BT Cemetery vaults buck tradition

The Bodden Town cemetery has been a long standing issue of how to accommodate more bodies into an already packed cemetery.

But a recent solution to the problem has one retired caretaker and some residents up in arms about the way new vaults are being placed.

Retired caretaker Freddy Watler said to his knowledge only murderous criminals are buried facing north to south.

“In all of my history of burying people, I never seen this happen before at the Bodden Town cemetery. It is east and west I have known people to be buried. All the other vaults in the cemetery have been constructed that way; why are these different,” said Mr. Watler.

“If the Recreation Parks and Cemetery Unit did not know the proper procedure, all they had to do was contact someone in the community and they would have showed them the right way.

“They have local Caymanians like Sydney Jackson, Owen Rankine and Gerald Smith from North Side that build vaults the right way; why were none of these people contacted,” he said.

A spokesperson from the Recreation parks and Cemetery Unit said the department is only responsible for cleaning the cemetery, which is across the road from the Bodden Town Police Station.

Mr. Watler said he noticed that work was being carried out in the cemetery and on quick inspection everything was coming along just fine but when he returned some days later, workers had switched from putting in the vaults east to west to north to south.

In an effort to find a solution to the overcrowding problem, various governments have considered options but each has been quickly abandoned.

One solution was to stack vaults, to which Mr. Watler also voiced his concerns.

Then it was suggested government would buy land at the back of the cemetery for burial. It was then suggested government would find other land in the community, but no suitable land could be found. The idea of burial at sea and cremating people also came up.

Traditionally, residents buried their dead in a simple wooden coffin, which was placed in a six-foot hole in the ground.

Historically, Christian burials are east-west, with the head at the western end of the grave, an excerpt from Wikipedia states.

This mirrors the layout of Christian churches and for much the same reason; to view the coming of Christ on Judgment Day. In many Christian traditions, ordained clergy are traditionally buried in the opposite orientation and their coffins carried likewise, so that at the General Resurrection they may rise facing and ready to minister to their people.