Death & Funerals

Thematic Tag: Death & Funerals

This thematic tag collects diary paragraphs describing literal death events: funerals, burials, mourning periods, and encounters with the dead. Distinguished from the broader MORTALITY theme, which captures Marie's figurative and philosophical preoccupation with death. Tag paragraphs with DEATH when they describe an actual death, a funeral or burial, mourning dress or behaviour, cemetery visits, or funeral music/services. Use MORTALITY for metaphorical death language ("il est mort pour moi") or existential reflections.

Deaths in Marie's World

Deaths in the Family and Household

- Grand-maman (before the diary): Marie recalls her grandmother's death in the preface (carnet 000), noting the deep impression it left on her as a child.
- Uncle Emile (d. ~May 1874): Marie's uncle. She learns of his death in September 1874, four months after the fact: "Emile, mon pauvre oncle, est mort il y a quatre mois. Une demi-heure apres je n'y pensais plus" (023, 1874-09-10). The family takes six weeks of mourning; Marie notes "Maman est en deuil, ma tante aussi et je serais seule en couleur comme une bete" (024, 1874-09-16).
- Etienne Babanine (d. Jan-Feb 1874): Dina's half-brother, aged 15, stabbed himself with a dagger at his mother's house. The family learns from the newspapers before the mother's letter arrives: "il s'est tue avec un poignard" (017, 1874-02-25). Marie connects broken mirrors and a dream about losing a tooth to this death as omens (017, 1874-03-13).
- Grandfather / Grand-papa (d. late August 1878): After a long illness that Marie chronicles throughout 1877-78, he dies in Paris. Marie describes attending daily prayers before his coffin in full mourning: "Mon grand-pere est mort, je vais tout en deuil, avec ma famille, tous les jours ecouter les prieres dites devant son cercueil" (082, 1878-09-02). His death triggers Marie's extended mourning period and her famous reflections on mourning as aesthetic opportunity.
- Marie's father (d. June 1883): "Mon pere est mort" (100, 1883-06-10). Marie's reaction is characteristically complex -- she is moved but cannot weep until telling Rosalie: "ce n'est pas la peine, monsieur est mort." She reflects candidly on her emotional distance: "J'attendais avec une sorte d'impatience un denouement, sans le desirer, mais cette idee d'un evenement, d'etre en grand deuil..., il y avait la une occupation, une nouveaute" (100, 1883-06-10).
- Uncle Georges (d. March 1882): Marie's dissolute uncle. His death prompts the family to send for money for the funeral: "mon pere qui a envoye des depeches pour qu'Alexandre envoie l'argent de l'enterrement" (094, 1882-03-13). Marie oscillates between reproach and pity: "Tout s'efface devant la mort" (094, 1882-03-12).

