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    Widow's Weeds and Weeping Veils: Mourning Rituals in 19th Century America
    Widow's Weeds and Weeping Veils: Mourning Rituals in 19th Century America
    Widow's Weeds and Weeping Veils: Mourning Rituals in 19th Century America
    Ebook101 pages39 minutes

    Widow's Weeds and Weeping Veils: Mourning Rituals in 19th Century America

    By Bernadette Loeffel-Atkins

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    About this ebook

    During the 19th century, death shadowed daily life. A high infant mortality rate, poor sanitation, risk during childbirth, poisons, ignorance, and war kept 19th-century Americans busy practicing the ritual of mourning. The Victorian era in both Europe and America saw these rituals elevated to an art form expressing not only grief, but also religious feeling, social obligation, and even mourning fashion. Complete with period illustrations, Widow's Weeds and Weeping Veils explores how Victorians viewed death and dying as a result of the profound historical events of their time. This concise, informative work is ideal for students of Victorian-era culture and Civil War enthusiasts.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherGettysburg Publishing
    Release dateApr 1, 2012
    ISBN9781734627619
    Widow's Weeds and Weeping Veils: Mourning Rituals in 19th Century America
    Author

    Bernadette Loeffel-Atkins

    Bernadette Loeffel-Atkins is a native New Yorker and has lived in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, for over 20 years. She has worked as a freelance writer and photographer, and managed a military history bookstore in Gettysburg. Bernadette studies thanatology, genealogy, and historic cemeteries. She is considered to be an expert on 19th-century mourning rituals and the life and times of Queen Victoria. Active with animal rights organizations and historic preservation, Bernadette is currently on the Board of Trustees at Evergreen Cemetery in Gettysburg.

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      Book preview

      Widow's Weeds and Weeping Veils - Bernadette Loeffel-Atkins

      Introduction

      The ritual of mourning has been in existence since the beginning of mankind. During the nineteenth-century, death shadowed daily life.

      A high infant mortality rate, poor sanitation, death during childbirth, poisons, ignorance and war kept nineteenth-century America busy practicing the ritual of mourning. Americans became preoccupied with death.

      Upon the death of her beloved husband Albert in December of 1861, Queen Victoria set the stage for what would become the Victorian style of mourning the dead. Queen Victoria’s loss sent her into seclusion, she donned a widow’s cap and gave instructions to her court on how to decorate her kingdom for mourning. Queen Victoria had made the ritual of mourning fashionable.

      America, though preoccupied with the onslaught of the Civil War, mirrored Queen Victoria’s image. They could relate to the Queen and her stoic and noble role, after all, they too had loved ones to mourn with family and children that were left behind.

      People in nineteenth-century America, coping with their sorrow and loss, would channel their grief into artistic expressions. Death keepsakes and memorial art were an important part of life. The ritual of mourning was done out of respect for a lost loved one. Paying tribute to the dead became a way of life in nineteenth-century America.

      Wakes and Funerals

      In Victorian America, the news of a loved one’s death sent the household into immediate mourning. Before the Civil War, most people died at home, surrounded by family and friends. Funeral arrangements were made and death and funeral announcements were placed in local newspapers.

      In small communities, personal, formal invitations were hand delivered to family and friends on black bordered stationery. There were many different signs to show that a house was in mourning. In urban areas and affluent homes, the windows would be draped in black crape. Doorways were decorated with flower covered black wreaths. Black crape hanging outside a home was an open announcement that there was a death in the family. Black ribbon was tied on the crape if an adult died and white ribbon for a child’s death.¹

      Blinds were drawn and shutters closed. Mirrors in the home were covered with black material or turned toward the wall due to superstition that the spirit of the deceased would become trapped in the mirror or that a mourner seeing his or her reflection, would be the next to die. Clocks were stopped at the time of death and restarted after the burial.² The home was to remain quiet and calm, there was to be no confusion or loud talking while the body remained in the house.

      The departed loved one would be placed on viewing in the family parlor of the home. In many European and southern homes, the body would be laid out in the bedroom and a 24 hour vigil would be kept. Family members and servants would keep watch over the deceased, with the servants taking the late night vigil. During the vigil, candles burned

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