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Symbols of mourning, loss, memorial and grief — the marks cultures use to record that something has ended.
These are sombre rather than negative. Mourning notation exists to give loss a form, which is a kindness.
Something this symbol is documented to represent is associated with this idea. That is a fact about the recorded meaning, not a claim that everyone perceives the symbol this way.
A documented meaning of this symbol refers to the dead: “…denoting a messenger of God or a guardian of the dead, and the most frequent large figural monument in nineteenth-century…”
A winged human figure carved as a monument or in relief.
A documented meaning of this symbol refers to the dead: “…person, where it functions as an honorific of the dead rather than an opening — the same glyph doing two…”
An invocation opening a document.
A documented meaning of this symbol refers to funerary: “A classical funerary urn with a cloth draped over it, among the most frequent…”
A classical urn with a cloth laid over it.
A documented meaning of this symbol refers to the dead: “…blue rather than black, and some separate the dead from the expectant into two categories, so a colour…”
Black or blue, for those beyond help.
A documented meaning of this symbol refers to funerary: “One of the few floral motifs whose funerary association requires no interpretive apparatus, since…”
A small five-petalled flower carved on a memorial.
A documented meaning of this symbol refers to the dead: “…also carries a general association with the dead that survives outside genealogy, as in a cast list…”
A cross before a date meaning the person died then.
A documented meaning of this symbol refers to funerary: “Also used outside funerary contexts as a general emblem of time and, in modern…”
An hourglass carved on a monument, marking time running out.
A documented meaning of this symbol refers to funerary: “…monumental sculpture from Greek and Roman funerary art”
A torch carved pointing downward, sometimes still alight.
A documented meaning of this symbol refers to the dead: “…close-built timber housing is what killed most of the dead in 1923 and a great many in 1995; the broad evacuation…”
Flames over a row of roofs.
A documented meaning of this symbol refers to the dead: “…world of the living above and the world of the dead below, the vertical axis being the passage between…”
A cross within a circle, marking four moments of a life.
A documented meaning of this symbol refers to funerary: “Its funerary use rests on that older religious iconography rather…”
A trumpet-shaped lily carved on a monument.
A documented meaning of this symbol refers to mourning: “Is distinct from mourning jewellery, which was commissioned after a particular…”
A skull, coffin or hourglass on a ring, worn as a reminder of mortality.
A documented meaning of this symbol refers to mourning: “…and black and white or plain white for mourning”
A decorative cord knot tied on a gift envelope.
A documented meaning of this symbol refers to died in: “…remembrance of members of the armed forces who died in war, chiefly in Britain and the Commonwealth in the…”
A red paper or enamel poppy worn in remembrance of war dead.
A documented meaning of this symbol refers to bereavement: “…record to delete, a refusal to respect, or a bereavement to handle carefully”
A stamped or written reason code on undelivered mail being sent back.
A documented meaning of this symbol refers to funerary: “…reading. A short bracketed span in a formulaic funerary text may be near-certain; a long one in a unique document…”
Text inside them is gone from the object and supplied by the editor.
A documented meaning of this symbol refers to mourning: “Frequently mistaken for a broken-chain mourning motif. The links of the Odd Fellows emblem are intact…”
Three interlinked chain rings, the emblem of the Odd Fellows.
A documented meaning of this symbol refers to mourning: “…independent of gravestones, and it appears in mourning embroidery and prints of the same period”
A funerary urn with a weeping willow bending over it.
A documented meaning of this symbol refers to funeral: “…association and is distinct from a general funeral wreath of mixed foliage”
A circular garland of leaves or flowers, carved or laid on a memorial.