i bury people.

yesterday was interesting to say the least. it's always noteworthy when you can experience something you've never done before nor thought you ever would do. in my case yesterday, this meant burying the dead.

so, a friend of mine's mother died. saturday i went by his house to console him/drink beer. it was during this time that i was invited to be one of the paulbearers for the urn. wasn't expecting that, but it was an honor nonetheless to be asked, especially since i'm not family.

yesterday comes, we head out to the cemetary. the cemetary is in a quaint little serbian village outside of town. cobblestone streets, tiny roads, the works. really gorgeous, romantic little place - probably my favorite village in hungary. we get to the cemetary which is very secret garden-ish; bushes totally overgrown, small, dirt footpaths throughout the place. a fixer-upper if you will.

i arrive early with the son of the deceased to make sure all is going according to plan. upon arriving to the gravesite i receive a lesson in hungarian culture. hungarians bury themselves in mass. since land is both limited and expensive, families purchase a plot for burial and put the whole family in that plot after they kick the bucket. so imagine my surprise upon arrive the cemetary to find out that before i'd be lowering anyone INTO the ground, i had to take 3 folk out of the ground. then a new, permanent sarcophagus was placed into the ground and we had to figure out the logistics of putting all the urns in the box in an ordrely fashion (like a puzzle, only with dead people).

dead folks finally got arranged, put in the ground, and living folks turned up to pay their respects. the service was enjoyable. at the end of the service, i was asked to help seal the box with the now completed set of ashen cadavers. the top was lowered, the box sealed. now, the final part - me filling the hole back up. apparently in hungary you don't wait to folks to leave - filing in the hole is part of the ceremony. so, i filled the hole, everyone put flowers on the grave, and we went for dinner.

dinner was nice, i was able to take a box home to enjoy today. i open it up, hoping to find some lovely grilled meats in there, when i find that the box i've selected is nothing but potatos. damn.
what am i, irish?