How Did The Funeral Change In The Elizabethan Era

In the Elizabethan Era, and even now, funerals start with the death of a person. At the funeral, everyone would wear black because it symbolized that a tragedy has happened (Secara). It also symbolized grieving and sympathy. Death during the Elizabethan Era was often caused by two things: a disease or old age. However, there have been many aspects about funerals that have changed with the advancement in society. Some of these changes are: the way wills are now written, the preservation of the corpses, and the inconsistent, or absence of, markers for the grave. If the death was of an older person, the person would have most likely written a will before they died. According to Jeffrey L Forgeng, he writes:
Among the upper classes, and in open-field …show more content…
Also in wills things can be giving to close friends. The “will” will often include money, the house or apartment they were staying at, and items in the house or apartment.
Once a person has died they will go through a cleaning process to be put into the casket. Before the funerals, the corpse would be stripped, washed, and cleaned (Forherg). Then the corpse would be wrapped with sheets (often the ones that the person had died in). The funeral would take place only a day or two after the death. Wealthy families would often pay a mortician, or undertaker, for an embalming or a lead-lined casket to prevent the corpse from decay as fast as it would normally. They would do this so they could have more time to make ceremonial arrangements (usually 2 to 3 days at most) (Forgery).
However, today we have more efficient ways to keep the body from decaying as fast (such as refrigerating it). We can keep bodies for a few weeks before they actually start decaying. This is useful for when there is a murder and they have to examine the body a few times. Since we have such a long time before the body starts to decay, …show more content…
The poor in Elizabethan time would use the casket previously used by another poor family, but the wealthy would have their very own caskets (Forgery 70). At the burial, the corpse would be removed from the casket and placed into the grave . If it was a Suicides the corps would not be buried at the church or any “hallowed ground” . Also next to the grave they would light candles because it was believed to help the soul find its path (Secara).
The grave itself would have either a expensive marker, or no marker at all depending on whether the family was were wealthy enough to have a marker or not (Forgery 69). They would also place rosemary for unmarried maidens and small children at the grave (Secara). Although, today we place flowers for any funeral. In todays era, graves are almost always marked, but maybe not with the most expensive marker but the grave is still marked(so we know the owner of the body that was buried) (Forgery 69).
Elizabethan England is different from the United States in many ways, from marriages and religion, to having monarchies and democracy. But we are both alike in some ways. We are both in a relatively peaceful period and we are both prospering, after getting back up from hard times. Our funerals and mourning rituals are still very similar (Elizabeth