Hand and/or foot on gravestone ...

[Lydart]

In this weeks 'Church Times' (yes, I know ... I'm probably the only RootsChatter who reads it !) ... there's a question posed:-

"Why do some gravestones have a carved outline of a hand or foot on the reverse side ?"

Well, why ? 



I've occasionally seen on church ceilings a 'footprint' painted on, and this represents the risen Christ ascending into heaven ... just the soles of his feet left showing !   But this hardly applied to gravestones ...

[gene-genie]

In this weeks 'Church Times' (yes, I know ... I'm probably the only RootsChatter who reads it !) ... there's a question posed:-

"Why do some gravestones have a carved outline of a hand or foot on the reverse side ?"

Well, why ? 



I've occasionally seen on church ceilings a 'footprint' painted on, and this represents the risen Christ ascending into heaven ... just the soles of his feet left showing !   But this hardly applied to gravestones ...

In some cases a hand may be pointing to an inscription.  Shown with a cuff, it may indicate the hand of God.  It also may be an emblem of farewell or two hands, reunion.

At a guess a foot might be an emblem of a journey.....

gene-genie

[JenB]

If you google something like gravestone + symbolism you will get lots of hits...

In general the main ones for hands seem to be
Hand of God pointing down - mortality, sudden death
Hand of God pointing up - reward of the righteous, confirmation of life after death
Folded hands - devotion, prayer
Handshake - farewell to earthly existence.

I can't find anything for feet though....

Jennifer

[Lydart]

But all those are on the FRONT of the stone, where the words are ... the ones mentioned in the Church Times were on the reverse or unseen side of the slab ...