A Year and A Day

Below is a sneak peek of this content!

Our above-ground tombs are re-usable after a year and a day. A Year and a Day Greenwood Cemetery, Mid-City New Orleans (Infrogmation photo) Here in New Orleans, we bury our dead above ground. The explanations for this tradition are numerous, from "the water table is too high" (no), to "It's a French custom" (sort of), to "We learned it from the Spanish colonials" (partly). Myths The "water table" explanation is inaccurate. The first burials in the colony were along the riverfront. Certainly anyone planted in the batture soil could have been exposed by erosion and tides. When the city plan...