Deaths of Acquaintances and Friends

- Mme Savelieff (d. May 1873): The first death Marie witnesses directly. She describes the dying woman and the pannychide in vivid detail: "Douleur a droite, douleur a gauche, douleur au plafond, douleur au plancher, douleur exprimee dans chaque chaise, douleur dans la lumiere des cierges, douleur dans l'air meme" (004, 1873-05-14). She attends the Orthodox funeral with the two Grand Dukes present (004, 1873-05-15).
- Abramovitch (d. August 1873, cholera): A young Russian consul and family friend. Marie's shock is visceral: "C'est affreux la mort! Et surtout un si aimable, comme il faut et gentil garcon" (008, 1873-08-29). Months later she still cannot accept it: "Je ne puis croire a celle d'Abramovitch, il me semble qu'il n'est pas mort, qu'il doit revenir" (014, 1873-12-14).
- Mother of Arson (d. January 1874): "A peine nous rentrons qu'on vient chez nous chercher Arson, sa mere est morte. C'est affreux!" (015, 1874-01-17).
- M. Fedoroff (d. April 1874, aneurysm): Died while playing cards at M. Patton's house. Marie uses her distinctive euphemism: "M. Fedoroff est passe de vie a trepas" (018, 1874-04-14). She adds: "Comme on meurt cette annee et on se marie aussi."
- Yourkoff (d. ~April 1876, suicide): Mme Sapogenikoff's companion killed himself at Monaco after social humiliations. Marie's account of the body at the morgue is harrowing: the authorities refused to admit he was there until shown his suicide letter. Marie Sapogenikoff "s'agenouilla, pleura et lui baisa deux fois la main comme c'est l'usage" (059, 1876-04-29). Marie reflects: "c'etait une noble nature au fond... on est tente de pardonner" (059, 1876-05-01).
- Dr Walitsky (d. January 1878): The family's beloved doctor and lifelong friend, godson of grand-papa: "notre cher docteur Wolitski... est mort vendredi dernier, a deux heures de la nuit. C'etait le meilleur ami de toute notre famille" (077, 1878-01-16). His death is "une perte irreparable" (077, 1878-01-13).
- Daughter of Abrial (d. October 1874): "cette pauvre enfant n'avait que dix-sept ans" (025, 1874-10-29). The family attends her funeral.
- Wife of Bottone (d. ~March 1875): "sa femme est morte il y a une semaine et demie" -- Bottone returns to serve the family, putting his orphaned children to bed (030, 1875-03-29).
- Mlle Collignon (d. ~1881): Marie visits her dying friend: "la Mort elle-meme. Et puis, dans la chambre une odeur de bouillon tres fort que l'on donne aux malades... C'est horrible" (092, 1881-07-27).

Public and Political Deaths

- Adolphe Thiers (d. 3 September 1877): "Monsieur Thiers est mort hier a six heures du soir" (074, 1877-09-04). Marie speculates it may bring Napoleon IV to power. She reads about his funeral in the newspapers (074, 1877-09-08). See Thiers.
- Victor Emmanuel II, King of Italy (d. 9 January 1878): Marie follows closely from Nice; grand-papa's friend Pietro goes to Rome for the funeral: "Je vais assister aux funerailles du Roi" (077, 1878-01-15). All Italy goes into mourning: "tout est en deuil, a Florence, les dames portent robes noires pendant 40 jours" (077, 1878-01-15). See Victor Emmanuel II.
- Queen Mercedes of Spain (d. 26 June 1878): Marie attends the solemn requiem mass at the Madeleine in Paris with Mme Gavini. She pastes the newspaper description of the ceremony into her diary, including detailed accounts of the catafalque, the draperies, and the royal attendees -- but is emotionally unmoved: "la ceremonie... m'a paru froide et ne m'a pas emue" (081, 1878-07-05). Her comment: "Aimer et etre aimee de son mari, avoir dix-huit ans, etre Reine d'Espagne et mourir!" See Mercedes of Orleans.
- The Prince Imperial (d. 1 June 1879, killed by Zulus): Marie is devastated. She weeps reading about the investigation: "je serrais les dents pour ne pas crier mais sans le bruit des roues on m'entendrait gemir malgre les dents serrees" (085, 1879-07-01). She still feels physical pain months later: "A la mort du Prince Imperial, j'ai eu mal comme cela" (089, 1880-09-17). M. de Las Cases, a diplomat, was dismissed for attending the Prince's funeral (087, 1880-01-02). See Prince Imperial.
- Leon Gambetta (d. 31 December 1882): Marie's most extensive funeral account. She watches the cortege from windows on the rue de Rivoli on 6 January 1883, describing the funeral car built by the Bastien-Lepage brothers, the military procession, the mountains of wreaths, and the crowd. "Ce n'est pas un enterrement, c'est une marche triomphale" (097, 1883-01-06). She later visits Gambetta's house at Ville-d'Avray and is appalled by the tiny room where he died (098, 1883-01-16). See Leon Gambetta.
- Field Marshal Wrangel (mentioned, 1877): "Voila un bel enterrement qu'on va voir!" -- Marie notes the funeral spectacle from a distance (074, 1877-08-26).

