Monday, June 16, 2008

potter's field -- a burial place from the New Testament

from www.wordsmith.org

potter's field noun
A burial place for poor or unidentified people.
[The term derives from the name of the area where Judas was buried after he hanged himself. The land was bought with pieces of silver he had received for betraying Christ.]

"The potter's fields are full. There are so many dead that there is nowhere left to put them [people who died crossing the desert from Mexico into the US]."
-- Luis Alberto Urrea; America's Bounty For Mexico; The Arizona Republic (Phoenix); Jun 12, 2005.

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