I used to work in pre-need at a funeral home, and have been at a number of cemeteries. From what I've seen, and this is just my observation, graves don't always face East. Each cemetery generally has a layout of all plots. Some may lie at an angle or near a wall. It really depends.

The direction that a grave faces in Australia depends on the plan or layout of the cemetery. Although newer cemeteries are landscaped so (in general) all the graves are in rows facing the same direction, older cemeteries graves face in different directions. My mother is buried in a cemetery which is over 100 years old. The graves face all four directions. As the cemetery grew and expanded it seemed to be in a unplanned situation. Quite a few older cemeteries in Melbourne are like that. Facing East is a religous custom

I've always heard that "most" face east because when Jesus returns, that is the direction he'll be coming from.

No, all graves don't face east. Most graves are distributed chaotically, and they can be found facing in all directions. Some people say that graves are pointed to the east because that is the direction of the Rising Sun, from which we shall expect Christ to come at the Last Judgement. These assume that the orientation is entirely Christian. However, the practice of graves facing east is earliest found in former Yugoslavia during the Stone Age. At Lepenski Vir, archaeologists discovered a graveyard where all the graves faced east. Why they did this is not known. For all we know, they weren't facing the graves towards the rising sun at all: they could have been trying to point the heads to the west (which, in some European and North African mythologies is the direction where the Land of the Dead lies) or they may have just been trying to be neat in their layout, using east coincidentally as their organizing point for the sepulchral scheme. http://www.alsirat.com/silence/letters/ltr11092000.html

Excellent answers by all and so rated by me. ( The inappropriate comment and rating to John Baxter's answer has been reported to the Keeper of the Bag and may not even be here by the time you read this.) The concise answer is ,"Graves are oriented, in some way, towards the east because that's the way we have always done it. Some graves are not oriented east because there is no real religious or cultural reason to do so." Now just a few random bits of info and thoughts. There are more graves that "face" East than any other specific direction, possibly more than face other directions combined. The definition of "face" is open to interpretation, as kanjalid mentions it could depend on which end the head is on. But in many 'stone age' and especially Neanderthal graves the body is laid on its left side, sometimes in a near foetal position, with the head to the north so it is facing east. Bodies have been found from later periods laid on the back,head to the north, with the head turned left or east. A very few have been found with the head south and turned right to the east. It is unknown if this reversal of head direction is significant, but there is little doubt that the face was deliberately turned to the east. ( Talk about the way we have always done it, that is a looong always,) The "why" of it is Sun Based Religion( as Mr. Baxter alludes to), in early religions and cultures the sun is very significant and always seen as the giver of life, even cultures so unsophisticated that they don't understand the birth process, realize that without the sun there would be no life. Egyptian religion and culture in general is perhaps the most solar centered and influenced of any. Definitely no culture approaches the Egyptians in death, burial, and afterlife rituals. Early Egyptian graves resemble the stone age burials, with more preparation of the body, most are head north with the entire body on the left side or at least the face turned east. Later a simple rectangular coffin was used with the head north, on the left head side of the coffin a pair of stylized eyes, "wedjat" eyes were painted facing east so the spirit inside the box could see the rising sun. Even later as the whole burial process became more elaborate, with multiple sarcophagi and mummification and such,the facing east of the actual body was replaced with various ritualistic symbols.The covers of the sarcophagi, regardless of the orientation of the corpse's head, had paintings of the goddess of birth and/or re-birth facing left or east. By then Egyptian art had become so ritualistic and stylized that left nearly always symbolized East. Inner lids would have paintings of the goddess who assisted in the passage to the Land of the Dead facing right or west. Sometimes there would be a painting on the under side of the lids that faced west, but left since it was "upside down." By the time of the pyramids and later more elaborate tombs, in addition to the goddess paintings and other symbolic images, the deceased were represented by statues that were oriented to face east.( Meso- American culture approaches the Egyptian solar-centricity and to a lesser extent the burial ritual complexity, and here we also find the east facing burials.) Many of the Solar Theology rituals were adapted by the newer religions that replaced it,( For example Christianity adapted the Winter Solstice Festival into Christmas, and the Spring Equinox to Easter [Sunrise Services have no connection with the crucifixion and resurrection accounts] .) and explained old practices in light of the new theology. The new explanation, as posted by Jennifer, was, graves face east because that's where Jesus will return from. Though the Bible makes no mention of direction. As Bryan and John say the actual orientation and position of graves is more a matter of practicality and the presence or lack of an overall plan. There are many graveyards laid out on the east facing slopes of hills, the actual graves may or may not be oriented facing east. A new graveyard may have originally been laid out with east facing graves, because that's just the way it is done or because somebody thinks there is a real or symbolic reason, but as it fills up graves are dug wherever they will fit. Others may be purposely planned with a different orientation because that's how the most graves will fit. Others might not be planned at all, new graves just go where there is space for them. I have heard apocryphal stories of ultra crowded cemeteries where the graves are vertical and the bodies are buried standing up! I don't know if any care is taken to face the standees to the east. Man, I hope at least I get a chair, so I can sit for eternity. If I can't be laid to rest, I really don't wantta be standin around waitin for the resurrection. Especially if I'm lookin the wrong way and it sneaks up on me from behind and catches me by surprise before I see it comin.

