the outward signs of woe and sorrow, have always been demonstrated by
some peculiarity in color in all nations.
The Roman women under the Republic wore black; under the Emperors white
was adopted.
Grecian women covered their faces and wear black.
The Chinese, Siamese, and Japanese wear white.
Turks wear blue or violet.
Ethiopians wear gray.
Peruvians wear mouse-color.
Spaniards formerly wore white serge.
Italian women formerly wore white, the men brown.
Syria and Armenia wear blue.
In France, mourning apparel was formerly white.
The following explanation has been given of the cause of the adoption of
different colors for the symbol of mourning:—
White is the emblem of purity; celestial blue indicates the space where
the soul ranges after death; yellow (or dead leaf) exhibits death as the
end of hope, and man falling like the leaf in autumn; gray is the color
of the earth, our common mother; black—the color of mourning now general
throughout Europe—indicates eternal night. “Black,” says Rabelais, “is
the sign of mourning, because it is the color of darkness, which is
melancholy, and the opposite to white, which is the color of light, of
joy, and of happiness.”