'It's a cemetery not a playground': Mother is slammed for being 'disrespectful' after she was spotted eating lunch at a graveyard
- A New Zealand woman has been slammed for eating her lunch in a cemetery
- The woman opted to eat in the cemetery when she couldn't find a nearby park
- She was scolded by one of the graveyard's workers as she was leaving the area
A mother has been slammed by a cemetery worker after she stopped inside the burial ground to have some lunch with her young son.
The New Zealand woman was walking home with her toddler when she decided to grab a bite to eat, but after realising there were no parks nearby she opted to have her meal in a cemetery.
But when she was leaving the graveyard the woman was approached by one of its workers who scolded her for being 'disrespectful'.
A New Zealand mother has been slammed by a cemetery worker after she stopped inside the burial ground to have some lunch with her young son (stock image)
Shocked and apologetic, the woman took to the online forum Reddit to gauge public opinion on what she thought was a 'normal enough' decision.
'Just wanting to gauge public opinion on this one, because I was under the impression it was normal enough,' the woman wrote.
She said given there were no other public spaces and her toddler was in a pram, she thought it would be 'a lot easier' to find somewhere else where they could sit and eat.
'Problem was, there were no parks - but there was a graveyard! So I stroll on in, find a park bench and sit down to eat,' she stated.
Share this article
The woman said after finishing lunch, she threw her rubbish into a nearby bin and proceeded to leave the graveyard, at which point she walked past the worker.
'Just having a munch, are you?' the worker said to the woman.
'Yeah, gotta get him fed before naptime at home,' she replied.
'OK but it's not a park, it's a place to honour the dead,' the man said.
'Yeah, of course... I was just having lunch and needed a place to rest,' she replied.
The woman decided to grab a bite to eat, but after realising there were no parks nearby she opted to eat while sitting on a bench in a cemetery (stock)
Shocked and apologetic, the woman took to the online forum Reddit to gauge public opinion on what she thought was a 'normal enough' decision
'It's a bit disrespectful, don't you think? It's a f**king cemetery not a playground,' he snapped back.
'Yeah, alright, sorry,' the woman replied, before leaving the graveyard.
The woman said the man became quite aggressive and while she initially thought his response was 'disproportionate', she questioned whether he had a point.
'Does he have a point? It wasn't a Māori graveyard or anything,' she asked.
After the post went viral, it seemingly divided the internet, with many people taking to forum to share their thoughts on the woman's decision to eat in the graveyard.
'Maori custom dictates "no food in a place of burial". It has to do with the belief that food calls the dead and by consuming that food you are consuming the dead and taking them home with you,' one person wrote.
'Cemeteries are the best private public places there are. I wouldn't be offended but I've seen catered funerals at Cemeteries so each to their own I guess,' another person said.
A third person added: 'In my opinion it is okay to sit on a bench and have a bite. On the other hand, if you were eating and casually strolling around the graves, that seems a bit off to me.'
