Writers 
Take a walk into almost any funeral you see, anywhere in the world, and you will notice a sea of people in black clothes.
You'll notice men in black suits and women in black gowns with black veils or scarfs.
It automatically feels like an expected and natural thing to do in a sorrowful situation.
But here’s the question I never stop asking: Why black?
Why not white or blue, or anything else?
The answer isn’t just about fashion or tradition. It was also about power, emotion, and, history.
The colour black started with something simple and obvious - darkness. Black is the color of the night time, darkness, and/or the absence of light. Across so many different cultures, darkness has always been linked to the unknown, the end of life, and silence.
So wearing black, became a visual way of saying, something has ended or someone has passed away - like in Nigeria that we all assume someone is dead by the we see people dressed in all black.
Simple as that.
To understand more about this, let’s go back to the past. Fast forward many centuries to 19th-century, England.
This was where it all started. Queen Victoria was the ruler at that time. When she lost her husband, Prince Albert, she didn’t just mourn quietly. She wore black royal attires, every single day, for 40 years.
She didn't wear it occasionally. She was constant and habitual to it for 40 good years. Being the queen, her behavior to her people didn’t just stay personal, it became a cultural law. People across the Britain empire and eventually many of the Western world today, copied her.
So because of her dedication to wearing only black for 40 years, mourning turned into a strict dress code and black became the official color of grief. Widows now wear black to mourn a family members or someone close to them. Even jewelry had to be dark or dull.
But apart from all these things, there are also psychological reasons. When people wear black at funerals, it draws less attention to them, feels respectful and quiet, and keeps total focus on the person who passed away. It helps everyone blend into a shared emotional atmosphere.
Just imagine showing up to a funeral in a bright red or yellow dress. You would instantly stand out and people won't like that or look at you right.
But let's get something else clear today. Not everyone wears black. In some part of the world, the color of mourning is completely different.
For example, in some parts of Asia, the people there, wear white - symbolizing purity and the cycle of life. While some African traditions include vibrant colors to celebrate the life that has been lived. So while black dominates in Western cultures, it’s not the only way humans express grief.
And that is everything you need to know about the colour black in funerals. So the next time you see a crowd dressed in black at a funeral, remember it’s not just tradition, but also a language.
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