medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
The vague impression I had from general reading is that black
clothing was intended to confuse any hovering *evil* spirits, not the
spirit of the deceased. The theory being that evil spirits are
attracted to funerals as well as other festivities (weddings, for
instance: bridesmaids being dressed like the bride, for instance, so
the evil spirits don't know which one to attack).
But that's vague "tradition", not history of any specific date.
Before synthetic dyes, black was generally a somewhat problematic
color to dye. It wasn't too hard to produce a *bad* black, which
might be greyish or off-color or fade easily, but a true deep black
was expensive to achieve, especially if you wanted something that
wouldn't fade easily. Black clothing could therefore be a favorite of
the wealthy, especially in the Renaissance, whether they were
mourning or not.
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O Chris Laning <[log in to unmask]> - Davis, California
+ http://paternoster-row.org - http://paternosters.blogspot.com
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