Friday, February 24, 2017

Coins on graves

I had a great question about our trip to Crown Hill Cemetery about the coins found on some of the tombstones. I had a vague recollection of this tradition, but had not personally seen it. There was a plaque at James Whitcomb Riley's grave explaining that all coins were donated to the Riley foundation which bears his name and responsible for our wonderful children's hospital here in Indiana.
I did some digging. There are some who assume the tradition is from paying the ferryman over the river Styz in Greek mythology. For some pennies left on graves are in remembrance of the deceased, leaving a part of yourself as a show of respect and support.
 But the most inspiring accounts, talk about a special custom among the military called the Coin salute - a comaraderie of brothers in arms.
A single penny means someone has visited to pay their respect and as a comfort to the family. A nickel indicates that they were in boot camp together. A dime is left by someone who served with them. But a quarter signifies that they were present when the soldier died.
How wonderful.

A finish- I love them
I have made these socks four times over with the mistakes and redos. sigh...
I have more yarn leftover than expected, so I bought a solid gray and will combine the two for another pair of socks.

I have been stockpiling pieces for American Beauty Rose quilt so that i can hand stitch in the evenings.

And, finally more blue skies for my knit the sky scarf.

I am linking to:
TGIFF
FInished or Not Friday
WHoop Whoop
Fort Worth Fabric Studio

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7 comments:

  1. SharonFebruary 24, 2017 at 10:41 AM

    Your socks are beautiful. What pattern did you use or was the yarn that stripe?

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  2. straythreadsFebruary 24, 2017 at 11:23 AM

    so many projects love the socks my mantra for little mistakes is "its not for 4-H"
    so interesting about the coins
    have a great weekend

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  3. GrandmaFebruary 24, 2017 at 11:30 AM

    Your socks are beautiful I need to get back to making me some socks!!!!!

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  4. Angie in SoCalFebruary 24, 2017 at 12:47 PM

    Love your socks - look so warm. You've been busy appliqueing since I was here last. What fun.

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  5. BonnieFebruary 25, 2017 at 11:41 AM

    Thanks for the info on coins on graves. I have to admit that made me jump to your post from Busy Hands. I hear you on making one pair of socks 4 times. I had a pair I pulled out way too many times. I'm thinking of pulling out another pair I recently made because I chose to make them shorter than normal and when I wore them I didn't like them. Nothing will happen on them for a while as I have several other things being knitted on.

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  6. DarFebruary 25, 2017 at 9:52 PM

    Interesting about the coins on gravestones. I love your beautiful stripe socks. That is one color that is not in my collection-- YET!

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  7. KateMarch 3, 2017 at 7:46 PM

    Very fun and bright socks! Very interesting about the coins on the graves, I'd heard of the tradition before, thanks for explaining the rest.

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