@Steeeve AFAIK embalming is quite rare in Europe, but according to not only the media but also a good number of accounts I stumbled upon by chance (and I don't know how, since I wasn't looking for anything remotely related), it's quite common in the US and there are many people that even believe it's mandatory (unless the corpse is cremated, of course).
I also know that laws and customs vary wildly from state to state, but acquaintances that have travelled there tell me that graveyards there see a lot more activity than here, and it's not weird to find people who go on a stroll there, either punctually or regularly.
While graveyards here do have open hours, with the exception of a couple of ladies above a certain age or when there's someone in charge of cleaning a tombstone or changing the flowers, people only go there when a relative is recently deceased or on marked dates (like a death anniversary or, more commonly, during the 1st and 2nd of February). Sometimes a graveyard becomes something similar to a public park, but that's only after the dead there have been moved it someplace else, and it's not that common, and recently there has been a fad of "graveyard tours" mainly for tourists, but that's only on some historical graveyards.
It's usually difficult to walk about a tomb, since leaving aside mausolea and niches, on-the-groung interrements tend to have either some height added by building over them a box-like thing or some kind of barrier, and the ones that don't are clearly marked by little mounds that at like half a casket's height to the place, so apart from being frowned upon as an utter lack of respect for the deceased, it's uncomfortable and dangerous.
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@Steeeve AFAIK embalming is quite rare in Europe, but according to not only the media but also a good number of accounts I stumbled upon by chance (and I don't know how, since I wasn't looking for anything remotely related), it's quite common in the US and there are many people that even believe it's mandatory (unless the corpse is cremated, of course).
I also know that laws and customs vary wildly from state to state, but acquaintances that have travelled there tell me that graveyards there see a lot more activity than here, and it's not weird to find people who go on a stroll there, either punctually or regularly.
While graveyards here do have open hours, with the exception of a couple of ladies above a certain age or when there's someone in charge of cleaning a tombstone or changing the flowers, people only go there when a relative is recently deceased or on marked dates (like a death anniversary or, more commonly, during the 1st and 2nd of February). Sometimes a graveyard becomes something similar to a public park, but that's only after the dead there have been moved it someplace else, and it's not that common, and recently there has been a fad of "graveyard tours" mainly for tourists, but that's only on some historical graveyards.
It's usually difficult to walk about a tomb, since leaving aside mausolea and niches, on-the-groung interrements tend to have either some height added by building over them a box-like thing or some kind of barrier, and the ones that don't are clearly marked by little mounds that at like half a casket's height to the place, so apart from being frowned upon as an utter lack of respect for the deceased, it's uncomfortable and dangerous.