Funeral biscuits were a type of

biscuit A biscuit is a flour-based baked food item. Biscuits are typically hard, flat, and unleavened. They are usually sweet and may be made with sugar, chocolate, icing, jam, ginger, or cinnamon. They can also be savoury, similar to crackers. ...

traditionally served at

funeral A funeral is a ceremony connected with the final disposition of a corpse, such as a burial or cremation, with the attendant observances. Funerary customs comprise the complex of beliefs and practices used by a culture to remember and respect th ...

s in

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

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, and

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

. ''

The Gentleman's Magazine ''The Gentleman's Magazine'' was a monthly magazine founded in London, England, by Edward Cave in January 1731. It ran uninterrupted for almost 200 years, until 1907, ceasing publication altogether in 1922. It was the first to use the term ''m ...

'' described funeral biscuits in 1790. The writer described them as "a kind of sugared biscuit, which are wrapped up, generally two of them together, in a sheet of wax paper, sealed with black wax." The biscuits were given to each person attending the funeral, and were a custom of the funerals of "lower and the middling class of people." In

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...

, funeral biscuits were part of the tradition of telling the bees of their owner's death in the early 19th century. In early North America, the biscuits were stamped with burial motifs or symbols, such as a winged head or

cherub A cherub (; : cherubim; ''kərūḇ'', pl. ''kərūḇīm'') is one type of supernatural being in the Abrahamic religions. The numerous depictions of cherubim assign to them many different roles, such as protecting the entrance of the Garden of ...

, or an

hourglass An hourglass (or sandglass, sand timer, or sand clock) is a device used to measure the passage of time. It comprises two glass bulbs connected vertically by a narrow neck that allows a regulated flow of a substance (historically sand) from the ...

skull The skull, or cranium, is typically a bony enclosure around the brain of a vertebrate. In some fish, and amphibians, the skull is of cartilage. The skull is at the head end of the vertebrate. In the human, the skull comprises two prominent ...

. Throughout the 19th century, British newspapers carried advertisements for commercially prepared biscuits. Prepared biscuits were common in the period; a story printed in an 1877 edition of the ''Englishwoman's Domestic Magazine'' noted,

The world must go round as usual, and folks must eat and drink even when their nearest and best are lying low. The manufacture of funeral biscuits is, we are all aware, quite a flourishing concern.

By the late Victorian period, the phrase "lady fingers" was used in some places interchangeably with funeral biscuits. An 1897 article in the ''New York Times'' noted, "The American fashion of serving ' lady fingers' at afternoon tea is said to be a source of some surprise to English people, for the little cakes are generally known in England as 'funeral biscuits,' and are served in rural districts to the mourners after their drive to the cemetery. Similarly, an 1893 article in the

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

''Daily Picayune'' noted,

Ladyfingers are served in all parts of England, with light refreshments, at funerals, and usually go by the name of 'funeral biscuits.' In the Yorkshire Dales, if you are asked to a funeral and are unable to attend, they usually send you, with a memorial card, a piece of spongecake and several ladyfingers folded in a sheet of black-bordered paper and fastened with big, black seals."Our Picayunes." ''Daily Picayune'', 8 Dec. 1893, p. 4. ''Nineteenth Century U.S. Newspapers''. Accessed 12 Nov. 2021.

The tradition of funeral biscuits continued in

into the early 20th century:

In some places it is the custom to send to the friends of a family, after a death, a bag of biscuits with the card of the deceased. These funeral biscuits - often small, round sponge cakes - were known as arvel bread - arvel meaning ale. When arvel bread is passed around at a funeral each guest is expected to put a shilling on the plate."Queer Welsh Customs." ''Hampshire/Portsmouth Telegraph'', 4 Aug. 1900. ''British Library Newspapers''. Accessed 12 Nov. 2021.

References

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Funeral food, by Alison Petch
* Modern recipe fo
Vaucluse House funeral biscuits
English traditions Biscuits Funeral food and drink

See also

References

External links