"What is the origin of the practice of all headstones facing east? In many, but by no means all, early New England burying grounds the graves are positioned east/west. This east/west orientation is the most common orientation in other parts of the country and world as well. The earliest settlers had their feet pointing toward the east and the head of the coffin toward the west, ready to rise up and face the "new day" (the sun) when "the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised" or when Christ would appear and they would be reborn. If the body was positioned between the headstone and the footstone, with the inscriptions facing outward, the footstone might actually be facing east and the decorated face of the headstone facing west. If the headstone inscription faces east, the body would most commonly be buried to the east of it. Much depends on the layout of the graveyard -- if there was a church or other building in the center of the burial site, where the high ground was located, the location of access roads, etc. Early graves were seldom in the neat rows that we are used to seeing. Burials were more haphazard, more medieval in their irregularity; families didn't own plots and burial spaces were often reused. The north side of the cemetery was considered less desirable and is often the last part of the burying ground to be used, or you may find the north side set aside for slaves, servants, suicides, "unknowns," etc. In many burial grounds graves face all four points on the compass. Sometimes a hilly site will have stones facing all four directions. With the coming of the Rural Cemetery Movement in the 1830s and 40s, an entirely new style of burial became popular. The ideal of winding roads and irregular terrain dictated the orientation of the monuments to a large degree." I did not write this answer, I pasted it from a website I found. I think it answers your question very well!

