Πρώτο Νεκροταφείο Αθηνών
The First Cemetery of Athens – haven’t made it past the first yet. For now without many comments on the pictures.
In Athens, most ordinary burials last only three years.
…unless the family pays for an extension. When the time is up, the remains are exhumed, often in the presence of the family and sometimes a priest. The bones are cleaned and, according to Orthodox custom, may be sprinkled with wine and basil before being placed in a box. The box can then be kept in an ossuary – as seen here – for a lower annual fee.
Bones for which there are no relatives, or for which nobody continues to pay for storage, may eventually be placed in the choneftiri (χωνευτήρι), literally translated to something like the “digestion pit”: a communal underground repository for human remains, usually tucked away within the cemetery.
All cats in this series have clipped ears.
If you see a stray cat in Greece with the tip of one ear neatly clipped, it is not the result of a particularly rough night. It means the cat has been caught, neutered and released; it may also have been vaccinated and treated while at the vet.
The ear is clipped while the cat is under anaesthetic, so the procedure itself is painless, and removing the small tip does not impair hearing or otherwise bother the cat.
