My wife works as a Marketing Manager and recently was undertaking (every pun intended!) some work on a brief for a large national funeral company. On the back of anecdotal reports from funeral directors suggesting that these days many people have little respect for passing funeral corteges (and in some cases drivers following behind them have sounded their horns aggressively, over-taken and shouted abusive language at the bereaved) my wife was searching for a vintage stock photo showing people respecting the passing procession through the act of 'doffing one's hat'.
However, even after searching the web and looking at countless old images of funeral processions she was unable to find a single one which showed men taking their hats off and bowing their heads as a mark of respect to a cortege! I tried to find one myself and could not, leading me to question whether I had ever witnessed or heard of such a custom and, if not, where I (or anybody else for that matter) might have assumed the belief that it might have ever existed in the first place. I did, however, find the attached which suggests that -in some parts of the Western World at least- there may have been a custom that dictated that men should remove their hats at the graveside during a funeral; however, this 1892 US newspaper article talks of abandoning the custom altogether and my wife's original search was for images of men showing respect to a STRANGER's funeral cortege as it passed by in the street rather than at the graveside of a family member or friend where it is more likely that they would have shown this mark of respect.
https://lancastergraveyardrabbit.wordpr ... 892-style/
In light of these findings, I would like to throw this open to the forum: In these hat-free times have you ever witnessed any individuals stopping whatever they were doing in a public place and bowing their head as a funeral cortege passes (this doesn't include the inhabitants of Wootton Basset who dutifully attend the corteges of repatriated soldiers killed in Afghanistan)? Have you ever done this yourself? Were you always told as a child that you should do so by your parents or grandparents? And, finally, if anyone still does wear a hat (or even a hoodie!) would you feel it appropriate to remove it as a mark of respect to the dead as their coffin passes by?
However, even after searching the web and looking at countless old images of funeral processions she was unable to find a single one which showed men taking their hats off and bowing their heads as a mark of respect to a cortege! I tried to find one myself and could not, leading me to question whether I had ever witnessed or heard of such a custom and, if not, where I (or anybody else for that matter) might have assumed the belief that it might have ever existed in the first place. I did, however, find the attached which suggests that -in some parts of the Western World at least- there may have been a custom that dictated that men should remove their hats at the graveside during a funeral; however, this 1892 US newspaper article talks of abandoning the custom altogether and my wife's original search was for images of men showing respect to a STRANGER's funeral cortege as it passed by in the street rather than at the graveside of a family member or friend where it is more likely that they would have shown this mark of respect.
https://lancastergraveyardrabbit.wordpr ... 892-style/
In light of these findings, I would like to throw this open to the forum: In these hat-free times have you ever witnessed any individuals stopping whatever they were doing in a public place and bowing their head as a funeral cortege passes (this doesn't include the inhabitants of Wootton Basset who dutifully attend the corteges of repatriated soldiers killed in Afghanistan)? Have you ever done this yourself? Were you always told as a child that you should do so by your parents or grandparents? And, finally, if anyone still does wear a hat (or even a hoodie!) would you feel it appropriate to remove it as a mark of respect to the dead as their coffin passes by?