The rose still grows beyond the wall”. This line is also found on gravestones of younger people, typically young women or children. Perhaps that’s the reference, though I suspect the poem was written well after the Civil War.
Eric, I’ve always been told a rose on a tombstone meant “LOVE”. Whether as a flower or a flower on the tombstone itself.
My great grandfather and great grandmothers headstone is topped with hands shaking. We all thought this was unique to their graves in Nebraska. Years later we discovered that my great grandfathers parents headstone in Washington State is the same. What does this represent.
A handshake symbolizes a farewell and welcoming into the heavenly world. It is often the marking for the final resting place of husbands and wives. It’s a symbol showing that even “death do us part” does not sever the marriage bond.
I love this! Even I tell my wife she’ll forever be mine and I, hers, for all eternity! Thanks Chris + Jean!
Here is a link to a touching story, complete with pictures, about this topic: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grave_with_the_Hands#:~:text=The%20two%20hands%2C%20a%20man's,family%20alliances%20and%20even%20death.
Can be friendship. Do you know if they were Quakers?
Free masons?
some of my relatives have wheat
on their Markers. I believe it is a
symbol of Farmers. Is there any other meaning?
Wheat sheafs are almost exclusively found on gravemarkers for elderly people. The wheat sheaf symbolizes the end of the harvest, and is an appropriate symbol for one who lived a long life and came to his or her end late in life. Almost never found on a child’s grave.
For those of you interested in cemeteries, and their stone meanings, I would suggest a wonderful book: Stories in Stone, a Field guide to Cemetery Symbolism and Iconography. Written and photographed by Douglas Keister. Very informative and interesting.
This is a very interesting article! Thank you.
The photogammetry by Andrew Perrin on Joseph Trapping’s monument above is incredible. This is the first time I’ve encountered the word. Must do more research. It could be really useful for helping make out names and dates on eroded markers.
A broken column is often used to represent a life that ended suddenly, usually for a young person.
My third great grandparents have what appears to be a lit oil lamp on their tombstone. It sort of looks like a Genie lamp but I interpret it to be an oil lamp. Does anyone know the significance?
I suspect from the Bible story of the 10 young girls, guests at a wedding, told to keep their lamps filled with oil and the wicks trimmed, because no one knows when “the bridegroom” (Christ) would be returning to collect his “bride” (the Church), and they wanted to be ready to join the party when it happened.
Very interesting, enjoyed seeing them all, as an avid searcher on Ansestry.com I have seen many graves that are interesting and leave one wondering.
Amazing, informative and so good for so many of us who traipse through graveyards, because we want to and sort of because we have to. Thank you.
My great grandparents have “I. M.H.R” and “B.F.M.” at the foot of their graves. Can you tell me what it means? Tried for years to get the answers.
A couple of latin phrases found on headstones are “In Memoriam Honorabilem Requiem” and “Bene Fide Memoriam.” It’s difficult to know for sure without more context, but these are possibilities.
As far as I can tell they mean something on the order of Rest in Honor and Rest in Faith.
This doesn’t answer your exact question, as I couldn’t find those letters mentioned here, but this has many other letters listed & is quite lengthy. https://sites.rootsweb.com/~wicemetp/abbrev.htm
I’ve seen tree trunks with the limbs chopped off. Usually this type of gravestone is used for children who died at a young age. I’ve seen these mostly in Jewish cemeteries.
My great-great grandmother, who died in 1894, has one of these tree trunks without limbs. At a cemetery tour, I learned often this means the person was the last in a family line, which did not apply in our situation. I also learned that some stones like this were connected with a life insurance company – Woodmen Life.
Before there was the life insurance company there was the Woodmen of the World, a fraternal organization. And yes, many of their tombstones were trees or logs.
In many cemeteries in the north and islands of Italy I found instead of the classic “star” or the letter “alpha” (Greek alphabet) next to the date of birth a symbol that resembles a letter “Y” but with three arms. The meaning is clear but where does this symbol come from? Thanks!!
In molti cimiteri del nord e delle isole in Italia ho trovato al posto della classica “stella” o della lettera “alfa” (alfabeto greco) a fianco della data di nascita un simbolo che rassomiglia ad un lettera “Y” ma con tre braccia. Il significato è chiaro ma da dove deriva questo simbolo?
Years ago I was walking back to my car in United Hebrew Cemetery in Staten Island NY when I heard a heavily accented woman’s voice thanking me for visiting; no one was around. It was a recording coming from a headstone in a Russian section of the cemetery triggered by a motion sensor! Spooky.
Fascinating. Thank you for the article.
I believe an oil lamp symbolizes the light of faith.
Here is my ancester: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/18535731/reuben-rowland Does the “shoulders” tie the gravestone to a certain date? Or a certain location? The grave tone shape seem unusual to itsdate and location.
Wow! Thanks so much for such an informative article. It makes me want to go find some new cemeteries to explore.
Found amethyst embedded in markers in the local Jewish cemetery. Have never seen this in any other and asked a couple of Jewish folks I know about it. They weren’t aware of the custom or meaning. The cemetery is located in Pennsylvania.
Please tell everyone when cleaning a headstone….Do not use Clorox. It amazes me that people are actually doing this and then they regret it later on. Thanks. Love the article.
In the cemetery of the Baptist Church in the Great Valley near Valley Forge, PA. (founded 1711, current building 1805 I believe) I have seen a stone oil lamp with a cloth over it symbolizing life snuffed out. I have also seen a broken column, again symbolizing life broken. Old cemeteries are the best.
