German Word of The Day
One of my new personal favourites, both because of its function and because of the juxtaposition of its compounds: Kissenstein (pillow stone).
Kissenstein is a small gravestone placed on a grave horizontally and thus not needing any foundation. German cemetery regulations do not prescribe either size nor shape or those but a quick look around on any Berlin burial ground will tell you, they are usually more or less the size of a regular cushion.
And in case you were wondering: that other tombstone, the one standing on the grave, is called a Leichenstein (corpse stone). You’re welcome;-)
Rose, thank you for your comment - how lovely to hear from someone who clearly has many reasons to visit Berlin. Something I wish you wholeheartedly for the year to come:-) Merry Christmas and "Guten Rutsch"!
Thankyou for the grave words from a Szulc (Schultz spelt the Polish way) in Australia. My Mother was German and I had big plans to travel to Berlin this year to take a lock of her hair back to her homeland. Unfortunately a terrible event occurred which put paid to that plan. I might get there eventually, who knows. I spoke German before I spoke English so my sentence construction is still a bit back to front (as if I was writing English in German ha ha) all these many years later. 😳