Memento mori: Quick Facts

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Photos

A group of young choristers in school uniforms burn palm crosses in an outdoor fire pit, creating ash for Ash Wednesday near Salisbury Cathedral.

Day of the Dead figurines

Title page from 1665 Bills of Mortality, framed with skulls and bones, features a skull and crossbones with banner reading Memento Mori above text about London's plague deaths.

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Topics

Did Mary Shelley Really Have a Piece of Her Husband’s Heart?death Dance of death Vanitas mortality Latin language motif quid pro quo De facto De jure annus horribilis carpe diem Caveat emptor Cogito, ergo sum Vulgar Latin Madonna Nativity