Now, as you should all know, I am an athiest. One without religion. I don't begrudge people the right to believe, in fact I would fight for that right, but it ain't for me. Saying that, I love a good church, mosque, temple, you name it. You can tell a lot about a society through their houses of worship.
The church above is one of the many covering Rarotonga in the Cook Islands. It was built with giant blocks of coral, which you can see quite clearly on the right hand side of the church. (as always clicking on the image will make it bigger) Due to the sea air in Rarotonga, it is a constant battle to paint and repaint buildings and as a result this church has suffered. I understand it is about 100 years old or so. The other interesting thing is the graves. As Rarotonga is a coral atoll, the ground it too hard to dig. As a result people are buried above ground, or in shallow pits dug out of the thin top soil. You can clearly see this on the right hand side again.
So endeth your Rarotonga lesson. I only have more sea pictures remaining which I may or may not post.
San Nakji for President!
14 comments:
Very cool!! Thank you for posting it. You know me, anytime I can see a church in a foreign land it great for me.
I LOVE this church...very simple. I was gonna ask about the graves. I figured it had to be because of the hard ground. They had a similar problem in Miami. The water table is so high, that many graves have concrete slabs on top to keep them from "floating" up to the surface of the dirt. It's weird.
Thank you, again, for sharing.
*SUPER HUGS!!*
If you believe in yourself, you have religion.
Beautiful and charming old church. Reminds me of coral construction in Bermuda. One example there is the famous "unfinished church" in St Georges.
VERY nice picture. Maybe they should make the soil less tough. What say you?
I say... no
I think this is a beautiful structure taken by a skilled photo person. Thanks.
I like the red path, it is waiting important persons, the believers going to the office. And the fact that the graves are just near the entrance and that they are not far from eyes, that means something. The inhabitants are not afraid of death and they live with it.
So did the eldest everywhere. In France too.
I think that the red path is my favorite part.
don't they practice cremation? that will not take up much space as well...
nice photo. and you are definitely right, you can tell a lot about a place by its various religious sites.
I know nothing about the Cook Islands, seems like a very exotic tropical place. That's interesting that people get buried above ground, it's the same along Gulf Coast Louisiana, the graves would float up because the water table is so high.
The church is beautiful in its simplicity. Thanks for helping us to learn more about our world.
I need you to accompany me on my future vacations. You take waayyyy better photos than I do!
That church gives me the creeps. That's only me.
Very cool, and eerie!
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