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When I saw the word for this week, I thought about R.I.P which I had seen on grave stones. As a child I didn't know what it meant because RIP in German has no meaning at all.
Later I learned that it meant "rest in peace". "Rest in peace" is a prayer that the deceased may rest peacefully, not in torment, while awaiting Judgment Day. The expression comes originally from "requiescat in pace", Latin for "may he/she rest in peace." In Italian, it is said as "Riposi In Pace." It was in Italy where I learned this meaning.
In Germany graveyards are considered as parcs and are visited by families usually on a sunday walk, even when they don't have any family members or friends laying there. Graveyards are usually very beautiful with lots of trees, bushes, plants, flowers, and banks to sit and rest. There also were beautiful and very interesting statues. As a child I used to play on the graveyard near my home in Bonn, together with my little friends. We played hide and seek behind the gravestones and always had a lot of fun. I am sure that most of the people burried there and "RIP" love to hear the children's laughter and jumping over the graves. At least I would.
Later I learned that this typical German behaviour seemed quite strange to other nationalities and that German tourists really got on the nerves of people in other countries, because they always wanted to see a graveyard and walk around there !
These are pictures of some German graveyards I found on Internet.
