Protonekrotapheio, 2018

My annual pilgrimmage to the Protonekrotapheio was this morning. Since 2011 when I happened upon the ossuary in a shameful state, I go check on it each year (2011, 2012, 2013, 2014).  This year it was pretty clean, though there are still some bone boxes opened up to the elements, though they are under a covered roof. 

The ossuary from above.  There is a lot of debris, but this time it doesn't seem to be human.

Under the roof there are a few open bone boxes.

To the left of the picture you can see other bone boxes stacked up, but they seem to be closed and orderly.

 The trip sparked some questions from the students, so I did some research.  One reason for the grave rental (rather than purchase) I hypothesize, is that Greece in general and Athens in particular is short on land you can dig.  It is mountainous and rocky, so it does not make a lot of sense to spend a lot of land in the city on graves.  Someone asked me about cremation, which seems an obvious solution from an American perspective. It turns out, though that the cremation rate in Greece is zero.  They were legalized in 2006, but none have happened here because the crematoria have not yet been build, according to a recent article in Ekathimerini.  People do cremate, but they have to bring their loved ones to Bulgaria to do it. It seems from the article that the church is against it.  And the shortage of land does seem to be playing a role in the acceptance of cremation.  As I did some research, I was surprised to see that the cremation rate in the US is around 50%, and in northern Europe is is 75% and up.