holding collar for funeral - Superstition?

In my neck of the woods if there was a funeral in the street you closed the curtains, if it was in the house you covered the mirrors, I never knew why.

I grew up in S.Yorkshire, and we also used to say "touch your collar, never swaller" when a funeral went by. There was also a plant in the hedgerows that we called Mother Die, we didn`t dare pick it because the saying was that if you did your mother would die. I found out in later years that it`s proper name is Shepherds Purse.

No red and white flowers together in a vase and no may flowers indoors and my grandmother wouldn't have lilac indoors either.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hearse_Song

This is all I remember singing when I was younger!

Heard about red & white flowers but not lilac!

In Russia I was told that you should always give an odd number of flowers because an even number would mean a death. So a dozen roses would have to be a seven and a five I suppose!

I lived in Oxford in the late forties and remember this routine very well coupled with the saying `hold your collar never swallow till you see a dog`. We had in the immediate neighbourhood the county crematorium and as a result we were forever stopping and holding our collar which was a bit tiresome but we carried it out ever time. In later life I related this to a more learned person than I am myself and he thought it could date back to the plague with reference to the dog being the dog would attract the fleas away.

Hi Everyone we are Anderson Independent Funeral Directors, based in Ellesmere Port, covering Chester and Wirral. We are a family run business and we pride ourselves on the excellence and professionalism of our funeral directors and staff. We go the extra mile to give every family our personal care and attention which we believe sets us apart from other Funeral Directors.

It is great to hear about our older funeral rites and how our rituals evolve. really interesting posts!

Never heard of the collar touching but yes red and white flowers are blood and bandages and should never mix and my Nan wouldn’t have lilac in the house
Yes we drew the curtains when we knew someone had died never heard the mirror thing but nan used to run round covering mirrors if we had a thunderstorm

Ultra-Orthodox Jewish people {Chassidim} take hold of the bereaved's collar and rip a long tear in it "to express pain and sorrow". It is possible that the tradition of holding one's collar comes from this Jewish ritual? We lived amongst these lovely people in Antwerp : it was even depicted in a film whilst we lived there. Apparently Torah law mandates such expression as a part of the mourning process.

Yes in the Welsh valleys, hold your collar until you see a dog. I still do it ?