Dear friends, I read all of the very thoughtful answers and wanted to add a few comments. For starters... Mr. John says that "the Bible makes no mention of direction" as if he is an expert on the Biblical verses relating to this subject. I have spent the last 13 years studying specifically the resurrection of the dead in the Bible and how it relates to this subject and would strongly disagree with this statement. The Bible does refer to the return of our Savior as coming from the east and also as returning in a manner like the rising sun (that comes from the east). For those who have read the writings of Martin Luther (early church reformer) you would read of his passionate view of the future return of our Lord and Savior who would return from the east like the rising sun and raise the dead to life (see Ephesians 5:14). Martin Luther wrote his writings rougly 500 years ago. But for now... a few verses.... In the book of Ezekiel, Ezekiel has a vision of the Glory of the Lord in the last days returning to dwell on earth... "Then the man brought me to the gate facing east, and I saw the Glory of the God of Isarel coming from the east." Ezek 43:1 The last prophecy of hope of the Old Testament by the prophet Malachi... "But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. And you will go out and leap like calves released from the stall." Mal 4:2 (a vision of the resurrection of the dead) The first phophecy of the New Testament (chronologically speaking).... "...because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death..." Luke 1:78,79 These are just a sampling of a whole page of verses that I have where our future Savior is likened to "the rising sun" that will return from the east in all of his glorious splendor. I think it odd that one of the above persons might then say that this concept is nowhere in the Bible as if he actually knows what is in the Bible from cover to cover. I do not want to be negative but I do want to sharply disagree with the idea that nowhere in the Bible does it mention our Savior as returning from the east or like the rising sun. Not only so, but I would disagree with some of the comments about grave directions, the history, etc. Having been a helicopter pilot (and airplane) for the last twenty years in the US, I have always been amazed that older cemeteries 99% of the time faced due east (we fly roughly 1000 feet over the ground where this is clearly visible). I was so impressed with this (having flown all over the USA numerous times working with various jobs and delivering helicopters coast to coast), that we would often check our navigation by it. Not for accuracy, but just for general direction. While flying for Vanderbilt Hospital in Nashville for 5 years, I often showed this to the various nurses that flew with me along with familiarizing them with a few of the verses from the Bible that pertained to our Savior returning from the east, like the rising sun. I have been noticing this phenomenon literally all over the US, for nearly 20 years now in the older cemeteries up until the turn of the century. There were several comments above about how graves face random directions just as often as they face east. Another person commented on how he worked at a cemetary (or something similar) and that graves are laid out in plots not relevant to east. I would radically agree and yet disagree. You can take an arial photo of nearly every single cemetary in the larger cities in the US, (I have examples of Birmingham, Dallas, Nashville, Denver, etc.) and you will clearly see that the pre turn of the century grave sections (over 100 years old) all clearly face east, and then all of the ones after 1900 (roughly speaking) then begin to face in random directions. If you walk into the newer sections of cemeteries in nearly all of the major cities, all the new sections are random as relevant to maximizing occupancy (and no vision for the things discussed), but when you step into the old sections, you will clearly see that the graves face east. I have found this general principle to apply to most of the cemeteries I have visited in South America, Italy, Scotland, New Zealand, and others. Not only so, but I have collected hundreds of photographs of graves from the pre 1900's and their epitaths that support this view. In other words, modern epitaths have nice quotes about how good the person was, how they are in heaven, and how much we will miss them. Older epitaths quite often read RIP (Rest in peace), and express their hope in a future day when their Savior will return to earth (like the rising sun) and will raise the dead to life. What we are witnessing with this grave orientation phenomenon is a shift in theology from the pre 1900's vs post 1900's. Before 1900, it was very common (as a Christian) to believe that the dead slept in death until the "last day", and as such they waited intently on a future Redeeemer (see Job 19:25/Job14:12/Psalm 49:15/John 6:39,40,44,54/Acts 23:6,24:15,21,26:6... and countless others). After roughly 1900 though, we have adopted a more "palatable" (sp?) form of Christianity where we now assure everyone in our churches that they will immediately go to heaven when they die (not having to sleep in death). As such, "modern believers" have no interest in the resurrection of the dead or even a future glorious Savior returning to raise them from the dead for now they believe they will not have to sleep in death. (for more examples of sleeping in death see Isaiah 57:1-2, John 11:11-14,21-26,1 Cor 15:6,20, and more. Our modern cemeteries reflect the shift in our modern theology and this can be easily documented comparing past doctrine and past epitaths to modern doctrine and modern epitaths. For those who claim that graves are merely random, it is probably because their exposure is limited to primarily newer cemeteries and their newer sections. I have been studying this subject and many others that relate to it for over 13 years, including the Egyptians and their belief in a future Sun God that would raise the dead, and various other cultures. I have written a large manuscript on the subject that illustrates how this future hope in the resurrection of the dead was the hope of the Bible. I am not trying to sell this book and it is not even in print yet (hopefully within the year). But the website is www.thekingofglory.com if anyone is interested in about a year. The book is titled "You Must be Born Again" and is all about the resurrection of the dead and the future hope of a Savior who will return from the East "like the rising sun" to raise the dead to life. It contains infinately more information on this subject than can be placed in this short message box. It is because of this simple concept that our Lord Jesus himself refers to himself as "the bright and morning star" Rev 22:16, or in other words, "the rising sun" Mal 4:2 & Luke 1:78,79. For those who are not sure.... the big "bright morning star" called "the sun" rises in the east..... God Bless, Christopher Winston "But for you who revere my Name, the Sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings." Mal 4:2

The gravestones in my church face all face south, with one or two facing west.

I'm not sure, I do know that all Muslim graves face towards Mecca.

Not accurately. It all depends if a compass is used or the rising of the sun. Both methods were used to determine burial plots. Most Christians consider from the Bible (Matthew.24:27) to be the reason for the graves to be facing the east/west direction,the feet toward the east & head the west.

Seems kind of POINTLESS, seeing as all of the "residents" are, or soon will be, nothing more than DUST--which is known to be scattered hither and fro!!!

in the USA most private & public cemetery's the graves face east at least in any Christian based cemetery, I was raised that it was because of the teaching from the bible of Jesus coming from the east to take us home and its what the bible teaches. (even if they are stood on end they still face east) Its the way our local cemetery is layed out and the Muslim cemetery next door they are facing Mecca which is North & South.

Not all graves face east. It depends on the person's beliefs.

My understanding is that the graves in most cemeteries are aligned for the remains to face east, because traditionally that is the direction from which Christ will return. I have seen in at least one large cemetery where the graves in one sizable section do not face east, but never thought much about it; probably that's just the way that section was started, and was never changed.

I heard if the tombstones face the other way it symbolizes a witch.

Two reasons for the body being placed in a grave with the head to the west and feet to the east: 1. The Star of Bethlehem was noted in the east. 2. Matthew 24:27 has been translated as east being the direction from which Jesus' second coming will be noticed. Thus, traditional east/west alignment of burials can be attributed to Christian beliefs, particularly in resurrection--as souls rise from the grave, the arrival of Jesus will be the first image seen.

I'm disappointed about the removal of anyones answer, no matter the controversal tone and language. Maybe some people have that bit of Nazi in them it still seems...