Pioneering In The Field At Pioneer Square


   First time in the field for me. My partner and I meet at Pioneer Square. We agree to study the graves in the south-west corner of the park.

   Because of the size of the site, the first questions which came to my mind where why these people in particular? Who were they? Where they more or less "important" in the community in which and at the time at which they were living? Why are there different types of memorials? How come some were in such good conditions and some others looked so damaged?


ASPECT
   Not all of the monuments did look the same!
   There were headstones, wall monuments, an obelisk, sarcophaguses (sarcophagi?) and a stone bench.

   I am no geologist, but from my perspective, most of them were made out of stone, marble and/or concrete, granite but one stood out for it was made with bricks.
   There was also bronze for the plaque of the naval wall and another unknown metal for the anchor placed above it.


  The graves we are studying are among the ones which are in the best conditions if we compare them to those at the far end of the square. We could read for most of them the carvings and if not, some of them were accompanied by a headstone added by the B.C. Historical Association decades lates.


   The ones we were looking at were often decorated and carved in style, or even sculpted. Images talk better than descriptions. 

LOCATION
   Pioneer Square is located Downtown and next to the Christ Church Cathedral. The monuments we were studying were either close to the roads, or among the closest to the church (from the side entrance, the monuments were quite visible). 

   Again, not a specialist. Based on former readings, the location of a cemetery has sometimes nothing to do with the inner city.
   But I have this assumption that because Victoria was a settlement, the church had a central position so the city was to be constructed more or less around it. Still, another assumption I had that in a British settlement, people would be buried by the church.
   Well no. Pioneer Square used to be the Quadra St. Cemetery. It was constructed as an addition to a cemetery which used to be at the southeast corner of Douglas St. and Johnson Rd., as the population grew and as the cemetery filled rapidly.


   Still, this section of the park we were studying had monuments arranged in such a way that we could count a few or several meters separating them all from the others; and by comparison, the ones at the far end of the park were so close to each other that we could notice that there was only a few centimeters between one another.


TIME
   Pioneer Square was among the first cemeteries in Victoria. This can be confirmed by the carvings of certain graves, mentioning members of the Hudson's Bay Company. In other words, some of the dead must be settlers. Indeed, the majority of the monuments we studied dated back to the second half of the 19th century. However, more recent monuments display 20th century dates like the military walls or the headstones added by the B.C. Historical Association.


IDENTITY
   Who were they?
Apart from the ones on the military monuments, we can find 

   -James Murray Yale http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?id_nbr=5330

   -the 4 Cridge children : Frederic Pemberton, Edward Scott, Eber and Grace

   with the addition of Mary Abbott Cridge.

   -Charles Dodd http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?&id_nbr=3874

   -John Work http://bcheritage.ca/fortvictoria/people/work.html

   -C.W. Wallace, Jane Allison, and Kate, Abby, Edward and Charlie

   -David Cameron and Cecelia Cameron http://bcheritage.ca/fortvictoria/people/cameron.html

   -J.S. Helmcken http://bcheritage.ca/fortvictoria/people/helmcken.html

   -Lucy Sanders

   Thus, we may notice that it ranged from newborns to elder people. The Old Cemeteries Society of Victoria gives here a brief description of those persons (some of whom I could not find their biographies).

http://www.oldcem.bc.ca/psp/html/reports/walking_tour/index.htm

   You may have a better look at the carved text and the pictures of the monuments there

http://maps.google.ca/maps/ms?vps=2&hl=en&ie=UTF8&oe=UTF8&msa=0&msid=210656988929581214310.0004b83024d62ee37a169

STATUS
   To come back to this first idea of "first" settlers, we could see this might be questionable for not all of them mention it. 
   However, I think that many of them were either playing a prominent role in the community or at least. I have seen "Rev" - like reverend Edward Cridge - for religious figures. Reverend Cridge became the dean of the Christ Church Cathedral.           
   There are also those military monuments to honor those who are supposed to have participated in different wars or have accomplishements related to the naval or air force, or the police.
   But there we said children? Usually, the ones we studied were there because they were part of those prominent families which were among the founders of Fort Victoria.


CONCLUSION
   The monuments we looked at were not put there for any reasons. I believe that because of who they were or what they did, either for the city or the nation, they were "privileged" for they were not put and abandoned (they really look damaged and there is no B.C. Historical Association headstone in that area) at the far end of the park. On the contrary, they were settled so as to be visible either from the roads or the churchgoers. Plus, most of them display stone work which must have required some time and certainly more money.

• BRITISH COLUMBIA GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY. (1990). Pioneer Square Cemetery, also known as Victoria Pioneer Cemetery, Victoria, B.C. Richmond, B.C., British Columbia Genealogical Society.
• [ Mortimer's Monumental Works which made the naval wall http://www.mortimersmonuments.com/products/index.htm ] 
• [ Hudson's Bay Company at Fort Victoria website http://bcheritage.ca/fortvictoria/people/index.html ] 
• [Old Cemeteries Society of Victoria website  http://www.oldcem.bc.ca/psp/html/reports/walking_tour/index.htm ] 
• [Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online  http://www.biographi.ca/index-e.html ] 

WHEN I AM OLD,


   I want to be buried with... *big blank*


   To be honest, I never thought about this before. I like the ideas of giving away my body for research, or getting cremated and having my ashes scattered in the sea. 


   However, if I were to be buried somewhere so as to get found, I believe that I would like to be with:
        _books
        _a nice dress by a creator acquaintance
        _pictures of the loved ones.


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   In contrast, I spoke with friends and family members. According to them, they might put things like:
        _food
        _money
        _a bottle of red Bordeaux
        _pictures
        _my favorite dress
        _a ring
        _a flashlight
        _a phone
        _books


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   This is funny how some ideas coincide. But by talking to them, I discovered that their interpretations did not meet mine. 


