On 13th October 2016, Thai people lost
the greatest king. His death throws the
country into sadness. One thing that we do to show
our respect is by wearing black clothes. And
I had some questions, why people wear black clothes, what was its original
purpose? Who was the first person who introduces this
activity? Are they similar from other cultures?
I did some research about that, in many websites said ,
the tradition of black mourning clothing can be
traced back to the Roman Empire. The family of the deceased would wear a
dark-colored cloth, called a toga pulla. This tradition was adopted from England, which women were expected to wear
black caps and veils when their husbands passed away.
Anyway, mourning dress was limited to people of the high
ranking in the society. At that time, people
wore white or natural colors. Black clothes are more expensive than white
because there are a lot of processes in making black clothes.
By the mid 19th century, wearing black color to respect the dead
person was spread to all level of society. There are two main reasons,
First; there was a woman who was
a fashion icon named Queen Victoria. She had a huge influence on fashions at
that time. After the death of her husband, Prince Albert in 1861, Queen
Victoria wore black clothing until her own death.
During those times, the
manufacturing technology was better than the previous time. Factories created a
large market for mourning dress. There were many styles for the different
mourning periods.
In 19th century, a widow
woman in England wore mourning dress for 2 and a half years. A woman in full mourning wore a veil to cover her face when she left
the house. She could not join entertaining events during that time. After a
year of mourning, the widow added small and simple jewelry. Later, on the last half year, the widow added some colors. gray, dark shades of purple and violet were suitable for those times.
Anyway, black is not the only color associated with
mourning. In ancient Egypt, yellow was the color of mourning. Egyptians saw the
sun and gold were yellow in color. Masks of mummies and tombs were often
painted gold. This was good way to send the deceased into the afterlife.
Mexico and Ethiopia’s color of mourning is yellow as well.
In Thailand nowadays, People usually wear black or white
clothes for funeral ceremony. But in early Rattanakosin era, or around last 150
years ago, clothing was differentiated by
your relationship with dead person.
- White : for who are younger than dead person
- Black : for who are older than dead person
- Dark violet Pants or skirts and white shirt: for who are not related to the family
- Black Pants or skirts and white shirts: for the very close friends.
Source:
https://bellatory.com/fashion-industry/FashionHistoryMourningDressBlackClothingWornDuringBereavement
pictures from : freepik.com
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