Mourning Culture

Mourning Dress and Fashion

Mourning in Marie's era was a rigidly codified social practice, particularly for women. The mourning period was divided into stages -- deep mourning (grand deuil), second mourning (demi-deuil), and ordinary mourning -- each with prescribed fabrics, colours, and durations. Deep mourning required dull black crepe (the chemically treated fabric that gave its distinctive matte texture), while later stages permitted glossy silks, then mauves and greys.

Marie transforms mourning into an aesthetic project. Her most famous line comes from a fantasy passage in carnet 072: "Je porte un deuil ravissant. Maintenant qu'il fait chaud ce sont de longs habits de crepe qui me moulent toute entiere, aux premiers froids je prendrai des robes de velours noir a la Robespierre" (072, 1877-07-14). This is fantasy -- she is imagining a future widowhood -- but it captures her lifelong fusion of grief and glamour.

In reality, she approaches mourning dress with the same keen eye. After grandfather's death: "Je suis fort interessante en noir; ma robe ressemble a celle de Marie-Antoinette a la Conciergerie, je parais plus mince" (082, 1878-09-01). She commands her mourning wardrobe: "J'ai commande mon deuil. Je suis bien aise d'etre en deuil, c'est un honnete pretexte pour mener la vie que nous menons" (082, 1878-08-30). Even promenading: "Une robe de deuil et un chapeau de feutre a plumes. Ensemble elegant, comme il faut et chaste" (082, 1878-10-12). She imposes penance on herself: "deja il y a six jours je me suis infligee une penitence pour avoir pris trop de plaisir dans mon deuil" (082, 1878-09-06).

For uncle Emile's death, she wants mourning immediately: "j'avais deja imagine un deuil leger, de famille, charmant. Que je suis sans pitie et sans coeur" (017, 1874-02-26). Dina's mourning dress is fitted by Simone (017, 1874-03-03). For her father's death, she notes "l'idee d'un evenement, d'etre en grand deuil..., il y avait la une occupation" (100, 1883-06-10).

Mourning Periods and Social Rules

Mourning periods in Victorian-era France followed strict social codes derived from court etiquette. A widow mourned for two to two-and-a-half years; a parent or child, one year; a sibling, six months; an uncle or aunt, three to six months. During deep mourning, social activities were sharply curtailed -- no balls, no theatres, no colours. Marie chafes against these restrictions but also exploits them as an excuse: "c'est un honnete pretexte pour mener la vie que nous menons" (082, 1878-08-30). The Cassagnac wedding is postponed on account of "un deuil de la famille Acard" (080, 1878-06-19). In Italy, after Victor Emmanuel's death, "les dames portent robes noires pendant 40 jours" and society cancels all festivities (077, 1878-01-15). The cardinal-archbishop of Paris puts on "grand deuil qu'il ne met que pour les princes regnants" for the Queen of Spain (081, 1878-07-05).

Funeral Practices

Orthodox Rituals: The Pannychide

The pannychida (Russian: pannikhida; Marie writes "pannychide") is an Orthodox memorial service -- a vigil of psalms, litanies, and hymns held before the body. In Russian practice, pannychide services are celebrated on the evening after death, then on the third, ninth, and fortieth days. Marie first encounters this at Mme Savelieff's death in Nice (004, 1873-05-14), where the atmosphere of flickering candles, chanting, and collective grief makes a profound impression. The Orthodox ceremony for grandfather involves daily prayers before the open coffin: "tous les jours ecouter les prieres dites devant son cercueil" (082, 1878-09-02), with the final service including "le pretre jette une pincee de terre sur le couvercle pour simuler l'enterrement" (082, 1878-09-06).

Catholic Funeral Services

Marie also participates in Catholic funeral culture: the requiem mass, the solemn high mass ("messe solennelle"), and the absolution ceremony ("l'absoute"). Her most detailed account is the requiem for Queen Mercedes at the Madeleine (081, 1878-07-05), with its black-and-silver draperies, catafalque crowned with the royal diamond tiara, and scattered rose petals. She appreciates the Verdi Requiem as music (020, 1874-06-09) and sings the "Lacrymosa" from funeral masses for her own pleasure (066, 1876-09-05). She notes "Les eglises et les chants funebres sont de vraies fetes pour moi" (067, 1876-12-08-11).

