Cemetery

This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these template messages) This article possibly contains original research. Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding inline citations. Statements consisting only of original research should be removed. (February 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this message) This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Cemetery" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (January 2022) (Learn how and when to remove this message) The examples and perspective in this article may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. You may improve this article, discuss the issue on the talk page, or create a new article, as appropriate. (January 2024) (Learn how and when to remove this message) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite, graveyard, or a green space called a memorial park, is a place where the remains of dead people are buried or otherwise interred. The word cemetery (from Greek κοιμητήριον 'sleeping place')^[1][2] implies that the land is specifically designated as a burial ground and originally applied to the Roman catacombs.^[3] The term graveyard is often used interchangeably with cemetery, but a graveyard primarily refers to a burial ground within a churchyard.^[4][5]

The intact or cremated remains of people may be interred in a grave, commonly referred to as burial, or in a tomb, an "above-ground grave" (resembling a sarcophagus), a mausoleum, columbarium, niche, or other edifice. In Western cultures, funeral ceremonies are often observed in cemeteries. These ceremonies or rites of passage differ according to cultural practices and religious beliefs. Modern cemeteries often include crematoria, and some grounds previously used for both continue as crematoria as a principal use long after the interment areas have been filled.