'Is it okay to eat lunch in a graveyard?' Kiwi woman's question sparks debate

A mother wanted to know if it was normal to eat lunch at a cemetery after she got told off by a groundkeeper for doing so. Photo / Getty Images

A Kiwi woman's question asking people if it was okay to eat lunch at a graveyard has sparked a debate online.

On Reddit, a mother wanted to know if it was normal to eat lunch at a cemetery after she got told off by a groundskeeper for doing so.

"I was walking home with my young boy and decided to grab a bite from the bakery," she wrote.

"I thought I'd look for a park, because he's in the pram and it's just a lot easier to sit somewhere 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."

After eating her lunch and throwing her rubbish in the bin, she said she passed a groundkeeper who questioned her for eating a meal in the cemetery.

She said he asked if she was "having a munch" when she told him she needed to feed her son before his nap time.

"OK but it's not a park, it's a place to honour the dead," the worker said to her.

"It's a bit disrespectful, don't you think? It's a f***ing cemetery, not a playground."

The mother said she apologised to the man before leaving with her son.

She then asked Redditors if the man had a right to tell her off.

"Sooo, he was seemingly getting a bit more aggressive and we probably would all think his response was disproportionate," she said in the post.

"But does he have a point? It wasn't a Māori graveyard or anything."

Many backed her up, saying she had every right to lunch in the cemetery.

"If I was dead I'd be cool with it," one person wrote.

Another agreed: "The only disrespectful thing I see here is the way he talked to you."

Others took the groundkeeper's side, saying they could understand why he would have been upset.

"I would think it's possibly fine in a public cemetery, but it's probably one of those things where lots of people have a varying opinion," one person wrote.

"I wouldn't be too harsh on him [and I don't think he should have been so harsh on you], in Māori cemetery customs there's no eating, smoking, or drinking at cemeteries because they're tapu spaces."

Another commented: "I'm Māori and I guess if this was at a family urupa then it would make me feel uncomfortable but my mum's buried in a community cemetery [I guess that's what you would call it] and not our family urupa so in that setting, it would seem fine."