Cemetery Symbol: Winged Hourglass
Time flies! A Reader’s Photo and Meaning that Lingers
One of my favorite things about writing and researching cemetery symbolism is the conversations it leads to: often with people I’ve never met in person.
Recently, a reader named David Weaver reached out with a question about a gravestone symbol he’d encountered during one of his regular walks through Grove Hill Cemetery in Darlington, South Carolina.
The image he sent depicts a beautifully carved winged hourglass, framed by foliage, time-softened stone, and a thought-provoking epitaph, “Our days on the earth are as shadows.”
That single photo sparked a bigger conversation.
Tempus Fugit: “Time Flies”
The winged hourglass is most closely associated with the Latin phrase tempus fugit, meaning “time flies.”
The hourglass itself represents the passage of time. Each grain of sand marks a fleeting moment in life. When wings are added, the message becomes unmistakable: time does not merely pass; it flies!
This symbol appears most often on 18th- and early 19th-century gravestones, particularly in Protestant cemeteries, where memorial art was meant to instruct the living as much as honor the dead. It reminds us that life is finite—and that awareness of mortality should shape how we live.
Not all cemetery hourglasses have wings. Some appear alone, emphasizing the steady, inevitable passage of time without the added imagery of flight. These unwinged versions still speak to mortality, with life passing grain by grain rather than rushing past on wings.
Wings, the Soul, and the Afterlife
The wings in the headstone David sent carry layered meaning.
They can represent:
The swift passage of earthly life
The flight of the soul beyond the physical body
A transition from mortal time to eternity
Unlike skulls and crossbones, which confront viewers bluntly, the winged hourglass is a quieter and more contemplative symbol. It doesn’t shout death; it merely whispers “remember that your days on earth are numbered.”
While most winged hourglasses feature birdlike wings that suggest the soul’s ascent to heaven, some examples use bat-like wings instead, which lends the symbol a darker, more nocturnal tone often associated with death’s shadow rather than spiritual flight.
When Foliage Appears
In David Weaver’s Grove Hill example, the hourglass is framed by leafy branches. To me, these look like olive branches, which adds symbolic nuance.
After all, olive branches have long symbolized:
Peace
Reconciliation
Rest after struggle
Paired with the winged hourglass, the message softens. Yes, time flies…but peace follows. It’s a reminder that while earthly life is brief, it is not without purpose or hope.
A Living Cemetery
David tells me that Grove Hill Cemetery contains over 8,000 graves and is a burial ground that he visits often. He also noted the care taken by the cemetery’s manager, Stephen Josey, who not only maintains the grounds but actively helps restore older stones.
That kind of stewardship matters. Symbols like this winged hourglass survive only when people care enough to notice them and ask questions.
Seeing a symbol like this also reminds me how different it feels to encounter cemetery symbolism in person. That’s one reason I’m so excited for this year’s Monumental Cemetery Tour in Italy: our group will see winged hourglasses (and many other time-and-mortality symbols) not as isolated images, but woven into vast sculptural landscapes where meaning accumulates stone by stone.
It’s one thing to study a symbol on a page; it’s another to encounter it repeatedly, unexpectedly, while walking among monuments built to be read slowly.
Why This Symbol Endures
The winged hourglass has lasted centuries because it speaks to something universal:
Our awareness of time
Our desire to live meaningfully
Our hope that something continues beyond the final grain of sand
I’m also always struck by how images like this continue to resonate beyond the cemetery. A few years ago, fellow taphophile David M. Habben shared a photo of his own winged hourglass tattoo. Seeing this centuries-old funerary symbol reinterpreted on living skin is a reminder that these images were never meant to fade—they were meant to be carried forward.
Many thanks to David Weaver for sharing the photograph that sparked this article. A single image, sent with curiosity, can reopen a conversation that has been quietly unfolding for centuries.
If you’ve ever come across a symbol that made you pause or wonder, I’m always happy to explore its story. Feel free to send it my way—it may spark a future article, or at the very least, a good conversation. In the meantime, remember that time flies, but meaning lingers.
I love the hourglass symbolism so much that I used it in my logo for on The Silent Sod. Your photo of the hourglass with the bat wings on the funerary urn is amazing!
My favorite symbol.