>Thanks for all the information, but most of you seem to have been
>answering a different quesion from the one I asked. I already know as
>much as I need to about funeral arrangements. I was interested in the
>period of *mourning* - the funeral was last week, it's time to get on
>with life, but how does a stranger wandering into your stead know someone
>died recently? Are you all wearing black clothes? Black armbands? All cut
>your hair? I did like the idea of smearing the face with ashes: thanks,
>David.
I think what I was trying to get across at the end of my input was that death in most barbarian cultures seems to have been a celebration, not something that was mourned as in most modern societies. It seems that barbarians were more concerned that the dead didn't come back to life more than grieving for the person. IMO the funeral ceremony was the grieving period and would take a couple of days to complete (whith preparations, burial, celebration afterwards, etc).
If you are looking for something simple (such as the excellent death rune in ashes suggestion), it seems the Scotts would wear black or grey kilts to signify someone died, though how long these were worn for, I do not know.
Lee
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