Daily AncestorRising sun
A rising or shining sun on an old gravestone stands for renewed life, the dawn of the resurrection after the night of death.
Suns, moons and stars became more common on 18th century stones as carvings shifted from mortality to resurrection and life everlasting. A sun rising or shining is the clearest of these hopeful signs.
On Pennsylvania German stones, moons and stars appear too; one reading is a crescent moon as a boat carrying the soul. Farber notes that many small carvings in the shoulders and borders were probably ornament rather than symbol, so a sunburst in a corner may be decoration only.
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Daily Ancestor. "Rising sun." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/gravestone-symbols/rising-sun. Last checked 2026-10-15.