From the latter half of the nineteenth to the early twentieth century, Qu茅bec changed from a predominantly rural, agricultural society to an increasingly urban, semi-industrial one. The Catholic Church maintained considerable influence over daily life, including the rituals associated with death and mourning. Birth and death occurred mostly in the home and the parish priest, acting as an 鈥渁ccountant of souls鈥�, entered the names of both the delivered and the deceased in church registers. A visitation period or wake served as a time of remembrance.
Sympathy cards originated in cards that served as invitations to a funeral. When a family received such a funeral card, a response or acknowledgment was offered in return in the guise of a sympathy card, ritualizing the event. Such cards circulated primarily among the privileged classes, functioning as both religious artifacts and social markers.
COLOURS
Both black and white have a special status with respect to symbolizing feelings and emotions. White reflects purity and is considered suitable for transformative religious rituals such as baptisms. Black, the absence of colour, symbolizes a sense of emptiness or a void and thus the absence of life. Cards from this period are characteristically black.
SYMBOLS
Crosses, chalices, and other religious iconography are common on sympathy cards of this period. Frequently, they are associated with lilies or ivy, representing eternal life and the soul鈥檚 transition to heaven. Other symbols are urns, reflecting the dignity and solemnity of the farewell, and clasped hands conveying the belief of reuniting in the afterlife. The symbols on the cards are elaborately designed, sometimes embossed or with laced borders that make the cards valuable keepsakes.
PRINTED TEXT
Elaborate fonts add to the Gothic aesthetics of the cards. The text on the cards is short, typically consisting only of phrases such as 鈥淚n Memory鈥� or 鈥淚n Memoriam鈥�. The cards are often spiritual bouquets, a Catholic tradition of offering prayers or devotion for the repose of the soul of someone who has died. Frequently, the cards incorporate messages and prayers related to Catholic rituals that emphasize the salvation of the soul in the afterlife.
HANDWRITTEN MESSAGES
Most cards from this period do not have hand-written messages. The bottom of the card often has a line that effectively restricts written text to a signature. As if entering into a social contract by 鈥渟igning on the dotted line鈥�, the sender offers support and prayers without having to mention the unmentionable subject of death and offers support and prayer
听 听 听 听 听
听
听 听
听听