Stories from the Diary of a Doctor: 9 An Oak Coffin

Victorian Funeral Customs and Superstitions

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November 16, at January 5, at Both sets of grandparents always came and went through the back door of their houses even though that meant walking past the front door and the only time the front doors were used were for coming in carrying coal and silver after midnight on new years day having left via the back door just before the stroke of midnight , and when they died, and their coffins left the house. I am from Darlington , my grandparents all being from Durham. January 18, at 5: I usually hear that 3 knock thing too, it scares the hell out of me.. Am i about to leave this world?

What do you think? February 1, at 1: There is a tradition in our family that women should cover their faces and indeed their heads before a corpse. I remember the night that my mother in-law died by accident near our home. We saw an owl out side our window , it stayed every night about a month. It called all night and then about a year later it came back but did not stay as long. February 1, at 4: The superstition about the owl is mentioned in the list above. Seems like birds are an ill omen all around, pecking at windows, getting caught in chimneys, etc. Owls, crows, ravens are all harbingers of an impending funeral.

My grandmother always said a black animal of any kind coming up on a porch or hanging about near the house was an omen of death to come. February 13, at 5: February 17, at 5: My American born Italian grandmother born in on a farm in Manhattan. Once said that when a person died that everyone in the house had to stay up all night and if you fell asleep they would blacken you face with coal or ash and then take a match and wake you up by giving you a hot foot.

After reading this info it seems to make sense now, it seems like it is all part of the same tradition the idea of a Wake! Seems like most of the traditions have be lost or just knowing about them and what people use to do. Often what we do today in a modern day wake is simply a continuation bit we have not been taught or forgot the meanings behind why we are doing it. February 26, at 9: March 5, at 6: His Irish born cousin seated next to me stated it a good omen as surely he will go to heaven.

May 14, at 9: May 16, at 7: June 8, at 6: Stacked coins where you did NOT leave coins. June 24, at 2: Whoever was carrying the casket would push it halfway through the hole then go around and pull it in the rest of the way. That way noone ever enters graveyard with a casket. In fact if you go to an old victorian graveyard that still has its original fence you may find the hole. July 13, at 2: August 16, at 3: Dragonflies are a symbol of rebirth or a renewal after a great hardship or loss.

This is a belief in several Native American cultures. These people also believe that dragonflies hold the souls of people who have died. This insect like the butterfly is also known for the transformation from the earthly life to the life that continues in another dimension of existence.

August 16, at 7: To knock on wood three times after speaking ill will of anything was irish custom for releasing the bad luck that could follow. November 23, at 7: January 29, at 3: Has anyone heard of a superstition concerning a knife falling to the floor? I had an uncle who died quite young, in the s.

His mother- my Irish-born grandmother- was at home at the time working in the kitchen. A knife fell on the floor and she announced to her family that the son was dead. Keith Byron Smith said: February 8, at 2: Birds flying into the house are an omen of death, an owls hoot as well is negative omen.

Iron shouls be hung above the door to stop bad luck as well as preventing the fae from entering the home and causing torment. September 20, at September 23, at 4: September 25, at October 15, at 7: November 5, at I come from a Southern family and I believe the superstitoins. The bird pecking on a window or flying into a window means death will come to someone close soon. I knew it and it happened, Another one my Dad a old cowboy was serious about was not to lay a cowboy hat on a bed.!

He would get very upset and said it is a very bad omen. Sometimes there are coins too,?

Stories From the Diary of a Doctor Series by L.T. Meade

March 11, at 3: Has anyone ever heard of taking a body out of the house on a window shutter? I had a friend whose father passed away and before he did, made the family know that he better be carried out of the house on a one of its window shutters, should he die at home. The rescue squad obliged, incredibly! May 4, at My great grandmother is buried in Oak Grove. Hope to visit in person some day soon. May 4, at 3: Maybe its a North East England custom. June 3, at 7: September 1, at 2: Nov 5 entry speaks of not sitting on gravestones.

In Atlanta it has been explained to me that the Confederate graves are pointed so that people will not sit on them and the Yankee graves are rounded and more comfortable to sit on. October 29, at 7: December 3, at 6: January 23, at 5: I grew up in a small town in County Donegal.

I was often told that a robin was the spirit of a dead relative or friend. On the day my Uncle was buried a robin visited my garden. I had all sorts of birds in my garden, but never a robin. This happened a year later when my aunt passed away and again on the day my Mother died. My Mothers robin stayed all week! There is often a robin perched on Mums headstone too. July 24, at 1: My Mother would take dimes or nickels with her to place on the eyes of a neighbor very soon after death to hold the eyes shut and tie the mouth closed … always to help the undertaker prepare the body for the wake.

October 26, at 6: November 11, at 3: Has anyone heard of an old tradition whereby when a corpse left the house after being waked, all the chairs in the room were turned upside down? I am curious what the purpose of this was. January 25, at 3: The Anglican church still requires that at a funeral a corpse must enter and leave the church feet first. In Russia the mirrors are covered as described here. In nursing homes it is known that the sense of hearing is the last to go and one must be careful what you say as a person is failing.

March 4, at Contrary to unfortunately rather too common pronunciation… Internment means to gather or amass into an area like people in camps during wartime for example , while interment means to bury something valuable. April 24, at 5: There is a section of unmarked Irish and English family graves in Connecticut where no headstones were ever placed, even though the family members were financially well off and could have afforded them during the late s.

Have you ever heard of this in graveyard culture? Feet First DV Layton.

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May 9, at Another good history blog Gudger College Daily. September 1, at 1: Thank you for a charming and captivating collection of customs. When I was a young boy in Central Ontario my grandparents made it a point to shake hands with the gravedigger or the undertaker when attending a burial. Failing to do so meant the death would strike your family next. October 29, at 9: My Mother died, in my home, 6 months ago to this very day. Several of the Victorian traditions were observed during this time.

Photography I know some are horrified at the prospect has been done in my family before. For some, it can help to face what has happened.

~ An Historic Victorian Cemetery in Fall River, Massachusetts

Each grieve in their own way. The funeral director pulled me aside and commented on the youth she exuded since was 97, and she had done the work several days before, and that was not the way she looked.

The morning of her death, several other of the funeral directors arrived to move her and as they entered the hall, they asked us if we would like to say goodbye and of course, we said yes. The older funeral director placed his right arm across his abdomen, bowed slightly, and took several steps back. Does anyone know why? After they had gone, I went to her room and found a single red rose lying across her bed pillows………..

January 13, at 4: My family has always believed the spirit lingers 3 days after death…Where does this belief originate? January 29, at To Navan who posted April 24, Perhaps they were Quakers? An old Quaker cemetery in Guilford, North Carolina, where my Quaker ancestors are, never had grave markers either. More information can be found at http: January 30, at 7: Marie St John said: The wake is a tradition that began during the time of the Bubonic plague.

People in all of Europe were dying at such a great rate that the towns began to run out of cemetery lots. Most people of means did not wish to be buried with paupers in mass graves so they paid extra to have an older grave opened and the bones removed so the lot could be reused. Upon the opening of the boxes they were finding scratch marks on the lids and sides of the box indicating the person who had been buried in it was not really dead. At that time it was popular to drink from tin cups. The alcoholic beverages people of that time drank would chemically react with the tin and could cause the drinker to fall into a deep coma so deep they would be declared dead..

But even then a string would be tied to the dead persons wrist or ankle and then run up out of the grave and tied to a bell on a stick. If the person was not really dead and woke they would begin thrashing causing the bell to ring, thus the term saved by the bell.

Stories From the Diary of a Doctor Series

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