Berdan's Aide Society

Victorian Customs of Mourning were interesting and supplied social morays as to how long you needed to mourn, establishment of stages of mourning, what was appropriate to wear at which stages and so much more.  Members of our unit have done exhaustive research into these customs and are pleased to be able to provide the public with an insight into something that every household in America during the time of the American Civil War was experiencing.  

Our members have done presentations on mourning for the following events:

Please note the different colors for the different stages of mourning.  Someone in deepest or 1st stage mourning would wear all black with no shine or color.  As they start to emerge from that stage, they will start to add bits of white, lavender or gray to their ensemble.  

The second Stage is lavendar and the 3rd stage is gray.  The length of time of each stage is dependant upon what is expected of you based on the closeness of the deceased to you as well as what the local social morals are.

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