Welcome to Tui Snider's Cemetery News: 

Howdy, fellow tombstone tourists! If you're new here, welcome, and if you're not, great to see you again. :) 

Since I sent the last newsletter, Larry and I have hopped onto a different cruise ship as you can see from the photo above. As always, I continue to learn on this trip and look forward to sharing it with you in articles, presentations, and books. There's lot more in this issue, so keep reading. 

In this newsletter:

1) Portugal's Matosinhos Cemetery

2) What's the deal with these femurs?

3) Dunkin Donuts Honors Baker

4) Food and Games in a Medieval Cemetery

5) Graveyard Shift: Live Music in a Cemetery

Any questions, comments, or things to share? Please know that hitting "reply" to this email is the best way to reach me.

1) Portugal's Matosinhos Cemetery I recently explored a historic burial ground in Matosinhos, Portugal. The cemetery's gates are rather eye-catching as you can see below. 

The skull and crossbones are a typical "memento mori" meant to remind visitors of their own mortality. The winged hourglass below it, is there to remind us that "time flies." 

Sadly, the Catholic church beside it was closed to the public on the day we visited. For more photos, check out the link on my travel blog.

2) What's the deal with these femurs? After Portugal, we stopped by the Canary Islands. On Tenerife, a monument in the main town square features four figures next to an obelisk. 

As you can see, each of the four men are brandishing what looks to me like a femur! What is that all about?

After a quick spin around the internet, all I've learned so far comes from this website: 

"Four marble statues of indigenous Guanche people are at the base venerating the image of Mary atop the obelisk. In May the 'Feast of May' is held in the square memorializing the founding of the city."

Guanches are the native people of the Canary Islands. But why waving leg bones around is a way to offer respect to the Virgin Mary is beyond me. 

So much to learn! Do you know anything about this? If so, hit reply and let me know.

Want to see more? If you want more details and photos, drop by my travel blog. (The posts are divided by months, so choose a month and dig in!) https://findpenguins.com/tuisnider

Would you like a monthly postcard from me featuring historic cemeteries and interesting sites from my world travels? If so,   check out my Patreon page . You can also follow my public Patreon posts for free or become a patron if you would like to support my creative journey.

Here are three interesting articles I found recently that feature cemeteries:

3) Dunkin Donuts Honors Baker Dunkin Donuts recently erected a headstone to honor the inventor of the donut, a sea captain named Hanson Crockett Gregory. Learn more and check out his spiffy new headstone at the link. 

4) Food and Games in Medieval Cemetery Speaking of snack foods, archeologists made a curious discovery in Wales, a burial ground which shows evidence of feasting and recreational activities. Really unusual!

5) Graveyard Shift: Live Music in a Cemetery Musician Collin Stetson plays a variety of woodwind instruments and has mastered circular breathing. He will be performing live in Green-Wood Cemetery. You can hear clips of his music and learn more about his upcoming performance at the link.