Black ribbon was tied to their underwear. After two months, two flounces could be added to the skirt. After one year, the women could switch their dress fabric to silk colored in lavender, mauve or violet. They were also forbidden from socializing during this 28-month period. These days, no one would ever know if someone recently lost a loved one.
Modern society has a tendency to deal with death in more medical terms.
But how death is represented has changed drastically. Victorian rituals provided stability and refuge in the face of sweeping changes, she said. The era was characterized by scientific progress and challenges to religion during this time, including Darwin and the theory of evolution. The Great Exhibition of 1851 in London lauded the technical and industrial advances of the age, and geological discoveries revealed the true age of the planet, much older than described in the bible. Residential and Family Living developed the Last Lecture series seven years ago as a means to increase contact between students and faculty.