I have seen people place a stone on the headstone at grave sites.What does this mean?

Answer 1

Here's an answer from a rabbi (I'm trying to limit my cut and pastes :-)

http://experts.about.com/q/Conservative-Judaism-951/rocks-headstones.htm

Answer 2

Placing a stone at the site is a tribute of Jewish mourning. Stones are left rather than flowers, as flowers die but the stone is the symbol for eternity. It's presence is to state that those who are left behind will never forget the deceased, that they will uphold their memory and keep them in their hearts.

The practice may have originated from marking graves with the piles of stones that became known as cairns, or I've heard one other explanation: There was a custom of writing notes to the deceased and putting them into crevices in the headstone, just like the Wailing Wall. If there were no crevices, the note was held down with a rock. Over time, the paper disintegrated or blew away, leaving just the rock, which then became the custom in and of itself.

Answer 3

Putting a pebble on the grave is an expression of someone having visited to pay respect for the deceased person, usually done after the week of Shiva (mourning).

Answer 4

MR SNIFF SAYS.......I understood that there was important significance to the stones. He said that how he understood the tradition was that as a Semitic and wandering people, Jews were buried in the desert, with no one to look after their burial site, and that they were buried in the ground and then the site was covered with stones to keep that jackals from digging up the remains. they continue to place a stone on the graves of loved ones today to honor and remember their history, their years of wandering, and their traditions.

Answer 5

This is a Jewish thing and I'm not quite sure what it means. Maybe ask on religion section.

Answer 6

Its a jewish thing, to remember the dead.