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Dancing On Graves

escargot

Disciple of Marduk
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On today's 'Desert Island Discs', Anthony Horowitz said that he and his sister danced a tango on their grandmother's grave as a way of expressing their hatred of her.

I've often heard the expression, but never known of it actually happening before.

You'd have to have really disliked someone to do that. :shock:
 
escargot1 said:
On today's 'Desert Island Discs', Anthony Horowitz said that he and his sister danced a tango on their grandmother's grave as a way of expressing their hatred of her.

I've often heard the expression, but never known of it actually happening before.

You'd have to have really disliked someone to do that. :shock:
They may have to build a combination rollerdisco/public toilets on top of Margaret Thatcher's eventual resting place, just to meet demand.

Best not to think about it, 'til it happens. ;)
 
They may have to build a combination rollerdisco/public toilets on top of Margaret Thatcher's eventual resting place, just to meet demand.

and maybe a 10 ton headstone, just to make sure she stays down there...

...i can think of a few relatives of mine i wouldn't mind taking a pee on the graves of, though i'll admit that this headstone has given me an idea or two...
 
I thought Alan Davies' suggestion (from an early series of QI) of a Dance Dance Revolution machine on Thatcher's grave was a good one.

I haven't previously been aware of it being anything other than a metaphor, but I could well believe it's one that has been acted out.
 
Bindun - thank you, b3ta! :D

graveiu4.gif


An old joke I've heard is that as a man's mother-in-law promises to dance on his grave, he arranges to be buried at sea. :roll:

Aha, BRF, I've heard of pissing on graves too. Must be an even more disrespectful practice. :lol:

You can stick a pin in a grave, too, to stop the person 'sleeping', but that's just superstition.
 
There was a photo going around the internet about a year or two ago of a man dancing on Ronald Reagan's grave.

John Lydon pissed on the grave of a teacher who used to vicitimise him at school.
 
This surely must tie in with "it felt like someone walked over my grave"?

gncxx said:
There was a photo going around the internet about a year or two ago of a man dancing on Ronald Reagan's grave.

'Satanist' dances on Reagan's grave

Posted: August 9, 2005
1:00 a.m. Eastern

By Ron Strom
© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com

A California man dubbed a "Satanist" on an online message board has posted photos of himself dancing on President Ronald Reagan's grave, raising the ire of the former chief executive's admirers.

Posted on Ruthlessreviews.com (warning: vulgar site), the photos show a thin, white man likely in his 20s wearing an AC/DC T-shirt and having hopped over the fence that protects Reagan's grave.

The poster, who goes by "TheFreak Kingdom" and claims he's from San Diego, writes with one photo: "Judging from my expression and body language, combined with what little I do remember, this appears to be about the time security guards noticed I had jumped the fence and started jigging over Reagan's rotting corpse (the original plan called for the Electric Slide, and then humping the ground, and then whatever else I could get away with, but security was stricter than we had anticipated)."

Continues the post: "We had to tear a-- out of there and lose security in the parking lot, but we appear to have gotten away scot-free."

The post is signed "Monte."

Most responding to the post were congratulatory, with one poster exclaiming, "That is spectacular."

Several e-mails have crisscrossed the Internet about the incident, with one person claiming to have contacted authorities:

"I forwarded the pictures to the Reagan Library, the FBI and the National Archives. They have turned the case over to their lawyers and have been in the process of determining if there is any legal action they can take against this individual. I tracked down a website where this guy has posted more pictures of presidential grave desecration and even has orchestrated a national contest to see how many of these website members can desecrate the most presidential graves around the country."

"Monte" appears to be pursuing that goal, also posting on a different site a photo of himself purportedly urinating on President Richard Nixon's grave at the presidential library in Yorba Linda, Calif.

Talk-radio host Chris Dickson was enraged by the Reagan incident.

"I was at the Reagan Presidential Library in February of this year," he told WND. "'Dutch' was my commander in chief. I have personal interest in getting this individual and trying to protect the desecration of presidential graves against First Amendment rights."

A spokeswoman at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif., refused to talk about the incident, saying – after putting WND on hold for a time – that she had "no comment."

http://wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=45663

With 2 photos of himself dancing on Reagan's grave and one of him apparently pissing on Nixon's. Could start a trend. dancingongraves.com?

More:

PETA's New, Friendlier Image? Dancing On Graves!

By Brian Carnell
Monday, July 22, 2002

After the 9/11 terrorist attack, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals told reporters that it was altering its tactics because the "in-your-face" style of protests wouldn't be as effective. And, amazingly, not a small number of newspapers bought that nonsense and ran stories about PETA's new profile. And this weekend, PETA's less offensive approach including sending a woman to literally dance on the grave of one of PETA's enemies, the late circus trainer Gunther Gebel-Williams.

