As someone who has been in more cemeteries than I can count just about since the day I was born and has transitioned into death work, I have a list of rules/etiquette that I personally use in cemeteries- and I've finally gotten around to typing it up!
These are just some of the rules I follow, and they aren't in any particular order of importance. I might even add more in the future, but for now, here's a few!
1) Respect everything around you- even the stuff that doesn't seem important
2) NEVER lean/stand on headstones, no matter how stable they look- they aren't half as steady as they look and it's a good way to get hurt
3) DO NOT take any money, trinkets, flowers, stones/rocks, or anything else you might find on/around headstones or grave sites- you can't know what's important to the residents of the cemetery, or what holds cultural significance for those that are buried there
4) Respect the cultural practices of the cemetery you're in!
5) Listen to your intuition- if one area of the cemetery feels better/worse than another spot, listen to yourself! Either stay in that area (if it feels like a good place to be) or stay away from that area (if it feels like a bad place to be)
6) Clean up after yourself/others! Trash/debris aren't nice to look at, and they aren't nice to live around, so clean up what you can
7) If you meet any child spirits, play with them! As a death witch who mostly works with child spirits, they want to play more than you know- even something so simple as rolling a ball around or telling a cheesy dad joke goes way further than you'd ever expect
8) Honestly, play/laugh/tell jokes/have fun within the walls of the cemetery! Spirits are lonely more often than not- acting like a normal, regular, human person (while still being respectful) makes them feel better than you could imagine
9) Don't speak ill of the dead, regardless of if they're buried in that cemetery.
10) When you enter, greet the cemetery as a whole and say hi to the spirits within. Similarly, when you exit, say goodbye to the cemetery and the spirits- especially the ones you've talked to
11) Put your phone on silent and don't use it if you don't have to!
Hades/Persephone Discord || Asks