   AND SORRY FOR THE FOLLOWING STEREOTYPES, BUT SOME OF THEM PROVE TO BE TRUE...

   BOOKS
   I am not someone who you would consider as a literary one. However, I like to read from time to time. 
   With years, I kept piling up books at home, telling myself I will read them later. So maybe that time will be the "later". Maybe this will be the time when I can finally enjoy them without fearing the pressure of university, professional or family life.
   Plus, these books will distract me in the LOOOOOOONG time of loneliness which awaits for me!
   BUT I am the kind of person who likes to say "what if". There are so many to-do's in my list that it seems endless. The books would not necessarily reflect who I am, but the person I want to be. 
   I would love to be surrounded by numerous self-learning books like languages, music, arts and so on. But I also want to have those literature classics I did not have time to read during my lifetime.
   In a way, I think that I can still fulfill this dream even if it is not in this life (among the living).

   DRESS
   I believe that this is a big classic. The deceased are often dressed in their best outfits. I don't want to break this rule. 
   Why? Who would bother to see me in my afterlife?
   Well, as I might look dead, maybe it will be nice to be dressed up to the nines for the ones attending my final "big day" ceremony.
    I know I won't be able to dance or strut around with it, BUT
        a) I was strongly influenced by our consumerist/superficial world ruled by magazines and other pressure media which made me so conscious of my appearance. I know, I know. Such a material girl!
        b) I have this weird mental connection, linked to the argument above, that if I am well-dressed, I am fine. If I am wearing a potato bag, it is proof that I don't care anymore about my appearance, the world around me... in other words, I am depressed.
   However, the dress may not reflect our time period but my likings. I love the Victorian style. So if I was given the opportunity, I would like a dress like that. But maybe if the dress was to be sewn with "modern elements", the fabric and other material could be evidence of our time.

   PICTURES
   For some people and even for me, they will keep me company; they will comfort me. Looking at their pictures will maintain the bond between us.
   For my family, using pictures is like having "pictorial doors" to communicate with the dead. Talking to the dead is quite commonplace in the Vietnamese culture. But having pictures help to have a better signal.
   With some chances (but I don't believe my relatives will be thinking of it), archaeologists might find dates printed in the back of the pictures. It will depend on which machine they will be using to print them.


   FOOD
   Food was a recurrent thing. But not all of them had the same ideas.

   Saucisson was one of them. It is a French salami. Funny what the French can be craving for when they are leaving France... or at least, this is what I personally noticed for the people, friends and me who had to live abroad for a while. My international/exchange student friends know how much I am fond of and missing it. Some thought of cheese, of course. But saucisson is even harder to find considering those restrictions at the customs. This prove how much they know me as an epicurean person.
   I don't think that there will be much saucisson left in the grave for the diggers. However, I really do appreciate the gesture. 


   Imperishable or long-to-perish food, according to my boyfriend. He was influenced by stories my sister told him about the Asian cult of the ancestors. I don't think he really knows why we are giving food to them. But I believe he wants to be caring since he knows how much I love food.

   Rice was another idea which came from my family. Apparently, it is part of the Vietnamese tradition to put some in the grave (and in the mouth) of the deceased.
   However, this is not something my family would have put automatically (actually, all of the objects mentioned in this article - apart from the dress - were added by my relatives or me because of my questions and insistence). As we have discovered in our lectures and readings, funerary practices evolve. This rice thing is part of my mother's remembrance as a child of Vietnamese practices. She does not know its meaning, which is evidence of a disappearing practice. Those practices have largely changed from before her childhood till now. Articles and book extracts do not agree on the meaning of rice. This is certainly due to the folk stories associated to burials and the regions, time, peoples and their religions. Indeed, how many versions of a same fairy tale can we have? It must be the same for funerary practices and their meanings.
   For instance, I could find that the amount varies: some would say "some", some others are elusive, some say "a pinch" and some give a different number of grains according to the gender. Rice is generally put there to feed the dead. 

   MONEY
   It is also to be put with the dead (and in the mouth) according to Vietnamese tradition. Some would say it is a sign of wealth and prosperity. Some others think it is to pay the bargeman who would make the deceased cross the river between the world of the living and that of the dead.
   My boyfriend thinks about practicality. He wants me to be able to afford what I might need in the hereafter. Maybe some more mystical saucisson and rice?

   RED WINE
   It is a reminder of my French roots. Friends as well as family members do know how much I love wine. I am from France, but I am also living in a region rich with vineyards. To quote a friend, "the wine will get better with years, along with you".
   However, I am not from the region of Bordeaux which could be misleading for archaeologists.

   RING, FLASHLIGHT, PHONE
   Then, come the ring, the flashlight and the mobile phone. These are more jokes between some friends and me.
   One day, one of them proposed to me for fun. At the end of the day, I cancelled our so-called engagement because of the absence of any ring.
   The flashlight and the phone, according to another friend, would be there in case I am still alive and/or am scared in the dark and/or need to talk.
   Very thoughtful, indeed. But I think those friends did not take into account the poor signal down there and the poor duration of the batteries.
   So these might be other misleading objects. I don't consider myself as wealthy. I am not married. And I am trying to figure out how one could interpret a flashlight and phone. Maybe as a way to light my path to the world of the dead? But how about the phone? Any ideas?


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   In the end, those objects are not aimed at archaeologists. This is sure. 
   What I have noticed is that they are not necessarily put there as a legacy of who I am, what my accomplishments are, how the civilization I was living in lived and what were their customs.
   So am I an exception in the mainstream or is this general assumption questionable?
   These objects are simply reflective of the bond between the living and me, of concerns for my afterlife, of associations of me with those objects based on my taste, and of the goals I want to accomplish in my new existence.