An historic Borough-based graveyard where over 15,000 ‘outcasts’ are buried hosted a celebration for the Day of the Dead, to celebrate the famous Mexican tradition.
“Crossbones is the graveyard of the outcast dead,” its new engagement manager Matt Wilcock said: “Among the 15,000 plus people buried in Crossbones are sex-workers, people who have taken their own lives, people living with physical disabilities, and ordinary people working people.”
Tucked away between Redcross Street and Union Street, it was a graveyard for poor people from at least 1769 until it closed in the 1850s because of overcrowding.
About 140 years later, when Transport for London (TfL) was excavating to develop a new electricity substation for the Jubilee Line extension in the 1990s, Museum of London archaeologists came across the bones of nearly 150 people. The archaeologists thought there were likely to be many more people buried at the site – up to 15,000.
More than 40 per cent of the skeletons belonged to stillborn children or babies under 11 months old, suggesting a very high infant mortality rate for the area. Some 60 per cent of bones unearthed had signs of some kind of infection. Nearly half of the people found at the site had osteoarthritis, and there were higher rates of other back conditions.
Now a permanent fixture in the area the Crossbones graveyard and memorial garden is run by Bankside Open Spaces Trust and last year gained a 30-year rolling lease, to ensure it cannot be built on.
Last Friday, November 4, they hosted their second celebration for the Day of the Dead – which started last year after the Mexican Ambassador, Josefa González-Blanco came to the area and was inspired by its beauty. For years people have adorned the gates of the graveyard with ribbons as an active commemoration of the outcasts buried here.
The Day of the Dead (Día de los Muertos) is a Mexican tradition that dates back around 3,000 years. It is when people make altars or ofrendas (offerings) in their homes to honour their loved ones who have died.
Every ofrenda also includes the four elements: water, wind, earth and fire. The altars are thought to help guide the spirits back to the land of the living on the Night of the Dead (Noche de Muertos) on November 2nd.
Friday’s celebration at Crossbones saw fifty children from Saint Josephs Catholic Primary School in Borough bring their own handmade “altars” and tie ribbons in the Mexican flag colours to pay tribute those who have died.
“People don’t really learn about death until they’re older,” he added.
“The kids had all seen ‘Coco’,” – the Pixar film that centres around the Day of the Dead -“and when they met Josefa they were proudly telling her how many times they’d watched it. So there are ways of talking to kids about what we’d call ‘taboo’ topics through fun.”
Along with words from the Mayor of Southwark and Mexican ambassador, there was music, and traditional Mexican hot chocolate and bread cakes called ‘Pan del Muerte’.