Death in the Victorian Era: part 2: ‘Widow’s Waeds’

Death in the Victorian Era part 2: ‘Widow’s Waeds’

 Victorian period clothing worn by women “Women’s Waed’s” (Waed’s being the Old English term for Garment), were generally black in colour, symbolising the lack of light and life in death.

 Usually the clothing featured a bonnet made of crape with a veil over the face (the spelling of crape, with an “a” signifies mourning).

 A widow would mourn for two and a half years.

  Widows would wear her ‘weeds’, coloured black for a year and a day to signify her loss, after this sections of her crape garment would be removed and sometimes replaced with lace or silk, and trimmings of ribbons might be added to their clothing.

In the final six months of mourning, a widow would then begin to wear subdued colours other than black, blues and greys being the most common. These changes would happen very gradually, but signify her end of mourning come soon.

 Eventually, right near the end of mourning, the widow may stop wearing black entirely, but still wear subdued colours, which small trims of colours could be added too via ornamentation of her clothing through ribbons, bows, rosettes and buttons. These ‘ornamental’ aspects of her clothing could include much richer colours then the blacks and subdued colours from previous months, including purples and creams.

 A widower on the other hand would mourn for a year. A widowers clothing including a black suit, black gloves and necktie, some gentlemen would also include black cuff links, black silk lined hats, scarfs and kerchiefs.

  The Gentleman’s Weeds ornamentation’s vary depending on the relationship of the male to the person who has died. He will only wear his ‘weeds’ as long as the females of his household wear them.

 A child in mourning also wears black clothing, in the vein of the parents.

 The importance of mourning weeds grew to become monumental after the death of Prince Albert in 1861. Loyal subjects of the royal family took their inspiration from Queen Victoria who wore her Widows Weeds until her own death in 1901, which in turn began the Edwardian Era.

It was World War One that changed the Victorian Era standard for mourning a death, with so many people dying, it became the norm for almost everyone to be wearing their ‘weeds’.  World War Two only amplified the change to traditions.
 

 The influence of the Victorian Era, however, is still felt today. It is the social standard in the current age to wear black or dark clothing to a funeral or to wear the clothing that the deceased loved one admired, such as band shirts etc. It is seen as more important today though, to attend a funeral than to wear the formalities of suits and widows weeds of the past.

Next Week: Death in the Victorian Era part 3: Funeral Customs and Superstitions

Cemetery Superstitions

Cemetery Superstitions

Something a little different to the normal “History, Mystery and Paranormal” here on The Haunts of Adelaide, Superstitions, particularly Cemetery superstitions.

These superstitions come from across the world and some are somewhat grotesque to our modern sensibilities, but not doubt were essential ways of thinking regarding to dealing with death at the time.
An old superstition for people accused of being witches was to bury the alleged witch face down in the coffin, it was thought that this would stop the witch breaking free and digging her way out to cause trouble again. Strangely this custom was also adopted for any families first born infant that passed away – it was also customary for the married couple to never have any more children as a curse would fall upon those children’s heads.
In one part of Northern Ireland there is a cemetery where only Men are buried, and only Men can visit. It is said if women dare to step foot in the graveyard, the spirits will rise and eject her from their burial grounds.
In France there is a cemetery where there are over 7000 Saints buried in a predominately Catholic religious area. Visitors must remove their shoes, as a sign of respect when entering this “Holy Place”, and those who don’t, often befall bizarre accidents within the grounds, and sometimes on their way home.
Another old custom is to leave a pipe and tobacco for the last person buried in the cemetery to have some comfort and something to do. It was often thought the last person buried had the duty of protecting the cemetery until the next person was buried (In some cases, that person could be a guard for eternity)
Another strange belief in some areas is that the last person buried in a cemetery in a year, would be the harbinger of death for the following year, going about the local village collecting the souls of the newly dead.
Have you ever wondered why some ancient cemeteries have wells located in them? Most people wouldn’t drink from that well as they would believe the bodies buried so close would taint the water, but in actual fact, the well was put there for the dead to drink from!
It was an ancient held belief that the dead were an extremely thirsty bunch. So cemeteries started installing wells, and leaving wooden bowls for the dead to take water back top purgatory, so everyone could satisfy their first in the afterlife!
The Irish started the custom of placing cemetery dirt upon the body of the dead before it was lowered into the cemetery grounds. It is seen as a blessing to the already buried souls in the cemetery, and thought to settle them from causing problems, not only for the newly interred, but also the local townsfolk. This custom was never undertaken for those who committed suicide.
Cemetery soils are blessed by Priests, usually a whole cemetery will be sanctified, although this may not be the case with current modern multi-religious cemeteries, which may choose to only bless the very area where someone is buried.
The ground is though to contain special powers because of the blessings, and for this reason, cemetery dirt is often used in witchcraft practices and Voodoo magic

