Post by Graveyardbride on Nov 7, 2014 13:57:46 GMT -5
Modern Funeral Customs Rooted in Superstition
Many of the customs we find in traditional funerals today have their origins in practices started hundreds of years ago. For the most part, these traditions were initiated to keep the dead from coming back to life as many people in and feared spirits. Some early cultures took drastic measures to eliminate their fear and keep their dead, dead.
The Saxons in England were known to cut off the feet of their dead so the corpse would be unable to return to the world of the living in spirit form. Some aboriginal tribes cut off the deceased’s head, believing the spirit would be too busy searching for its head to have time to haunt the living. People who committed suicide were often buried at crossroads because many believed a person who took his own life could return as the “undead.” Emerging from a grave at a crossroads would confuse the spirit and it wouldn’t be able to return to drain the life from family members and friends, turning them into the undead, as well.
In 19th century Europe and America, the dead were carried from the house feet first so the spirit couldn’t look back into the house and lure another family member to follow him in death. Mirrors were draped with black crepe so the soul would not get trapped should it happen to see its image in the mirror and be unable able to pass from the Earth to the other side. Family photographs were sometimes turned face-down or covered so the deceased’s close relatives and friends, who were depicted in the frames, would not be possessed by the spirit of the dead.
In Victorian times, veils were worn by mourners when they left their homes to go out in public because it was believed the spirits of the deceased hovered near their loved ones soon after death. Some believed if a stranger looked at a mourner’s uncovered face, the spirit could attach itself to that person. Today, veils are often worn by women at funerals either to hide her tears or as a fashionable accessory.
The tradition of pallbearers’ wearing gloves originated in the superstitious belief that if their bare hands touched the coffin, the deceased’s spirit could enter the person through the skin of their hands.
Tombstones, made of heavy stone, became a popular method of marking graves for the purpose of providing information about the deceased, but heavy granite, marble stones were once believed to weigh down the spirits so they could not leave their graves.
Mazes were sometimes constructed at entrances to ancient tombs. Although most were built to keep intruders from pilfering the riches within the tomb, they also served to keep the spirit of the deceased inside the tomb. It was believed that spirits could walk, or glide, only in a straight line and would be unable to maneuver through a maze to return to the world of the living as a ghost. Evolving from this belief was one wherein funeral processions would leave the grave site by a different path from the one it followed to get there so that the deceased’s spirit wouldn’t be able to follow mourners home.
Today, many cemeteries are still planned so that bodies are interred facing east. This practice was started by pagan sun worshipers who laid bodies out so they would see the rising sun. Christians continued this practice believing, as the Bible tells them, that Judgment Day will come from the east. “Because the coming of the Son of man will be like lightning striking in the east and flashing far into the west.” (Matthew 24:27).
Many of the rituals that we continue to practice at traditional funerals are followed as a means of respecting the dead, but may be rooted in a fear of spirits. Firing guns, ringing funeral bells and wailing at the grave site were all originally instituted as a means of ensuring the dead did not “walk.”
Sources: MySendOff and National Funeral Directors Association.