While in Richmond, Virginia, a few weeks ago, I visited the Museum of the Confederacy. I found the “woman’s section” of the museum especially fascinating. Many
Civil War battles were fought on Virginia soil. The picture below depicts a
woman in mourning perhaps for her husband, her father, her son or any number of
relatives. The black veil and long black dress are frightening, like death.
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Woman in mourning exhibit at Museum of the Confederacy Richmond, Virginia |
Years ago women would wear mourning jewelry—locks of hair,
black brooches, dark earrings, etc. Below is an image showing mourning jewelry
at the Museum of the Confederacy.
In Victorian America, the departed person would often be on
view in the family home. (1) Blinds and shutters were closed, and mirrors
were covered. (2) I have found newspapers articles about some of my ancestors who had the deceased on display at their home. Generally, that is not
the case nowadays. People who have
passed away are taken to funeral homes or places of worship. And I rarely see mourners
wearing dark clothes for months after their loved one’s departure. I have never
seen anyone wearing a hair locket.
For a wonderful description of nineteenth century death
practices, see:
Revised Widow’s Weeds and Weeping Veils: Mourning
Rituals in 19th Century America” by Bernadette Loeffel-Atkins, 2012.
If you type “Civil War mourning” into ebay.com, you will see
dresses, hair lockets, hats, bonnets, vulcanite pendants, black petticoats,
capes, ribbons, pins and more. I imagine that reenactors purchase these items.
Although they differ by location and religion, mourning
practices today are much different than in the nineteenth century. There are
online funeral websites such as Online-Funeral (http://www.online-funeral.com). Many
funeral homes also have online viewing of funerals as well as message boards where
you can leave condolences. For example, I
learned about the death of one of my doctors a few months after he died. I was
able to log onto The Ira Kaufman Chapel’s website (http://www.irakaufman.com/online-funeral-viewing.cfm)
and watch the funeral. Social media is
now a fairly accepted way of remembering our loved ones. For further reading see:
“How We Mourn in the Age of Social Media” by Lia Zneimer,
May 6, 2014
“For Funerals Too Far, Mourners Gather on the Web” by Laura
M. Holson, January 24, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/25/fashion/25death.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
ILLUSTRATION BY:
Dover Publications, Inc., Mineola, New York, Electronic Clip Art, 1268 Old-Time Cuts and Ornaments, 2006.
CITATION SOURCES:
ILLUSTRATION BY:
Dover Publications, Inc., Mineola, New York, Electronic Clip Art, 1268 Old-Time Cuts and Ornaments, 2006.
CITATION SOURCES:
(1) Loefel-Atkins, Bernadete. "Wakes and Funerals." In
Revised Widow's Weeds and Weeping Veils. Gettysburg, Pennsylvania: Gettysburg
Publishing LLC, 2012, p. 6.
(2) Ibid.
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