Funeral biscuits were a type of
biscuit
A biscuit is a flour-based baked and shaped food product. In most countries biscuits are typically hard, flat, and unleavened. They are usually sweet and may be made with sugar, chocolate, icing, jam, ginger, or cinnamon. They can also be ...
traditionally served at
funeral
A funeral is a ceremony connected with the final disposition of a corpse, such as a burial or cremation, with the attendant observances. Funerary customs comprise the complex of beliefs and practices used by a culture to remember and respect th ...
s in
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
,
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...
,
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
, and
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
.
''
The Gentleman's Magazine
''The Gentleman's Magazine'' was a monthly magazine founded in London, England, by Edward Cave in January 1731. It ran uninterrupted for almost 200 years, until 1922. It was the first to use the term ''magazine'' (from the French ''magazine'' ...
'' described funeral biscuits in 1790.
The writer described them as "a kind of sugared biscuit, which are wrapped up, generally two of them together, in a sheet of wax paper, sealed with black wax." The biscuits were given to each person attending the funeral, and were a custom of the funerals of "lower and the middling class of people."
In
Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershire ...
, funeral biscuits were part of the tradition of
telling the bees of their owner's death in the early 19th century.
In early North America, the biscuits were stamped with burial motifs or symbols, such as a winged head or
cherub
A cherub (; plural cherubim; he, כְּרוּב ''kərūḇ'', pl. ''kərūḇīm'', likely borrowed from a derived form of akk, 𒅗𒊏𒁍 ''karabu'' "to bless" such as ''karibu'', "one who blesses", a name for the lamassu) is one of the u ...
, or an
hourglass
An hourglass (or sandglass, sand timer, sand clock or egg timer) is a device used to measure the passage of time. It comprises two glass bulbs connected vertically by a narrow neck that allows a regulated flow of a substance (historically sand) ...
or
skull
The skull is a bone protective cavity for the brain. The skull is composed of four types of bone i.e., cranial bones, facial bones, ear ossicles and hyoid bone. However two parts are more prominent: the cranium and the mandible. In humans, the ...
.
Throughout the 19th century, British newspapers carried advertisements for commercially-prepared biscuits. Prepared biscuits were common in the period; a story printed in an 1877 edition of the ''Englishwoman's Domestic Magazine'' noted,
The world must go round as usual, and folks must eat and drink even when their nearest and best are lying low. The manufacture of funeral biscuits is, we are all aware, quite a flourishing concern.
By the late Victorian period, the phrase "lady fingers" was used in some places interchangeably with funeral biscuits. An 1897 article in the
''New York Times'' noted, "The American fashion of serving '
lady fingers' at afternoon tea is said to be a source of some surprise to English people, for the little cakes are generally known in England as 'funeral biscuits,' and are served in rural districts to the mourners after their drive to the cemetery. Similarly, an 1893 article in the
''Daily Picayune'' noted,
Ladyfingers are served in all parts of England, with light refreshments, at funerals, and usually go by the name of 'funeral biscuits.' In the Yorkshire Dales, if you are asked to a funeral and are unable to attend, they usually send you, with a memorial card, a piece of spongecake and several ladyfingers folded in a sheet of black-bordered paper and fastened with big, black seals.["Our Picayunes." ''Daily Picayune'', 8 Dec. 1893, p. 4. ''Nineteenth Century U.S. Newspapers''. Accessed 12 Nov. 2021.]
The tradition of funeral biscuits continued in
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...
into the early 20th century:
In some places it is the custom to send to the friends of a family, after a death, a bag of biscuits with the card of the deceased. These funeral biscuits - often small, round sponge cakes - were known as arvel bread - arvel meaning ale. When arvel bread is passed around at a funeral each guest is expected to put a shilling on the plate.["Queer Welsh Customs." ''Hampshire/Portsmouth Telegraph'', 4 Aug. 1900. ''British Library Newspapers''. Accessed 12 Nov. 2021.]
See also
*
Dead-cakes
A dead cake is a type of food that is traditionally eaten at a wake to honour the deceased individual. It is closely related to the folklore of funeral customs.
In culture
The 1911 ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' states:
...in the Balkan penin ...
*
Ladyfinger
References
{{Reflist
External links
Funeral food, by Alison Petch* Modern recipe fo
Vaucluse House funeral biscuits
English traditions
Biscuits
Funeral food and drink