A History of Mourning, by Richard Davey - PDFBooksWorld

ALTHOUGH tradition has not informed us whether our first parents made any marked change in their scanty garments on the death of their near relatives, it is certain that the fashion of wearing mourning and the institution of funereal ceremonies and rites are of the most remote antiquity. Herodotus tells us that the Egyptians over 3,000 years ago selected yellow as the colour which denoted that a kinsman was lately deceased. They, moreover, shaved their eyebrows when a relative died; but the death of a dog or a cat, regarded as divinities by this curious people, was a matter of much greater importance to them, for then they not only shaved their eyebrows, but every hair on their bodies was plucked out; and doubtless this explains the reason why so many elaborate wigs are to be seen in the various museums devoted to Egyptian antiquities. It would require a volume to give an idea of the singular funereal ceremonials of this people, with whom death was regarded, so to speak, as a "speciality;" for their religion was mainly devoted to the cultus of the departed, and consequently innumerable monumental tombs still exist all over Egypt, the majority of which are full of mummies, whose painted cases are most artistic.

The cat was worshipped as a divinity by the Egyptians. Magnificent tombs were erected in its honour, sacrifices and devotions were offered to it; and, as has already been said, it was customary for the people of the house to shave their heads and eyebrows whenever Pussy departed the family circle. Possibly it was their exalted position in Egypt which eventually led to cats being considered the "familiars" of witches in the Middle Ages, and even in our own time, for belief in witchcraft is not extinct. The kindly Egyptians made mummies of their cats and dogs, and it is presumable that, since Egypt is a corn growing, and hence a rat and mouse producing country, both dogs and cats, as killers of these vermin, were regarded with extreme veneration on account of their exterminating qualities. Their mummies are often both curious and comical, for the poor beast's quaint figure and face are frequently preserved with an indescribably grim realism, after the lapse of many ages.

CONTENTS

ALTHOUGH tradition has not informed us whether our first parents made any marked change

THE Egyptian Pyramids, which were included among the seven wonders of the world, are seventy in number,

LEAVING the Oriental and remotely ancient nations aside, we will now consider the history of mourning as

MOSES prohibited the immolation of human victims on the tombs of the dead, and decreed that relatives

AMONG the early Christians the sincerest respect for the memory of their dead was paid; for most of them,

AS the Church emerged from the Catacombs, and was enabled to take her position in the world, her funereal

PERHAPS the most curious funeral on record occurred just at the dawn of the Rennaissance

FUNERAL services of great magnificence entered largely into the customs of this pageantic epoch; and to

IMPORTANT personages in olden times in this country were usually embalmed. The poor, on the contrary,

QUEEN ELIZABETH died in the seventieth year of her age and the forty-fourth of her reign, March 24,

THE funeral ceremonies of the French kings and princes of the blood during the Middle Ages and

THE minute details of the funeral of Mary Stuart, at Westminster Abbey, prove that it was conducted

NOTHING could be imagined more picturesque than a Venetian funeral in bygone days. The state

THE funeral of a Pope is attended by many curious ceremonies, not the least remarkable of which is,

AMONG the Jews, according to Buxtorf (who published, in the 17th Century, perhaps the most valuable

ONE of the saddest, and certainly the simplest of royal funerals, was that of King Cha