In mid-May this year I was in Mangalore. On a visit to the local church in Vamanjoor, about 12 kms. from Mangalore City, I strayed into the graveyard. I noticed a most interesting feature of the inscriptions on the crosses as well as the marble slabs on the wall. If the deceased was a married person then the date of his/her marriage is clearly mentioned between the Birth and Death dates.
For example this is an actual inscription on a cross... --------- R.I.P. ALBERT SUNNY LOBO BIRTH: 30.7.1954 MARRIED: 1.1.1985 DEATH: 5.7.2005 --------- Of course this is not a universal rule but quite common. Also on the marble slabs on the 'niche' wall. Their niches incidentally are not like ours here in Goa where only a few bones are exhumed and preserved 3 years after the death. In Mangalore the whole coffin itself is put into the niche, and at the time of burial - not three years later. Of course there are many other peculiarities of how the Roman Catholic faith is practised in Mangalore. For example footwear is kept outside the church - but not compulsorily so. But let's leave that study for another day. What I would like to know is why when worldwide the date of Death and Birth are mentioned on graves or memorials, why only in Mangalore is the Date of Marriage given prominence. Is the state of having lived married or unmarried more important in Mangalore than elsewhere in the world? Cheers! Cecil ========
