This is a question from another list I am on I never heard of this before and am curious as to the answer Angela I have a question for everyone, and I hope someone can shed some light on the subject. What is the story behind the covering of graves to protect them from rain? This is an old question for me. Since I was a young boy, I have been visiting graveyards with my grandmother, for the purpose of cleaning or decorating the graves and to learn our family history. One grave in particular comes to mind; that of a distant relative who never wanted it to rain on her grave. She has a shed with a pickett fence built around her grave in Fannin Co. Georgia. For years, her children and grandchildren have respected her wish and cared for the covering of her grave. Many similar grave coverings are long gone, taken down or left to rot away, erasing the evidence of the old belief or superstition. I have asked my grandmother and many other elderly folks, but no one can say for sure why the graves were covered in such a fashion. I have seen graves with stone coverings, that were intended to keep the grave from being disturbed, but these graves were clearly covered to keep the rain off. I have even heard a story, on Public TV, that mentioned Abraham Lincoln being disturbed by it raining on a certain friends grave in Kentucky. Most of the graves that I've seen were in Baptist or Church of Christ cemeteries. Many people in my family came through Rutherford and Burke Co. North Carolina in the 1780-1820's, which was part of a migration trail. My ancestors were mostly German and Irish. Two of my family lines have been traced back into Virginia, but no further. Does anyone know of a poem, song, old Irish saying or religious teaching from the 1700-1870's which deals with the subject? I am hoping that the information might guide me to a locality or Church where this belief started, and help me locate some of my families prior to the mid 1700's.