We think of our way of life as the only one, and when we learn about other civilizations, we are often shocked, or at least surprised. When we mourn somebody, we naturally wear black What else could one wear?

Well, in Japan and China, they wear pure white when mourning! And in some sections of Africa, the natives apply red paint to their bodies as a sign of mourning.

The reason we wear black is simply that, according to our traditions, this is the best way to express grief. When we see people dressed in black mourning clothes they look somber and sad, so it seems natural to us that black is the color of mourning clothes.

But have you ever wondered why we wear mourning clothes at all? Of course, we now do it as a mark of love or respect for someone who has died. But in trying to trace mourning clothes back to their beginnings, scholars have come up with interesting answers.

When we put on mourning clothes, they are usually the reverse of the kind of clothes we wear every day. In other words, it’s a kind of disguise. Some people think that ancient peoples put on this disguise because they were afraid that the spirit which had brought death would return and find them!

Now, this might seem pretty far-fetched, if there weren’t some peoples who do exactly this even today. Among many primitive tribes in various parts of the world, as soon as someone dies, the widow and other relatives put on all sorts of disguises. Sometimes they cover the body with mud and put on a costume of grass. In other tribes, the women cover their bodies entirely with veils.

So perhaps our black mourning clothes go back to the idea of frightening away spirits or hiding from them! There are other mourning customs that are linked to this fear of spirits. For example. mourning is a period of retirement. We withdraw from normal activities and life.

There are countless examples of primitive and ancient peoples who retired from social life when a relative died. In some cases, the widow spent the rest of her life in a kind of retirement. And it may all have started from the fear of “contaminating” other people with the spirit of death!