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Grandma in Red Rock
John C. McCornack ![[IMAGE]](bluline.gif)
Where did grandma go?
Santa said he knew nothing
And the snowmen were not talking
Grandma now at 6 feet?
Fans of the HBO series, and the rest of us,
have the Great Plague of 1665 in London to thank for the expression "6 feet
under." This tragic recurrence of the Bubonic Plague (which first decimated
Europe in the 14th century) was the impetus for the law requiring dead bodies
to be buried at least 6 feet below ground.
The comprehensive cemetery site, City of the
Silent, addresses the matter on its page of frequently asked questions. English
law once required a burial depth of 6 feet to ensure the corpse didn't spread
the plague to the living. Of course, this measure was ineffective as fleas
infected with the plague probably spread the disease. Also, few diseases
are contracted from contact with dead bodies. The same site gives a rather
gruesome description of early cemeteries as being "littered with bones and
bits of charnel." Furthermore, shallow graves allowed scavengers (presumably
both human and animal) to easily dig up the remains -- which makes a 6-foot-deep
burial seem like a decent idea.
A BBC site about the plague of 1665 summarizes
the rules set by the Lord Mayor of London to limit the outbreak. They include
the mandate that all graves should be at least 6 feet deep. Writer Daniel
Defoe also quotes the Lord Mayor's rules in his work, A Journal of the Plague
Year. Defoe notes that the Lord Mayor's orders were published in June 1665.
The accuracy of Defoe's account is suspect because Defoe was only 5 years
old at the time of the plague. However, other sites reprint very similar
accounts of the Lord Mayor's rules. Even if Defoe was incorrect, his writing
may have helped popularize the idea of burial 6 feet down.
While "6 feet under" is common slang for "dead
and buried," many corpses are no longer buried at that depth. British cemetery
law changed sometime after 1665, and now burial requirements are much looser.
Some U.K. towns and counties only require that a coffin be covered with a
minimum 30 inches of soil. Many U.S. states don't seem to have a depth
requirement for burials. In California, however, caskets must be covered
by at least 18 inches of dirt and turf. But somehow "one-and-a-half feet
under" doesn't sound quite as catchy as "six feet under."
http://www.top-greetings.com
Thanks for spending a little time in my world ! John McCornack
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