Death is an inevitable phenomenon and professional mourners are the people who are hired for mourning at a funeral with family and relatives. They are compensated for weeping and crying for laminating the dead for the people they have never met before when they are alive. This tradition has been carried out from the ancient days. While professional mourners earn a living with this occupation, but they face some major health issues because of regular crying. This ritual is a part of old tradition and people hire a line of mourners for expressing grief at a funeral, even though they do not feel sorrow from their hearts.
History of Mourners
Moirologists or professional mourners are appointed for delivering the eulogy at someone’s death. This tradition originated from eastern cultures, including China, Egypt, and Mediterranean areas. Across civilizations, different rituals and traditions have successfully concealed the process of the funeral. These rituals encouraged veiling from solemn to macabre. During this time, the tradition of calling mourners came into being. The origin of mutes or mourners can be traced back to the Bible itself and they are explained in the Old and New Testaments. A similar ritual often existed in China in Tang-dynasty from 7th century AD to almost 10th Century AD. these rituals may be uncommon for the foreign eye, however, they existed as a part of a culture that people could not ignore. Wailing women were also very common in ancient Rome, while funeral mutes were an indispensable part of the Roman Empire wherein they were hired to show up at the funeral with sad faces.
Defining Moirologists
Professional mourners are commonly referred to as Moirologists. They are the accomplished wailers who are asked to attend the funeral and show their respect and tribute to the dead. They are paid to mourn at a funeral and express sorrow at someone’s death. The professional mourners may or may not know the deceased person, but they need to cry and wail as a part of funeral customs. In ancient days, mourners were asked to cry and moan very loudly, tearing their tresses and clothes expressing huge sorrow for the death. In some cultures, the signs of respect at someone’s death is given prevalence to excessive mourning and crying. However, today the professional mourners behave extravagantly and are trained by experts so that they portray the correct behavior during the funeral. Professional mourners must be discrete and should adhere to their professional guidelines to ensure that the people do not come to recognize them and consider them as a part of the crowd.
Obligations for Professional Mourners
While organizing a funeral, it is expected to be packed by the gathering of guests. However, sometimes it does not happen as expected. A very few people usually arrive at the funeral because of many reasons, and the attendance may look very thin. Attending a funeral may be emotionally very challenging for the attendees and its also important to support the near and dear ones of the deceased person. Therefore, professional mourners are asked to attend the funeral to increase the attendance at any funeral. Apart from tradition and cultures that existed during the ancient days, moirologists are hired today for increasing the number of participants and to provide new faces while expressing sorrows for someone’s death. The morning and crying rituals conducted by the professional mourners help other people to accept the tragedy though their expressions of grief and sorrow.
Contribution in Funeral
From the previous thousand years, the job role of professional mourners still exists as a part of the culture and social status. This professional got slowly disintegrated previously but in recent days, they are again getting popularity. People are hiring mourners to weep someone’s death and to increase the number of attendees for this situation. Professional mourners can be considered as grief-stricken actors who works at a specific niche of crying at someone’s death. When the professional mourners are hired, they meet the family and relatives of the deceased person to discuss the situation. Professional mourners are trained to maintain guidelines and behavior during a funeral. They do proper research about the deceased person to engage with the crowd for the funeral.
Professional mourners plan their presence during the funeral very early. They are the convincing attendees of a funeral and they do plenty of research before their arrival so that they can engage in a conversation with other members during the funeral. These mourners learn the details of the deceased person and the family, their background, and the cause of death. With this story, they create an imaginary character for grieving. The professional mourners dress up appropriately and attend the funeral as a part of their service for showing respect and tribute for the person, along with crying and expressing their grief.
After the service or rituals of the funeral are over, Moirologists arranges a small gathering to mingle with the attendees of the funeral to spread good virtues about the deceased person and share their stories. During this time, they utilize their research about the person and share stories about their goodwill. This idea of sharing tales about the person who passed away creates a sense of tribute and enhances popularity. These professionals know the correct manner to behave at a funeral and to get mingled up with the crowd. They should remain discrete while engaging with other attendees to make sure nobody understand their true self. They are trained to hide their identity as professional mourners as people attending the gathering will not know about professionals getting hired for shedding tears. Within an appropriate time, these professional mourners slip away from the funeral with other guests.
Paying mourners during the funeral was considered to be a part of social status during ancient times, and it is still is in some circles today. They are professionals who plays an important role in the grieving at funerals of a stranger’s final send-off. They are trained individuals who are specialized in acting and they get compensated for expressing sorrow at funerals.