This ancient village and parish of the Borlänge area of central Sweden, in the Dales or Dalecarlia (Dalarna) province, have their name in a local dialect. It means the great (stora) enclosed farmyard (tunet). The name of the huge church, originally Dalecarlia Cathedral (Dalarnas domkyrka) at the heart of the cemetery, could thus be translated idiomatically, in similar American dialect, as Church of Ye Great Ol' Yar'. Stora Tuna Churchyard, thus, bears the same name. The oldest part of the graveyard near the church has been used for burials by the region's Dalesmen and Daleswomen since a smaller church was located here already in the 13th century. The current edifice was open by 1469, with a tower added in the next century and remodeled several times until 1917. There are documented grave ownerships from as early as 1704. The cemetery was surrounded by a typical wall of stone and brick, in 1634 with a gate on each side. In the 18th century there was a wall about 10 feet high with lattices to keep livestock out and a gate with hatches that could be leveled to slide coffins. Maple and rowan trees were planted then, and there were two log cabin bone houses. The old wall was replaced in 1860 by the current lower stone wall of a traditional type in front and iron fences elsewhere. In the 1860's, local contractor Carl Mattsson of the Kalles farm in Tjärna village also built the separate funeral chapel (actually a small mortuary) for general use near the church. Ten years later birch trees began to be planted along the fences and by the main walkways. Expansions occurred in 1912, westward, in 1919 toward the south, and in 1924 and 1931 eastward, with another grave section added instead of an originally planned crematory. The main entrance was also moved to its current position by the highway. The last expansions, southward in 1936 and to the north in 1945, also produced a section for urn burials. An evergreen hedge now surrounds this whole enormous graveyard, except for the wall at the front of it. The Church of Sweden (Svenska kyrkan) runs the cemetery through its parish, Stora Tuna and Torsång, out of Borlänge. (J T Demitz)