History of Unexpected’ Sam Willis and James Daybell

 POLICING GRIEF 

In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries in the Italian states, on the other hand, many communities actually forbade public expressions of grief and in some places a distinction in what was acceptable in terms of public grief was made between genders: it was more socially acceptable for women to grieve than for men, since women were considered more emotional and prone to spontaneous emotional outpourings.

Immoderate emotional outbursts by mourners, such as tearing one's hair or clothing, scratching at one's face, or loud public wailing and crying were met with fines. In certain locations there was a policing of the 'scale' of female grief - according to an unspecified acceptable quantity of tears. In 1624, Lady Frances Howard, reacting to the death of her husband Ludovic Stewart, Duke of Lennox, allegedly cut off all her hair and performed 'divers other demonstrations of extraordinary grief. This was far removed from the modest trickle of tears expected as a sign of respect.

In some cases, professional mourners, usually women, were paid to cry ritually, and they would shriek and wail to encourage others to weep. These people are mentioned in ancient Greek plays, and were commonly employed throughout Europe until the beginning of the nineteenth century. The contemporary practice was brought to life in the 2003 award-winning Philippine comedy Crying Ladies that revolves around the lives of three women who are part-time professional mourners for the Chinese-Filipino community in Manila's Chinatown. The Chinese use professional mourners to help expedite the entry of a deceased loved one's soul into heaven by giving the impression that he or she was a good and loving person, well loved by many.
The practice also continues today in Africa.

Source ~ ‘History of Unexpected’ Sam Willis and James Daybell