Episode 9: Death in the Victorian Era (Part 1)

It's time for another Poppy-sode! 

Join us this week as Poppy takes us on a meandering journey through Victorian funeral fads and fancies.  In this episode, we explore the Victorian obsession with death, including quirky customs like floriography (the language of flowers), and how capitalism shaped mourning practices. We’ll also dive into the death-adjacent careers that thrived during the Victorian era and much more. This week, the witches also play some games and share  their own experiences and thoughts on funeral practices and mourning traditions. Was the Victorians' notorious obsession with death unique...or is a fascination with our ultimate end part of what defines humanity? Let's talk about it.

General content warning for discussion of the death of children, spouses, and other loved ones, suicide, funerals, and mourning.

Sources:

• The Victorian Book of the Dead selected and edited by Chris Woodyard
• Modern Death: How Medicine Changed the End of Life by Haider Warraich
• The New England Journal of Medicine, first edition (1812)
• "Mortality in the United States, 2022". NCHS Data Brief No. 492.  (March 2024)
• "A Profile of Death and Dying in America." Institute of Medicine. (1997)
• "Americans Die - is there really no place like home?”  Watcherman, et al. New England Journal of Medicine. (2022)

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