I would walk through the cemetery and see things left at the graves that would indicate what the deceased had loved in life. I would see sports trophies, pictures of loved ones, dog or cat figurines, bird feeders and toys. The list is endless, but what I would also see were rocks lined up on the tops of many of the headstones. I thought these people must have been serious rock enthusiasts and geology buffs. I'd had no idea there were so many rock lovers, but then I learned that was not at all why so many tombstones were decorated with small rocks. I learned that many people follow the tradition of placing a rock on the headstone every time they visited so others would see that someone had been to the grave of their loved one.Where the tradition started is not clearly known. One book I read indicated that it might come from centuries back when graves would simply be marked with rocks instead of tombstones. I also read that it was originally a Jewish tradition. People who were unable to attend the burial would place a rock on the headstone as an indicator that they had eventually gotten to visit the grave. Wherever the tradition came from, it's one of those things that keeps us connected to the people of the past. And who knows, maybe some of them really were rock enthusiasts.
