While searching the internet for something else entirely, I found the site for Tot Zover (the Dutch Funeral Museum) in Amsterdam. As I was actually in Amsterdam at the time, I took advantage of this information, and took myself to the museum the next day. It’s convenient to Tram Line 9, which leaves from Centraal Station, and stops at Kruislaan.

Unsurprisingly, the museum building is next to a cemetery. De Nieuwe Ooster was established in 1894, and is a lovely place. As it was pouring rain, I did not spend much time walking the grounds, and I hope to return when the weather is more cooperative.

When you enter the building doors, you find yourself in the Roosenburgh Cafe, which is a wonderful place to enjoy a bit of refreshment after perusing the exhibits, and is filled with neighborhood regulars, which made me happy to see.

The cafe is also where you purchase your museum tickets, and it has a coat rack and free lockers so you can walk around unencumbered. The cashier was very helpful, and assisted me in English when my attempt to purchase a ticket while speaking Dutch was not all it could have been. (I’ve never studied it formally, and rely heavily on my Berlitz phrase book. Most people in Amsterdam speak English better than many of us in the US, but I feel it’s important to make the effort. I’ve been told I say “dank u wel” quite well, so at least I am able to say “thank you” properly.)

The rotating exhibit was being changed, so I took the information card for the permanent exhibit (in English, so I would not spend more time wrestling Google Translate than looking at things, yay!), and stepped into the hall. The permanent exhibit is a display of seven wooden caskets, filled with the funeral items of a particular tradition, and holding a monitor which shows a video of the customs for that tradition, from preparing the body to the funeral ritual itself. The information is well-organized and clearly presented, and gave me several ideas for end-of-life planning and celebrations.

The black-and-white vintage footage of a Jewish funeral (the first depicted) with its quiet solemnity and highly formal ritual, contrasts sharply with the modern personal funeral (the last in the exhibit), with its casual air and the deceased himself hosting the event via pre-recorded video. In between are depictions of Roman Catholic, Muslim, and other cultures. (Memory fails, and I thought I had written them down, but apparently I did not.) From a deep tradition to a new tradition, the exhibit did a good job of comparing and contrasting customs around the world.

Of particular note to me is that the Suriname Creole sing and drink red wine while preparing the body, and sing and dance the body out to the hearse. They also have a small brass band as part of the funeral procession. It’s a joyful time in spite of the loss, and reminded me of the jazz funerals in New Orleans.

The hallway back to the cafe contains a selection of photographs from the recent temporary exhibit on Death Portraiture. Featuring photos of its subjects both prior to and after their deaths, in domestic settings and among their loved ones, the exhibit is intensely moving. The photos themselves are beautiful to view, and when you realize that the recipient of the love and affection bestowed is actually deceased, the photos take on an entirely new depth and feeling.

There’s also a display case of miniature hearses, from horse-drawn funeral carriages to current vehicles. The cultural shift over the span of years from the casket being fully visible, to barely visible, and back again was interesting to see.

I made some notes while I viewed everything, and then added to them as I fortified myself with a cup of hot tea before heading out into the day to continue my adventures. I definitely recommend a visit to Tot Zover as a way of gaining appreciation for the variety of memorial traditions and the commonality of our need to acknowledge a loved one and their loss from our lives.

Sonnet VI
~ Caroline Norton

Where the red wine-cup floweth, there art thou!
Where luxury curtains out the evening sky;–
Triumphant Mirth sits flush’d upon thy brow,
And ready laughter lurks within thine eye.
Where the long day declineth, lone I sit,
In idle thought, my listless hands entwined,
And, faintly smiling at remember’d wit,
Act the scene over to my musing mind.
In my lone dreams I hear thy eloquent voice,
I see the pleased attention of the throng,
And bid my spirit in thy joy rejoice,
Lest in love’s selfishness I do thee wrong.
Ah! midst that proud and mirthful company
Send’st thou no wandering thought to love and me?

The Giants’ Tarot, Raven Kaldera

Draw for February 13, 2017
Active Influence: Nidhogg/Strength
Rune: Laguz/Flow
Hidden Influence: Hymir & Hrod/Five of Swords

Circumstances require you to move beyond your comfort zone. Today, that is easily done. You have the strength and confidence to do so, and the universe is providing energies and events to support your doing so. You are not certain who or what you will find, and that’s okay. Be open to pleasant surprises, synchronicities, and serendipities. You can go far once you take that first step.

Orchards in July
~ Zbigniew Machej
Translated by Czeslaw Milosz andRobert Hass

Waters from cold springs

and glittering minerals

tirelessly wander.

Patient, unceasing,

they overcome granite, layers

of hungry gravel, iridescent

precincts of clay. If they abandon

themselves to the black

roots it’s only to go

up, as high as possible

through wells hidden

under the bark of fruit trees. Through

the green touched with gray, of leaves,

fallen petals of white

flowers with rosy edges,

apples heavy with sweet redness

and their bitterish seeds.

O, waters from cold

springs and glittering

minerals. You are awaited

by a cirrus with a fluid

sunny outline

and by an abyss of blue

which has been rinsed

in the just wind.

The Giants’ Tarot, Raven Kaldera

Draw for February 12, 2017
Active Influence: Suttung/Six of Coins
Rune: Eihwaz/Defense
Hidden Influence: Loki, Angrboda & Sigyn/The Lovers

As the saying goes, “It’s complicated”. You may feel like you need to be on your guard, without being able to articulate why. The devil is in the details, and you’re not entirely sure who to trust. Pretty promises are made, but you’re not able to discern the actual intent. You want to keep what you have, and you want more.

Instead of keeping it all for yourself, and running the risk of losing it all in your effort to gain more, try sharing some of what you have in order to make room for new abundance. Share a bit at first, and give yourself time to suss out the other person’s real motives. A small gesture of generosity now could save you from greater loss down the line.