Origins of the funeral Black Veil

Interesting question.

Yeah, it is.

I have no particular knowledge of this, but I'd guess that it's a combination of black being the color of mourning (in most Western societies), and veils providing some privacy for the mourner (I usually think of a wife or mother wearing a black veil). Perhaps it started during a time that veils were worn more generally, and then stuck around as something that was useful for that situation.

This is interesting, about Victorian mourning traditions (including a full crepe veil -- since the dye evidently caused problems, they recommend black tulle, which is what we think of as a veil now).

http://www.victoriana.com/library/harpers/funeral.html

There's also a hypothesis that originally the veil served the more primitive purpose of disguising the faces of the closest relatives of the deceased from his/her ghost, in case it tried to take them to keep it company. (Ghosts, even of loved people, are often felt to be hostile to the living.) Some African peoples paint their faces at funerals for this reason.

The white bridal veil has a similar protective function; it hides the bride from evil spirits, bad fairies, or anyone with the evil eye, until the wedding ritual has been succesfulyl performed.

Re: Origins of the funeral Black Veil


Very, very few American women wear hats at funerals, much less black veils. Likewise, few even wear gloves.

Re: Origins of the funeral Black Veil


I think many mourners, today wear giant black sunglasses, instead of veils as a method to shield them from public view.

I'm guessing here, but there was a tradition (expectation) that a women's head would be covered while in church, whereas a man's should be uncovered. The black veil accomplished two goals -- one, to provide the requisite head coverings and two, to provide some privacy to the grieving widow.

I'm not sure when the need to have one's head covered while in church was rescinded, perhaps as part of Vatican II in the Catholic church.

This whole tradition goes well beyond the Catholic Church though.

I'd have to guess that the veil is tied into the tradition of covering mirrors too. There are several traditions for that and maybe some of them apply to the veil as well.

"Covering a mirror when someone dies

The Victorians had a lot superstitions associated with death. When there was a corpse in the house you had to cover all the mirrors," it was believed that mirrors reflected your soul and at death the soul of the loved one was near so many ominous things could happen:

• To see your reflection in a mirror is to see your own soul, (which is why a vampire, who is without a soul, have no reflection.)

• If a couple first catch sight of each other in a mirror, they will have a happy marriage.

• Any mirrors in a room where someone has recently died, must be covered so that the dead person's soul does not get trapped behind the glass. Superstition has it that the Devil invented mirrors for this very purpose.

• It is bad luck to see your face in a mirror when sitting by candlelight.

• Before mirrors, in ancient societies, if you caught sight of your reflection or dreamt of it, you would soon die.

• Someone seeing their reflection in a room where someone has recently died, will soon die themselves.

The origins of covering a mirror are rooted in the Jewish religion and their respect for the dead when sitting Shiva:

It is proper to cover the mirrors (with sheets, or fogged spray provided by the funeral home) in the shiva house for the following reasons:

• During shiva, a mourner is striving to ignore his/her own physicality and vanity in order to concentrate on the reality of being a soul.

• A mirror represents social acceptance through the enhancement of one's appearance. Jewish mourning is supposed to be lonely, silent; dwelling on one's personal loss. Covering the mirrors symbolizes this withdrawal from society's gaze.

• Prayer services, commonly held in the shiva house, cannot take place in front of a mirror. When we pray, we focus on God and not on ourselves.

• Physical relations between a husband and wife are suspended during the week of shiva, and thus the need for physical beauty is removed."

http://www.sandiego.org/article/Visitors/665

That was well before the "AVON LADY"!

...As any devout Muslim well knows.

wow... YOU GUYS ROCK!!

This is great information to give thought too...!!

I can see Im going to love this forum!!!!

Have fun!

A Norwegian friend who is a Lutheran minister returned to Norway for the funeral of a close relative. The women elected to wear the traditional veiled hat the Jackie Kennedy wore at Jack's funeral. She said the privacy was something they hadn't expected.

As to the Muslim veil, supposedly, the desert wind could blow the skin off a woman's face. Hence the veil, and hence the beard.

The sort of veils that nuns wore prior to Vatican II actually were Medieval wimples, covering for the neck that was essential in the days before central heating.