We’ve been to way too many funerals recently. One of the things I’ve always noticed about funeral services is that everyone tends to dress up — even today, when people typically dress more casually when going to the theater or church, taking a trip on an airplane, or other activities that used to require one to “dress up.”
I noticed that at two of the recent funerals we attended, most people were wearing black, or at least dark colored clothing. I guess wearing black is a long standing tradition — at least in the United States. Funerals are typically somber occasions, and wearing black indicates that you’re mourning the loss of someone, and showing a sign of respect for the deceased.
But I’ve attended funerals in other countries and black is certainly not the accepted color of mourning everywhere.
Wearing dark colors for mourning has been associated with death and loss for centuries in most western cultures. But in other parts of the world it’s not black — it may be red, yellow, purple, white, etc. For instance, in China, red symbolizes happiness and is a color that’s strictly forbidden at funerals — but in South Africa, red is a symbol of mourning, representing the bloodshed suffered during the Apartheid era. Nobel Peace Prize winner, Archbishop Desmond Tutu wore red in tribute to Nelson Mandela at his funeral in 2013.
Purple is a color of mourning in many places… In Brazil it can be considered disrespectful and unlucky to wear purple if you are not attending a funeral, because the color has a sacred, devotional meaning to it. And in Thailand, purple defines sorrow, and is reserved for widows to wear while mourning the death of their spouse.
Colors associated with mourning are often driven by religion — It’s interesting that Islamic traditions do not specify a color for mourning. According to a web site I checked, there are no official mourning colors for Muslim people. There is no religious text in the Quran or the Sunnah indicating any particular mourning color, but there is a prohibition of wearing clothes that “contradict grieving.” That means that if a Muslim dies in the United States, most people grieving will wear black. If a Muslim dies in China, the family will not wear red at a funeral because, in China, the color red “contradicts grieving.”
In the Jewish community, color has a symbolic meaning — white is a sign associated with purity, black is the traditional color of mourning. This is according to The Encyclopedia of Jewish Myth, Magic and Mysticism.
Im many cultures, the color white represents purity, but in some religions, the color white symbolizes additional ideas — white can express the concept of oneness with God or represent eternal life in others. For these reasons, white is also an appropriate color to wear to funerals.
Though there are variations within Hindu traditions, women generally wear white or black.
It is common for Buddhist mourners to wear simple, white clothes.
Red is the color of public mourning in Ghana, but the color is commonly reserved for the immediate family members. Extended family and friends wear black to show support to the immediate family.
White is usually considered the color of mourning in China. I found an article titled “Chinese Death Rituals” that says while white is commonly used, it is dependent upon which dialect group the family belongs to — black is sometimes considered a mourning color in China as well as white.
Who knows how people in the future will express mourning through color? I’ve already noticed some change in how people dress for funerals in our town — their dress has become more casual, and probably a bit more “colorful.” And sometimes it may be the wish of the person who has died for mourners to wear bright colors, or maybe the family requests you to wear a specific color or ribbon in support of some cause or charity. What if the mourning color is dictated more by religion than culture — will most Hindus continue to wear white to a funeral because it symbolizes purity, or will that practice fall away? I imagine that the “color of mourning,” like other things will change over time.
But I guess that no matter how people choose to mourn, the important thing is not so much a color but that they want to honor and respect their deceased loved ones.
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