Are there professional mourners

In the western Indian state of Rajasthan, only lower-caste women are allowed to mourn publicly. Because of this, professional mourners known as rudaalis are the ones hired to perform the task of mourning. These hired women wail, beat their chests, and cry loudly. This sorrow theater continues for up to 12 days after the death of an important individual.

However, this practice is becoming less common as more people are choosing quiet, intimate funerals. Believe it or not, England has its own history of professional mourning.

This practice stems from the Victorian era when there was a strong culture around grief and mourning. Again, the more affluent the family, the larger the funeral was expected to be. However, this practice is still around today.

These services have a unique clientele. For those who expect a low turnout to their own funeral or that of a family member, hiring a professional could offer peace of mind.

Finally, the United States also has a small industry of professional mourners. A reality TV show recently highlighted the ways a Texas funeral home uses these hired mourners to appeal to those wanting larger funerals. Today, the image of having a crowd of people attending your funeral is still in demand. There are also mourners who attend funerals in the U.

These are typically unpaid, but they still are symbols of mourning when honoring those who died, usually in service of the country. There is no clear-cut path to becoming a professional mourner. However, as the demand for this service continues to increase, there is expected to be greater opportunity for those looking to stand-in during funerals. There is no experience or formal education required. Because of this, having a background in theater or acting helps you fit your role as a mourner.

Most people need to know how to cry on demand or evoke the right level of emotion. Depending on the situation, you might also need to be comfortable with public speaking. In Germany, professional funerary speakers called Trauerredner are hired to read eulogies at funerals , despite not knowing the deceased personally. In parts of Africa, professional mourners are paid to shed their tears.

The novel Ways of Dying by South African writer Zakes Mda tells the story of Toloki, a professional mourner who travels through shantytowns in post-apartheid South Africa.

In India, a more exploitative tradition exists in Rajasthan, where women from low castes work as professional mourners for wealthy men, expressing grief that is not socially acceptable for family members to show. China has a particularly long history of professional mourning, dating back to the Han dynasty. The profession has experienced a cultural resurgence in recent years — it was banned during the cultural revolution.

Today's professional mourners in China go sometimes to extremes with emotional tributes to the deceased followed by extravagant performances, sometimes including belly dancing to lighten up the mood. So I use my heart to sing this song to represent the loss of the younger generation," said Hu Xinglian.

Theatrics as a means to release emotion is also present in the Greek tradition. The mourners of Mani, although not rolling on the floor in tears like their Chinese counterparts, dress in black, often wearing intricate embroidered veils, lending them a sculptural, theatrical air. If rituals around loss and grief are important for a process of mourning, social distancing measures, although necessary, challenge this process amidst the pandemic, with many funerals not being held as they would have in pre-pandemic times.

Many of the older women Sakellaraki photographed are nearly years old, with no one from the younger generation to take their place. Few of the songs they sing have even been notated. Correction: This article was revised on December 8 to more accurately reflect that the mourners of Mani also do their work out of a sense of duty and moral obligation.

The knowledge that ancient Greek and Roman statues were colorfully painted has largely been suppressed in recent centuries. An exhibition explores this shaded past and shows figures in their vibrant original hues. The 14th Documenta art show is opening in Athens instead of Kassel, Germany.

New Greek Minister of Culture Lydia Koniordou explains how the culture scene is surviving and what the world can learn from Greece. Back in , a German archaeologist found a golden mask he thought belonged to king Agamemnon. It is one of the highlights of a major exhibition on Mycenaean culture, one of Europe's earliest civilizations. Ancient egyptian professional mourners would attend funerals and act as representations of Isis and Nephyts, two Egyptian gods who were significant when someone died.

Unlike more modern examples, these professional mourners seemed to fill a religious need rather than purely adding more numbers to the funeral procession or more volume to the mourning. Ancient Egyptian professional mourners would commit their lives to the profession and would even have the names of the deity they represented tattooed onto themselves.

They would be hired by wealthy families to enlarge the funeral procession and make the funeral of their loved one seem well attended. Unlike many professional mourners, Victorian mourners would have been much quieter and more sombre, in keeping with the austere attitude of the time. Dickens himself was highly critical of the concept and sometimes mocked the profession in his work. We have many other blogs about funeral traditions and culture that you can browse. These include posts about famous mausoleums , what a catafalque is and many more.

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