Another old religious custom is to bury the dead with their heads pointing west. You may have noticed some older cemeteries the heads of the dead all point west and their feet east, this was because it has long been written that The Last Judgement will come from the East – so the dead should be facing Jesus when he arrives.

Cemetery Superstitions

Something a little different to the normal “History, Mystery and Paranormal” here on The Haunts of Adelaide;  Superstitions, particularly Cemetery Superstitions.

These superstitions come from across the world and some are somewhat grotesque to our modern sensibilities, but no doubt were essential ways of thinking regarding dealing with death at the time.

 Witches: 
An old superstition for people accused of being witches was to bury the alleged witch face down in the coffin.  It was believed that this would stop the witch breaking free and digging her way out to cause trouble again.
  Strangely this custom was also adopted for any families whose firstborn infant that passed away. It was also customary for the married couple to never have any more children as a curse would fall upon those children’s heads.

Men Only: 
  In one part of Northern Ireland, there is a cemetery where only Men are buried, and only Men can visit. It is said if women dare to step foot in the graveyard, the spirits will rise and eject her from their burial grounds.

Saints:
  In France, there is a cemetery where there are over 7000 Saints buried in a predominately Catholic religious area. Visitors must remove their shoes, as a sign of respect when entering this “Holy Place”, and those who don’t, often befall bizarre accidents within the grounds, and sometimes on their way home.

Pipes & Tobacco: 
  Another old custom is to leave a pipe and tobacco for the last person buried in the cemetery to have some comfort and something to do. It was often thought the last person buried had the duty of protecting the cemetery until the next person was buried (In some cases, that person could be a guard for eternity).

Harbinger of Death:
  Another strange belief in some areas is that the last person buried in a cemetery in a year would be the harbinger of death for the following year, going about the local village collecting the souls of the newly dead!

Dead Wells: 
  Have you ever wondered why some ancient cemeteries have wells located in them? Most people wouldn’t drink from that well as they would believe the bodies buried so close would taint the water, but in actual fact, the well was put there for the dead to drink from!
  It was an ancient held belief that the dead were an extremely thirsty bunch. So cemeteries started installing wells and leaving wooden bowls for the dead to take water back to purgatory, so everyone could satisfy their first in the afterlife!

Cemetery Dirt: 
  The Irish started the custom of placing cemetery dirt upon the body of the dead before it was lowered into the cemetery grounds. It is seen as a blessing to the already buried souls in the cemetery and thought to settle them from causing problems, not only for the newly interred but also for the local townsfolk. This custom was never undertaken for those who committed suicide.

  Cemetery soils are blessed by Priests, usually, the whole cemetery will be sanctified, although this may not be the case with current modern multi-religious cemeteries, which may choose to only bless the very area where someone is buried.
The ground is thought to contain special powers because of the blessings, and for this reason, cemetery dirt is often used in witchcraft practices and Voodoo magic.

Westward: 
  Another old religious custom is to bury the dead with their heads pointing west. You may have noticed some older cemeteries, the heads of the dead all point west and their feet east, this was because it has long been written that The Last Judgementwill come from the East – so the dead should be facing Jesus when he arrives.

©2014 – Allen Tiller