Black in mourning

In the twenty-first century, when family funerals are private and black is worn as a fashion color, it is rarely possible to recognize that a person is in mourning. But in the past, family bereavement involved a series of highly visible public rituals. The use of mourning ceremonial and dress was originally a privilege of the royal courts of Europe from the Middle Ages and was regulated by court protocol through sumptuary laws. Over a period of five hundred years, however, the use of mourning dress spread outward to the rest of society.