Asturian-American Migration Forum

I am sorry to say that our trip to Aviles is over. Our two weeks went so very fast, but it was wonderful and we can hardly wait to go back!
Thanks to this forum, espicially Art and Ana, we had a great hotel and fantastic meals.
Before our trip, I thought I would be able to find some graves, but unlike here, the graves are not there forever. Also, thanks to Silvia in the tourism office I was able to find a second cousin! It was so exciting to find a living relative! She is the granddaughter of my grandfathers sister. She and her husband were both very, very nice!
I was in hope of finding the house where my Grandmothers family had lived and operated a business, but it is now where the Toyota dealership is located!
Thanks again to everyone for all the help and ideas.
Charolette

About graves, when we visited the cementerio de Samartin de Laspra (very near Aviles), we did find some family graves, but one entire area was shut off with yellow ribbon and a printed notice that the bones were being moved to a common ossuary (so the graves could be reused). I don't know where the ossuary is. As I understand it, this practice is fairly common. Of course, cemeteries may be a thousand or two years old in Europe, but usually not more than 300 years old here in the EEUU.

One grave (not people from my family) had had its stone lid raised and leaned against a nearby wall. I could see six shelves in the open pit, with a recognizable femur (thighbone) on one of them, as well as some ribs and finger bones. No pelvis, no skull, no vertebrae.

We have already bought a gravesite near our Massachusetts home (we both love the ocean), with enough room for 4 burials or 24 cremations in case any family or friends want to join us. This follows the tradition set by my parents and my aunts and uncles, all of whom bought their grave sites shortly after their parents died. There is a certain comfort to it, I will have to admit, plus you get to choose your own gravestone. That's a project for late this summer or this fall.

It all makes alot of sence but it was just a surprise. Even here the cemetaries are filling up and more are being cremated. We have decided on cremation ourselves,

We have opted for cremation too. Our ashes will be mixed together, along with those of our cats (some are already ashes, and some will outlive us, no doubt, so it will have to wait a while) and then buried in a single container. Our kids know what we want done.

For some reaons they call them ashes (which they are not), but they look more like kitty litter. Essentially the bones and teeth that remain after burning go into a giant blender to be chopped up into small pieces. It may sound morbid, but we don't have any difficulty in recognizing death and cremation for what they are.