Symbol of fidelity, vigilance and domesticity. Usually the dog lies at the feet of the dead, sometimes a standing dog is seen.

The Christian symbol of the Holy Spirit. "After Jesus was baptized, straightway He ascended out of the water. And, behold, there the heavens opened, and He saw the Spirit of God descending in the form of a dove and coming upon Him." (Matthew 3:16 (KJ)).

"I've seen the Spirit come down from heaven like a dove, and He rested upon Him." (John 1:32). In ancient times this animal symbolized the soul, even with non-Christians. Typically Christian was a dove with a branch in its beak: it recalled the dove sent by Noah to find out whether the earth was already drying up, and which came back with a twig as proof that God had not forsaken the people . (Genesis 8: 10-11 (KJ)). Thus the dove became a symbol of good tidings and peace. Sitting on the tombstone, a dove symbolizes the soul of the deceased, gathering strength for his journey to heaven.

Symbol of Christ because he flies straight into the sun just as Christ, in his ascension, went straight up to the light.

He is the attribute of John the Evangelist and is one of the four 'apocalyptic animals'. "And in the sight of the throne was, as it were, a sea of glass like to crystal; and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four living creatures, full of eyes before and behind. And the first living creature was like a lion: and the second living creature like a calf: and the third living creature, having the face, as it were, of a man: and the fourth living creature was like an eagle flying. And the four living creatures had each of them six wings; and round about and within they are full of eyes." (Apocalypse 4: 6-7 (KJ)).

The title 'ecce homo' with the image of a scourged Christ with a crown of thorns refers to the moment when the Roman governor Pontius Pilate showed Christ to the Jewish people and said, "Behold the man!" (John 19:5). The high priests and officers then called for the crucifixion of Christ.

The image of the scourged Christ with a crown of thorns, mocking mantle and scourge in wounded hands entitled 'ecce homo' is a popular theme in Western art. On funerary monuments, the theme occurs mainly in Catholic cemeteries in the form of porcelain heads of Christ and is seldom seen on protestants monuments.

Symbol of birth and new life.

In Christian circles there is the parable of Christ rising from the grave with the chick crawling out of the shell; the white color of the bowl symbolizes purity and perfection. Many symbolic customs exist around the egg, such as the Easter egg, a spring symbol as a sign of the awakening fertile nature, but also in connection with the above parable of the resurrection. It was also given to the dead in the grave as strengthening food for the journey to the afterlife.

The esculap or aesculap is an ancient Greek symbol that represents medicine. The symbol consists of a staff around which a snake winds itself. In the esculap, the snake symbolizes healing, because this animal can shed its skin, which stands for rebirth and healing, but can also cause death by its bite.

The early Christian Church, which made extensive use of symbolic imagery, sometimes presented the Evangelists as four winged creatures: Matthew was a human, Mark a lion, Luke an ox, and John an eagle.

The source of this symbolism was a passage from Ezekiel (1: 5-14), in which the prophet tells of a strange vision of the four beings. The book of Revelation (4: 6-8) describes similar animals that surround the throne of God. They are therefore commonly known as the 'apocalyptic animals'. Man represents Matthew because it is his gospel that begins with the family tree of Christ's forefathers; Mark begins with the voice calling in the desert, an allusion to the lion; The ox, the sacrificial animal, is Luke, whose gospel begins with the description of the sacrifice of the priest Zechariah; The eagle, who approaches heaven closer than all birds to other birds, is John, who sees God most closely in his vision.

Trading post. Factories were then established by chartered companies such as the Dutch East India Company (VOC), founded in 1602, and the Dutch West India Company (WIC), founded in 1621. These factories provided for the exchange of products among European companies, local populations, and the colonies that often started as a factory with warehouses. Usually these factories had larger warehouses to fit the products resulting from the increasing agricultural development of colonies, which were boosted in the New World by the Atlantic slave trade.

In ancient times, temples were often decorated with garlands of flowers, leaves and fruits: also called a festoon. It is a wreath or garland that hangs from two points, and in architecture typically a carved ornament depicting a conventional arrangement of flowers, leaves, or fruit tied together and hung by ribbons. They were offerings and each of the flowers and fruits used had its own specific meaning.

They can be found in many forms on funerary monuments.

In general, the symbol of fire can be seen as a sign of transition, transformation, resurrection, or cleansing.

The latter, for example, has a terrifying example in the burning of witches in the Middle Ages. In the oldest cultures fire was possibly seen as an incarnation of the sun, which is often still seen as a god. In Buddhism, a pillar of fire is a symbol of the Buddha and fire as enlightenment can be a metaphor for wisdom.

In the Christian tradition, fire has a positive and negative charge. Positive because it symbolizes inspiration and the Holy Spirit, in the guise of flame tongues, poured out over the apostles at Pentecost. Negative because of the reference to the eternally burning hellfire.

Fire can be found in various forms in the funerary symbolism. There is the dying torch, as a sign for the end of life, and also the burning oil lamp, as a symbol of the eternal light, referring to eternity and immortality. When smoke is visible near the lamp, it can be seen as an ascent symbol of a purified soul. Fire can also be found in grave symbolism with the bird phoenix that rises from its ashes. A rebirth.

Can be compared to the current public prosecutor.

Symbol of Christ because the initial letters of the Greek word for fish, ICHTHUS, were interpreted as Iesous CHristos THeou (h) Uios Soter (Jesus Christ, Son of God and Savior).

Also a very early symbol of Christian baptism. Believers were called pisciculi, little fish; the font is the piscina, literally a fishing pond.

The flower represents the soul. Flowers open their hearts to the sunlight, just as a person opens his soul to God. In neutral terms, flowers symbolize vitality and joie de vivre, the end of winter and the victory over death. In Christian symbolism, the upward-opening calyx is a reference to receiving God's gifts, the joy of nature in paradise, but also the transience of all earthly beauty that can only be lasting in the garden of heaven. The old custom of digging in gardens or planting them with flowers is related to this.

Flowers symbolize both joie de vivre and transience. For example, the Bible reads: “As for man, his days are as grass; as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth. For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more." (Psalm 103: 15-16 (KJ)).

Corn generally refers to the grain that is grown for food, usually wheat, rye, or barley. The blade of the grain denotes the ear of corn, with the inflorescence of the spikes. In a distant past, corn has been a symbol of the hope of an afterlife.

It was believed that after death people continued to have about the same needs as before. In the Egyptian royal tombs a small bowl of grain was sown and given to the dead. The time of sowing was chosen so precisely that the grain only germinated during the burial. The grain bowl remained in the tomb after the tomb was closed, but eventually died from lack of light.

In the Netherlands, as an old custom, a bunch of straw in the shape of a cross was placed in front of a death house in the event of a death. In this way, people walking past the house could see that someone had died and pray for his salvation. It therefore followed that the straw has become a symbol of death.

But in Christian symbolism, bread, with grain as an important raw material, also served as spiritual food. Christ is seen as the living bread. And the spike is seen in the Bible as the symbol of Christ. But in the Bible, corn is also seen as a symbol of growth, death, and resurrection or resurrection. All in all, the ear of wheat is seen in many customs as an important example of victory over death and inspires hope.

As a blood symbol, the grape is the sign of life and death. The grapevine, especially in combination with corn, refers to the Eucharist or the Lord's Supper and thus the sacrificial death of Christ.