Do you know why people used to take pictures of their deceased relatives sitting in a chair?

Question

Jeanmarie....hope your mother just took pictures and didn't do the chair thing!

Answer 1

It's an old tradition, like at wakes they would put the dead in a chair with a drink in their hand while every ones partying on.  When my brother died people put things in the coffin for the journey, a silver coin in the hand  for the ferryman, his favorite whiskey, poems and letters.  These thing go all the way back to our Celtic origins.  At least we don't toss in a virgin anymore!!!

Answer 2

Victorians had a particular macabre interest in the unknown and especially with death.  They would sit dead relatives in chairs and even make death masks.  Because Americans in general tend to be so far removed from death - we find things like this nasty where back then it was matter-of-fact.  We have little to not contact with the deceased and leave it instead to be handled by morticians. All we see is the dead person all done up and finished.  We don't have to deal with seeping, smell, etc.  So something as inane as death photos and death masks seems pretty out of this world to us.

If you want to creep yourself out go to google.com and type 'victorian death mask'.  Click on the photos and you will see a lot of pictures of plaster masks made from the faces of the deceased.

Answer 3

hi denie

a place in Sicily does this....

catacombs of the Capuchins in Sicily

The catacombs contain thousands of mummified bodies....the bodies are dressed in their typical clothing and arranged in poses such as sitting in rocking chairs, or seated facing each other as if still in conversation......

many tourists have gone there and many swear that when they pass the mummified bodies some move a little, as if been watched by the mummified people of the village.....this was a medieval practice the last time it was done was around 1920,s.......so when a member of the family died, they didnt get buried, but dressed and left in their chair, which they are still there now.......

EDIT....in 1599 local priests mummified a monk so they could pray to him after death, then the locals started clamoring to mummify their loved ones......now theres over 8,000 mummified bodies.....

(why take pictures when the deceased is still sitting in their homes with the rest of the family lol )    ÃƒÂ¢Ã‚€Â 

Answer 4

The Bon religion of Tibet and Tibetan Buddhism both maintain that crucial moments of transition are charged with great spiritual potential, especially the intervening moments between death and rebirth. This intermediate period, called bardo, is a state of suspended reality in which the deceased are presented with a series of opportunities for recognition of the true nature of Reality. If the deceased persons are capable of recognizing the confusing and often frightening bardo visions as simply their own mental projections reflective of the previous life's thoughts and deeds (karma), the ongoing cycle of birth and death will be overcome. Failure to recognize these appearances, on the other hand, leads eventually to rebirth and further suffering in cyclic existence (samsara). To help the deceased travellers gain insight into their ambiguous situation, a spiritual teacher or lama recites inspirational prayers and instructions from special funeral texts--the first stage in the ritual of the  Tibetan Books of the Dead.

Answer 5

They were taken in hope that the persons spirit would go on living through the picture. Watch the OTHERS they explain it.

Answer 6

kind of a disgusting tradition if you ask me, not to mention pretty unsanitary.

Answer 7

its an old tradition, the photos were put then in a "dead book" album, people always have revered death and the dead, because of the fear they inspire.

the reason for taking those chair dead people photos is the same reason for we still dress our dead as if they are going to a cocktail ..... because we fool ourselves a little in making they look "less dead"

Answer 8

Irish wake style. Its a celebration of passing into a better world. Everyone has a party in the same room as well and see them off with a big shin dig. Irish culture, weird the first time but you get used to it.

Answer 9

My mother did this and she's from the south.

I always thought it was very weird.