A mourner is someone who is attending a funeral or who is otherwise recognized as in a period of grief and mourning prescribed either by religious law or by popular custom. Many cultures expect mourners to curtail certain activities, usually those considered frivolous or that are accompanied by expressions of joy.
Historically, some cultures have employed professional mourners to make a public showing of grief to honor the deceased (particularly those in the Near East).
Famous quotes containing the word mourner:
“What men prize most is a privilege, even if it be that of chief mourner at a funeral.”
—James Russell Lowell (1819–1891)
“O Jesse had a wife, a mourner all her life
And the children they were brave,
But the dirty little coward that shot Mr. Howard
He laid Jesse James in his grave.”
—Administration in the State of Miss, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)