Gebel-Williams died a year ago and to mark the one year anniversary of his death, PETA sent Rachelle Thorne, 20, to his grave site dressed in a devil costume. Thorne planned to dance on the circus pioneer's grave. (Thorne also gave her name as Jessica L. Smith to police).

www.animalrights.net/archives/year/2002/000253.html

There is also a film called The Gravedancers:

www.imdb.com/title/tt0435653/

Review
 
BlackRiverFalls said:
They may have to build a combination rollerdisco/public toilets on top of Margaret Thatcher's eventual resting place, just to meet demand.

and maybe a 10 ton headstone, just to make sure she stays down there...
Well that is an old practice.
 
The first time I saw a reference to dancing on ones grave is an episode of Northern Exposure, where Ruth Ann and Ed the Filmmaker dance on her "grave" as an expression of life...
 
personally, i am just waiting for the demise if one tony blair, the most evil politician this country has produced in my lifetime... :twisted:
 
Oi! We were here first!

9conga.gif
 
My late father (god rest his soul) actually pissed on someones grave once. Without going into too much detail my dad was a foster child and very badly treated by one set of parents. It was on that grave that he pissed.
 
There is a book I read as a teen called Dance On My Grave by Aidan Chambers. It was about the relationship between two gay teens, one of whom ended up dead. The other danced on his grave in memory of the love they had shared. Quite moving actually - and memorable.
 
When I was a small child visiting a certain stately home, my parents encouraged me to dance on the grave of a certain British Prime Minister. :oops: Because they said he was responsible for the Black and Tans, a part of history experienced very directly by my father.

And FYO Scargy, there aren't any public loos in Highgate and I have a very small bladder, ok?
 
Drink this litre of Irn-Bru and we'll discuss it.
 
Because they said he was responsible for the Black and Tans, a part of history experienced very directly by my father.

At the risk of showing that I'm a daft American - Black & Tans must be referring to something other than the brew? Must be a war? Please educate me. :)

Also, I like touching famous people's headstone and having my photos taken with them. At least I got to meet them eventually. Never occurred to me to dance on their graves. Then again, I'm not sure I've ever really hated someone that much. Takes too much energy.
 
Because they said he was responsible for the Black and Tans, a part of history experienced very directly by my father.

At the risk of showing that I'm a daft American, I have to ask that if we're not talking about beer - I'm not sure what the Black and Tans were. Please further my education. I'm guessing it was a war? :roll:

Also never considered dancing on a grave. Probably because I've never hated anyone enough to do so. Takes too much energy. But I must say, I do like having my pictures taken with famous people's headstones. At least we were able to meet - eventually.

Favorite to date - Alphonse Capone
 
Re: Black and Tans

Paramilitary forces deployed to Ireland to quell the IRA and such. Not necessarily popular with the locals.
 
I've also heard of "dancing on graves" as a celebration of life and deeply shared friendships rather than any disdain for the dead. In fact, that was my first understanding of the term.

Like anything else, it depends on intent. If someone has crosses tattooed onto the bottoms of their feet, you can be certain that the bearer is one of two things - a saint or a Satanist. The saint does this to always follow the path of the Cross, the Satanist in order to trample that same symbol underfoot with every step.

Identical acts of tattooing, but two entirely different meanings.
 
Re: Black and Tans

Leaferne said:
Paramilitary forces deployed to Ireland to quell the IRA and such. Not necessarily popular with the locals.
In the early 1920's, before the separation of Ireland into Northern Ireland and the Irish Free State (eventually to become the Republic of Ireland).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_and_tans

...

The term Black and Tans refers to the Royal Irish Constabulary Reserve Force, which was one of two paramilitary forces employed by the Royal Irish Constabulary from 1920 to 1921, to suppress revolution in Ireland by targeting the IRA.

However it should be noted that Black and Tans very often refers to both the RIC Reserve Force and the other RIC force raised for the Anglo-Irish War, the RIC Auxiliary Division.

...
 
Re: Black and Tans

Pietro_Mercurios said:
Leaferne said:
Paramilitary forces deployed to Ireland to quell the IRA and such. Not necessarily popular with the locals.
In the early 1920's, before the separation of Ireland into Northern Ireland and the Irish Free State (eventually to become the Republic of Ireland).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_and_tans

...

