1 Nouvel Hay Magazine

En Californie la ville de Colma : 1500 habitants , 1 500 000 morts ,17 cimetières pour les humains, 1 cimetière pour les animaux

Le responsable du cimetière des animaux cherchait un travail le plus farfelu possible . L'annonce parue lui a semblé se rapprocher de son idéal.

Mais il est honnête : il vend des cercueils pour chiens ou chats pour 25 $.

Il dit que certains profitent de la détresse des maïtres (& de leur fortune) pour demander 1000 $ pour le cercueil d'un grand chien.

Le responsable d'un des cimetières pour humains raconte : il a certains jours on a jusqu'à 4 inhumations l'une après l'autre. Beaucoup d'Asiatiques qui dépensent un maximun car dans leur culture il est important de témoigner le plus grand respect au défunt. Il y a des files de SUV et de limousines aux enterrements et les véhicules roulent au pas pour éviter d'autres files de limousines.

Le cimetière qui attire beaucoup est celui qui a une entrée qui ressemble à celle d'un chateau-fort.

source : Arte tv

Colma est une municipalité du comté de San Mateo en Californie dans la banlieue Sud de San Francisco.

La ville a été fondée en 1924 en tant que nécropole, c'est-à-dire pour les enterrements de la ville de San Francisco . La population était d'environ 1500 habitants lors du recensement de 2018. Une grande partie des terrains de la ville étant occupée par des cimetières (17 pour les hommes et un pour les animaux), la ville a été surnommée « City Of Souls »1 (« La Ville des âmes »), ou encore « The City Of The Silent » (« La Ville des silencieux »). Aujourd’hui sa devise est « C’est bon d’être vivant à Colma » (it’s great to be alive in Colma).

source : wikipedia

 

 

The origin of the name Colma is widely disputed. Before 1872, Colma was designated as "Station" or "School House Station,” the name of its post office in 1869. Currently, there seem to be seven possible sources of the town's being called Colma:[7]

  • William T. Coleman[who?], allegedly known as the "Lion of the Vigilantes" and a significant landowner in the area
  • Thomas Coleman[who?], a registered voter in the district in the 1870s
  • A transfer name from Europe: Alsace has a Colmar
  • A re-spelling of an ancient Uralic word meaning death
  • A literary origin from James Macpherson's Songs of Selma, in one of the Ossianic fragments
  • Native American languages:
    • "Kolma" means "moon" in one dialect of the Costanoan, or the Ohlone people, who lived in the area; however, this name does not appear on any design ("diseño") of Indian rancherias at the time
    • A local Native American word meaning "springs", of which many can be found around the city.[8]
  • A corruption of Colima, a Mexican place name meaning volcano, but also ancestors.[9]
  • The humorous implication that one must be in a coma (vaguely homophonous to 'Colma') to enjoy living in Colma.

History[edit]

The community of Colma was formed in the 19th century as a collection of homes and small businesses along El Camino Real and the adjacent San Francisco and San Jose Railroad line. Several churches, including Holy Angels Catholic Church, were founded in these early years. The community founded its own fire district, which serves the unincorporated area of Colma north of the town limits, as well as the area that became a town in 1924.

Hienrich (Henry) von Kempf moved his wholesale nursery here in the early part of the 20th century, from the land where the Palace of Fine Arts currently sits (in what was known as "Cow Hollow") in San Francisco. The business was growing, and thus required more space for Hienrich's plants and trees. Hienrich then began petitioning to turn the Colma community into an agricultural township. He succeeded and became the town of Colma's first treasurer.

In the early 20th century, Colma was the site of many major boxing events. Middleweight world champion Stanley Ketchel held six bouts at the Mission Street Arena in Colma, including two world middleweight title bouts against Billy Papke and a world heavyweight title bout against Jack Johnson.[10]

 

San Francisco cemetery relocations[edit]

Colma became the site for numerous cemeteries after San Francisco outlawed new interments within city limits in 1900, then evicted all existing cemeteries in 1912. Approximately 150,000 bodies were moved between 1920 and 1941 at a cost of $10 per grave and marker. Those for whom no one paid the fee were reburied in mass graves, and the markers were recycled in various San Francisco public works.[11] The completion of the relocation was delayed until after World War II; these events are the subject of A Second Final Rest: The History of San Francisco's Lost Cemeteries (2005), a documentary by Trina Lopez.[12] The main rail line between San Francisco and San Jose running through Colma had been bypassed in 1907 for a route closer to the San Francisco Bay shoreline, and the former main line was repurposed as a branch line to move coffins to Colma. Decades later, the right-of-way for the rail line through Colma was purchased by BART for use in the San Francisco International Airport extension project.[11]

The Town of Lawndale was incorporated in 1924,[11] primarily at the behest of the cemetery owners with the cooperation of the handful of residents who lived closest to the cemeteries. The residential and business areas immediately to the north continued to be known as Colma. Because another California city named Lawndale already existed, in Los Angeles County, the post office retained the Colma designation, and the town changed its name back to Colma in 1941.[11]

Originally, Colma's residents were primarily employed in occupations related to the many cemeteries in the town. Since the 1980s, however, Colma has become more diversified, and a variety of retail businesses and automobile dealerships has brought more sales tax revenue to the town government.[6][13]

 

A panoramic view of Colma, California, looking down from San Bruno Mountain.

source : Arte tv