Could FindaGrave post an article on the various organization symbols ? Masonic lodge is obvious, but what are the symbols of other Fraternal organizations ? And their meaning ? I’ve seen 3 links of a chain, and I think that is Oddfellows ? Also 100F. Would love to read about those symbols.
Thanks to all, I have heard of D2 for stone cleaning but not Wet n Forget (?). Thank you for all the contributions here.
I had used Wet It And Forget It. My wife’s Mom her tombstone had turned green ugly .A I used wet it and forget it and left it . I totally surprised of the before and after the after stared clearing up I didn’t get down and scrub the stone. You put it on before the rain and wet it and forget it. It is not going do it right away but I have used it and it works.
I have had success in cleaning my uncle’s stone with Simple Green It is a white stone and 97 years old and I also did my Grandparent’s stone which is gray granite and it too turned out very nice. I was very happy with the job Simple Green, water, soft scrub brush & a bit of elbow grease did. My one cousin sprayed some product on our greatgrandparent’s stone that was supposed to wash away the dirt after several rains . The product did not work well at all and left only the very top of the stone looking a bit cleaner..I am not endorsing any cleaner, just saying what worked for me.
In the Bohemian Cemetery in Chicago there is one type of gravestone/symbol that occurs often and was unfamiliar to me. Ive wondered what its significance could be. I wish I could remember what it was!
My ancestors grave stone has an upturned engraved union flag
On the face of the stone. 7/6 stripes with 13 stars. Above it is engraved Liberty. USA engraved in the blue field. He lived 1747-1843. He fought in the American Revolutionary War
I can only guess 13 stars 13 colonies but the flag represents the colonies in peril by the British? Any other thoughts?
Potentially Irish symbols on self made concrete making I found: upturned horseshoe; stars, two shields on either side of name.
I have read that pillar tombstones that are broken off at the top signify someone who has died young. I have seen them. I believe they are most prevalent in military cemeteries.
Friends of ours lost a child several years ago and had the poem “Wynken, Blynken, and Nod” by Eugene Field printed on the grave marker. It struck me as beautiful and one of the best for a child’s grave.
Family Tree Magazine has several articles/guides concerning all the inquiries about graveyards and tombstones, including the maintenance of grave markers. The more natural the cleaner, the better. The military cemetery in El Paso, Tx is located in the Chihuahuan Desert. We don’t have the moisture issues which affect stone. However, in the oldest cemetery in town, Concordia, the wind and sandstorms wear down a lot of headstones. The sandstorms would shift sand and “bury” graves that were not maintained. Sand in the high winds is quite abrasive! We had burial sites near Ft Bliss Army posts or family ranches which disappeared over time due to the high winds or the shifting Rio Grande river with its seasonal flooding. The Ft Bliss National Cemetery now has no grassed areas; many other cemeteries are having to adapt to reduce watering. Enjoyed reading everyone’s responses. Alison Welch
The book “A Brief Treatise on Tomb and Grave Stones” by David Gillespie has some great information about symbolism used on grave stones.
This is a great article. I went to visit my family in Illinois last October. They were easy to find they are all in graves. I took some things for them along with some super glue. My Mother had a thing for owls so I glued a smell one inch owl to her stone. My dad served in the 2nd armored division during world war two so I took one of his tank buttons for his stone. My uncle Ashton served in the US Navy so I took him a pea coat button. My Aunt got a small one inch tall chicken because she always had chickens a cow or two and a peacock which pranced around her property. I really liked this article and hope to read more in the future.
Jewish families show a washing urn to signify that a person was a Levi, which is the family of escorts to the priest.
Parsed Hands as what a cemetery of a Cohen or priest will show.
See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rechtman_(surname)?wprov=sfti1
In my hometown there is a family plot that features many graves and even a mausoleum. But the strange thing there is a flat granite stone with an arm engraved in an oval shape. There are no marking of any kind. My grandmother told me the person buried next to it lost the arm in a farming accident. I don’t know if that is accurate, but it’s a good story.
WEEPING WILLOW TREE signifies the hope for resurrection
(based of the observation that if you cut down a willow tree and stack the cut logs, in the Spring many of the logs will sprout new growth!
Please do not clean gravestones that you do not own. What you see as cleaning may do damage over time. For example, even water will damage sandstone. Don’t be a good Samaratan without getting permission. If you don’t know how to get permission, please do not clean the stones! Even documenting stones is not enough of a reason – take a photo and leave it be.
How do I go about posting a picture of my late wife’s grave? Thank you for your help.
You can add a headstone photo by going to the memorial on Find a Grave and selecting Add Photos. Select the photo to upload. Learn more at our support site here.
My husband’s great great grandparents were buried in rural central Georgia. They died in 1874 and 1887. Both graves have cement mounds over them that are completely covered in real sea shells. We have asked many of the locals about their significance but have not received a satisfactory response yet!
In Earlham cemetery, Norwich UK we have several grave stones from the 19 and 20th centaury that tell the circumstances of how the person died ie rail crash drowning or accident. Also some where a relative is mentioned who died in a battle or accident. Its great for local history.
A rose with a cut stem signifies a life cut short.
So much to read, learn + enjoy everything in here! Maybe the best one yet! 👏🏼
My great-grandfather’s gravestone has a large empty space in the middle of it, any possible symbolism with that?