Mourning stick
A funeral stick (also: Florstab , Swedish Prestaff , Baltic German Pristaw or Pristaff ) was part of the central and northern European funeral ceremony. It was carried before a funeral procession , with a mourning ribbon.
Appearance
Mourning rods were long round or cylindrical wooden sticks . They had a carved or turned button at the top, to which a long black pile was attached. In Germany towards the end of the 18th century, they were white and about 6 feet long by an average of 1 1/4 inches wide , later black and also shorter. In some areas, such as Hamburg , the mourning stick received a two-pronged fork-shaped brass tip instead of a simple button and thus symbolically reminded of the two-prong , the attribute of Hades .
use
Usually only a funeral stick was carried in front of the funeral procession by a staff bearer . In the course of time, however, the number of mourning wands also doubled or multiplied. At magnificent funerals they were worn by the leaders who preceded or followed the corpse in pairs; but also from those who walked on either side of the hearse. Carrying out the mourning staff was a sign of the corpse's rank; in the Kingdom of Württemberg, for example, in 1827 it was reserved for royal servants and officials of the four upper ranks. The funeral procession of Queen Luise was received in 1810 on its arrival in Berlin by 40 men, who were wrapped in mourning robes and holding black mourning rods in their hands .
At the beginning of the 19th century, the custom was only common in a few places, but it persisted at high-ranking funerals into the 20th century.
literature
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Economic Encyclopedia (Lit.)
- ↑ Regulations for funeral ceremonies in the royal city of Stuttgart in the Google book search
- ↑ Ernst Daniel Martin Kirchner: The Electors and Queens on the Throne of the Hohenzollern: In connection with their family and time relationships. Berlin: Wiegandt & Grieben 1870, p. 370