Mourning Etiquette for Daughters

Etiquette demands that a daughter should wear mourning for at least a year, but there is nothing to prevent her, from wearing, such garb for a longer period. –Lady Mary of Downton Abbey in jet jewelry. Jet is a type of lignite, a precursor to coal, and is a gemstone. Jet is not a mineral, but rather a mineraloid. It origin is organic. It is derived from wood that has decayed under extreme pressure.– In the Victorian and Edwardian eras, there was a wide variety of materials used to mimic jet for mourning jewelry. Some was made from genuine jet, onyx, “French jet” (black glass), obsidian, black garnets, black amber, vulcanite, dyed horn or gutta percha.  

The Etiquette Demanded

Mourning: How should a daughter be attired when, after a year of mourning, she attends the ceremony of placing the remains of her deceased mother in a private vault? Should she wear black crepe?

Etiquette demands that a daughter should wear mourning for at least a year, but there is nothing to prevent her, from wearing, such garb for a longer period. On such an occasion as named the daughter should be attired in clothing of subdued colors, and she might wear black crepe if she desired. – San Francisco Call, 1912

Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia