Comments on: Victorian Funeral Customs and Superstitions

By: Queenie

Queenie — Wed, 16 May 2012 19:15:01 +0000

It is said if it rains at a funeral. Happy is the departed that the rain falls on.

By: craig

craig — Mon, 14 May 2012 21:19:20 +0000

when my nan died a couple off years ago the day of the funeral it was a sunny day just as we were about to lowering the coffin in to the ground it started to rain the sun still shinning as soon as the coffin was in the ground it stopped raining a few months
later my mum died sudenley i never thought any thing till reading this( if it rains on a open grave someone in your family will die within a year)

another thing we always do is we always shut the curtains on the day of funeral

By: Mike

Mike — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 06:02:53 +0000

As my Irish born father’s funeral procession entered the cemetery, it was raining. His Irish born cousin seated next to me stated it a good omen as surely he will go to heaven.

By: Anne

Anne — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 21:50:23 +0000

when my Husband passed away , a week later about 2am the front door bell kept ringing , we had to dismantle the bell , I often wonder if it was my Husband or just a electrical fault, it never happened again

By: Mike Longonii

Mike Longonii — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 17:51:59 +0000

My American born Italian grandmother born in 1906 (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.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 05:02:13 +0000

YES.bc its believed that if the body is carried out feet first then the spirit couldnt come back to haunt bc the spirit didnt know which house it came out of,and if the body came out head first,its believed thats the spirit can follow this trail back bc it remembers what the house looks like.

By: administrator

administrator — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 16:15:15 +0000

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. Poe’s Raven perched above his chamber door is immortalized in verse, although there, Lenore, his Beloved, is already dead. 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.

By: tiffany

tiffany — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 13:59:08 +0000

this is lovely

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 01:38:28 +0000

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 . we had never seen it before . It called all night and then about a year later it came back but did not stay as long. we’ve never seen an owl there again

By: KENN

KENN — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 05:27:33 +0000

I usually hear that 3 knock thing too, it scares the hell out of me..My father just passed 3 xmas’ ago and i was his #1,what does all this mean? Am i about to leave this world? I do think there is a God,they also say that some people just have a feeling before it’s time..What do you think?

By: Darkone

Darkone — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 23:35:26 +0000

I have also heard that a corpse should leave the house feet first and ALWAYS through the front door. 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.

By: Jane

Jane — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 00:15:10 +0000

“A cat hissing when a body is laid is consider a bad omen”