Why is black associated with grief?

About this episode

The episode explores the association of the color black with grief and funeral customs across different cultures.

A funeral is one of those rare occasions where you don’t really need to think too much about your choice of outfit. After all, everyone wears black to funerals as a sign of grief, don’t they? Well, that might be true in the Western world, but it’s not necessarily the case everywhere, which is what we’re going to talk about today. In the Western world, funeral customs have long been intertwined with strict dress codes. The tradition of "mourning attire" became widespread across Europe from the Middle Ages onwards, and was particularly stringent during the Victorian era in England. Queen Victoria herself mandated that widows wear black mourning attire, including jewellery, for at least a year. Has that always been the case? What about in other parts of the world then? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions! To listen to the last episodes, you can click here: ⁠⁠Should you sleep with socks on?⁠⁠ ⁠⁠How can I get the most out of daytime napping?⁠⁠ ⁠⁠How quick is premature ejaculation?⁠⁠ A podcast written and realised by Joseph Chance. First Broadcast: 3/5/2024 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

People in this episode

Host: Joseph Chance

Topics covered

• funeral customs
• mourning attire
• cultural differences
• grief
• Victorian era

Keywords

• black
• grief
• funerals
• mourning
• cultural customs
• Victorian era
• dress codes

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