The term Black and Tans refers to the Royal Irish Constabulary Reserve Force, which was one of two paramilitary forces employed by the Royal Irish Constabulary from 1920 to 1921, to suppress revolution in Ireland by targeting the IRA.

However it should be noted that Black and Tans very often refers to both the RIC Reserve Force and the other RIC force raised for the Anglo-Irish War, the RIC Auxiliary Division.

...
Or the way my parents told it they largely consisted of criminals let out on parole and stuck into a second hand mish-mash of uniforms (hence the name black and tans). They caused great terror amongst ordinary Irish people. My father remembers them kicking his dog to death. Hence the dancing. :)
 
Re: Black and Tans

beakboo said:
...

Or the way my parents told it they largely consisted of criminals let out on parole and stuck into a second hand mish-mash of uniforms (hence the name black and tans). They caused great terror amongst ordinary Irish people. My father remembers them kicking his dog to death. Hence the dancing. :)
Quite possibly. I only wanted to make sure that no one from the other former colonies might think it to be still going on, though. :)
 
I wasn't saying you were wrong, just adding my two pen'orth. :)
 
Re: Black and Tans

My father remembers them kicking his dog to death. Hence the dancing.

Under that circumstance, I retract my former supposition that I really couldn't imagine hating someone enough to dance on their grave. I have actually often thought myself capable of murderous acts if someone were to kill my dog. (See avatar).

So - dance away.
 
I can understand hatred for someone who has done you or your family a great wrong, and I can understand the frustration that they died (and were given a respectable funeral) before you could - possibly - exact retribution. But I can't understand dancing on a grave. I mean, you won't hear the echoing voice of a corpse going "Ooof! Oooh! Don't do that, you rotter! I give in!" Apart from a sense of release for the dancer, I can't see it doing anything to the victim.
 
Well, the 'sense of release for the dancer', that's the whole point. It is a symbolic insult. ;)

A couple who treated me cruelly when I was a child are buried near here, and I could dance on their grave if I wanted to.

However, I choose instead to help maintain the grave. Dignity is all. 8)
 
Re: Black and Tans

Pietro_Mercurios said:
beakboo said:
...

Or the way my parents told it they largely consisted of criminals let out on parole and stuck into a second hand mish-mash of uniforms (hence the name black and tans). They caused great terror amongst ordinary Irish people. My father remembers them kicking his dog to death. Hence the dancing. :)

Quite possibly. I only wanted to make sure that no one from the other former colonies might think it to be still going on, though. :)

They weren't recruited from criminals released from jails. That was widely believed for years though. While the Black 'n' Tans did a lot of nasty stuff, the Auxilaries did even nastier stuff which history and popular memory has subsumed into being all actions of the B & Ts.

The Auxies were all ex Military officers. They were heavily armed and highly mobile. Essentially they were Special Forces.

A survey of 20% of those who joined the RIC (2,302 B&T, 443 Aux) shows 33% joined in LOndon, 36% joined in Liverpool; 14% joined in ireland. 78.6% of tans & auxies were British, 19% were Irish (20% of B&Ts, 10% of Auxies). 82% of B&Ts & Auxs were Protestant, 17.4% Catholic, 10 were English Jews. 59% of the Catholics were Irish.

136 of the B&Ts were recruited directly from Military service. The other B&Ts came from 180 distinct occupations which could be grouped into: clerks 4.3%, agriculture 6.7%, labourers 14.4%, mechanics 2.6%, railway 4.5%. 95% of Auxies gave "former miltary officer" as occupation, the other 5% isnt noted, they may havebeen serving officers.

These figures are extracted from RIC Personnel Registers preserved in the PRO Kew (HO 184)

I got the info from an article in History Ireland Autumn 2004,"Who Were The Black & Tans?", by W.J. Lowe.
 
So, let that be a lesson to anyone who dances on the grave of the British minister in charge of the bloody fiasco that was Ireland of the 1900-1939 period. It's not him, the Black 'n' Tans or the Bliddy English that you're hurting. It's the cemetary groundskeeper who is constantly trying to stop political tourists from ruining his patch.
 
Never mind dancing on graves though, I'll never forget the state of Jim Morrison's grave in Père Lachaise, and more importantly, the graves surrounding it. :(

EDIT- thanks for that Ramon, very interesting. I always did take my parent's view of history with a pinch of salt fortunately.
 
Just a clarification of some of the figures given:

A total of 2,200 Auxies and 11,500 B&Ts would have served. As the survey figures were based on a 20% sample, up to 50 Jews may have served in the Auxies. (Those who believe in Jewish-World-Domination can be satisfy themselves by supposing that the Jews held the senior officer posts.)
 
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