Professional Mourners can grieve for you if..
A person trained in the funeral etiquettes can mourn the death of a stranger. They can lament and deliver a eulogy or help comfort the grieving family. They are professional mourners or moirologist. Sometimes they perform openly, and at times, they act discreetly.
Professional mourning is mostly a gendered occupation, often performed by women. It bears the burden of uncried tears of the men. Sometimes, these women claw their faces and tear at their clothing. The belief is that women can express grief easily.
Having a crowd of mourners at one’s funeral has been a sign of honor, wealth and social status. People believe more mourners mean the deceased was more respected in society. Also, mourning in an exaggerated degree, is a sign of respect in some cultures.
The primary role of professional mourners is to cry quietly or loudly, sometimes tearing clothes and hair with stress. This helps the family to prepare for the expression of grief. For theatrical performance, they have to undergo training and practice.
India- Grieving undermines social status and masculinity in some communities and is considered inappropriate for higher caste women. That’s why there is a custom in Rajasthan in which professional low caste women mourners or Rudaalis express the grief on the death.
Dressed in a black sari, praising the deceased, Rudaalis cry loudly, beat their breasts, dance spasmodically and roll on the ground. This continues for up to 12 days after the death. However, Rudaali practice is becoming less common because more people are choosing intimate funerals.
Egypt- People in ancient Egypt hired professional women mourners. While grieving, these women wailed loudly, beating breasts, smearing the body with dirt and messy hairs. Inscriptions on the tombs show women next to graves holding their bodies in ways that show sorrow.
According to Egyptologist @MRValdesogo, gods Isis and Nephyts were impersonated by these mourners. These women did not have children. Their body hairs were shaved, and the names of Isis and Nephtys were inscribed on their shoulders.
This tradition continues still today, in which professional mourners help the family in mourning. They perform a dirge in the poetry form. The manuscript ‘The Songs of Isis and Nephtys’ contains the songs sung by those these women.
China — The tradition of professional mourning in China dates back to the Han dynasty. They were banned during the Cultural Revolution. Inscriptions on the panels of the tombs contain stories of these mourners. Chinese believe that it helps expedite the entry of a soul into heaven.
Chinese professional mourners perform theatrically during funerary processions. Actors play the role of the deceased and act scenes from their lives. Family members pay the mourners in advance and bring them to the funeral.
These mourners are mostly singers and come with a band. They crawl on the ground and take the name of the deceased. Then a eulogy is performed in a loud and musical manner. It drives the people to tears. Family pay respects, and suddenly dance and music start.
Greece- Southern Greece is home to a tradition of professional mourning now exclusive to women. This art of Moirologia also exists in the Greek tragedies, in which the singer would begin the mourning, and the chorus would follow. It goes back to the 8th century BC.
Moirologists lay out the corpse, wash the body and dress it alongside the family members. After the ritual of public homage is complete, friends and family assemble at the house. The closest female members and the moirologists stand around the corpse and begin the lament.
Lament may begin with praise for the dead or with a farewell to their life. This performance includes religion, mythology and village history to describe the life of the person mourned, his relationships, and his afterlife.
Ghana- Professional mourners in Ghana make a living by attending the funerals of strangers. They are primarily women who perform at funerals, console the family members and dance.
Bible- Professional mourning is also mentioned in both the Old and New Testaments, implying that lamentation is an art. The people who performed it were thought to be good at wailing. Largely farmers took on this role for some extra money.
In Christian traditions, a Mute is described as a person who took part in mourning. Charles Dickens’s ‘Oliver Twist’ mentions funeral Mute. Their job was to stand with a sad and pathetic face near the door of the home or church. They wore black cloaks, hats and gloves.
Modern professional mourners are performers. A few years back, a company based in Essex (UK) named ‘Rent A Mourner’ trained and supplied professional mourners on-demand. The goal was to increase the number of guests. These mourners didn’t disclose their identities.
Liu Jun-Lin is a famous professional mourner of Taiwan. Many see her job as the commercialization of grief, but Liu says she is continuing a thousand-year-old historical tradition, in which the deceased needs a big, loud send-off to the afterlife.
A few years back, US artist Taryn Simon brought together professional mourners worldwide for musical performance. It was named ‘An Occupation of Loss’. Simon investigated how cultures grieve the passing of those we love. A group simultaneously lamented and performed their rituals of grief in it.