Pompes Funebres and Funeral Industry

The pompes funebres -- the French funeral industry -- had become increasingly professionalized by the 1870s, with companies handling all aspects of death from the lying-in-state to the cortege. Marie uses "pompes funebres" both literally and as a metaphor for cold-heartedness: unfeeling experts are "comme les entrepreneurs de pompes funebres" (005, 1873-06-14); a man who leaves her cold is compared to "l'entrepreneur des pompes funebres" (082, 1878-08-30). She notes political satire involving funeral companies: M. Coustans "avant d'etre ministre de l'interieur il etait a la tete d'une entreprise de pompes... pas a incendie" (094, 1882-04-01).

Funeral Music

Funeral marches are a recurring motif. When Marie wants to serenade disagreeable neighbours, she programs an all-funeral repertoire: "1 Marche funebre de Chopin. 2 Mein lieber Augustchen (valse). 3 Marche funebre de Beethoven. 4 Marche funebre de Mendelssohn. 5 Marche funebre x x x 6 Galop infernal" (081, 1878-07-22). She plays Beethoven's funeral march when Hamilton marries (014, 1873-12-10), and sings the "Lacrymosa" from the Requiem at various moments. Her father plays mock funeral marches when she shoots a gun (010, 1873-10-07).

Cemeteries

Marie mentions cemetery visits throughout the diary. In Nice, she visits the Russian cemetery (004, 1873-04-18; 009, 1873-09-21). At Iskrowka (the family's Ukrainian estate), she passes "le cimetiere, au milieu duquel s'eleve le rocher de marbre surmonte d'une croix. La tombe de grand-maman" (066, 1876-10-06). In Paris, she references the Batignolles area "pres du cimetiere Montmartre" (084, 1879-04-21).

Pere Lachaise Cemetery appears in connection with Gambetta's funeral: "Au Pere Lachaise il y a eu une procession formidable du peuple. Jamais, dit un journal, on n'a vu un pareil lendemain" (097, 1883-01-08).

Marie herself was buried on 2 November 1884 at Passy Cemetery in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, where her tomb -- designed by Emile Bastien-Lepage (brother of the painter) to resemble her studio -- has been classified as a French historical monument. The cemetery also holds the graves of Manet, Berthe Morisot, and Debussy.

Cholera and Epidemic Death

Cholera shadows the diary from beginning to end. In 1873, the epidemic at the Vienna World Exhibition nearly derails Marie's travel plans: "the cholera is raging" (006, 1873-07-11). She writes defiantly: "Je n'ai pas peur du cholera, et puis je me confie a Dieu" (007, 1873-07-16). When Abramovitch dies in August 1873, Marie attributes it to cholera (008, 1873-08-29). In 1884, cholera returns to France via Toulon: "Il parait que nous aurons le cholera. Il est deja a Toulon" (104, 1884-06-24). Marie advocates quarantine with characteristically ruthless logic: "On devrait tirer sur ceux qui tenteraient de sortir" (105, 1884-07-13). She even fears catching it herself: "Ce matin j'ai cru que j'allais avoir le cholera" (105, 1884-07-11). See DISEASES.

Marie's Death Vocabulary

- "pannychide" -- Orthodox funeral vigil (from Greek pannychis, "all-night vigil"); Marie's preferred transliteration of the Russian pannikhida
- "pompes funebres" -- undertakers/funeral services; also used metaphorically for coldness
- "passe de vie a trepas" -- euphemism: "passed from life to death" (used for Fedoroff, 018, 1874-04-14)
- "dernier soupir" -- last breath
- "deuil ravissant" -- beautiful mourning clothes; Marie's signature oxymoron
- "enterrement civil" -- civil (non-religious) burial, a politically charged practice in anticlerical France
- "messe funebre" / "messe de requiem" -- funeral mass; Marie attends many and sings from them
- "marche funebre" -- funeral march (Chopin, Beethoven, Mendelssohn); used both solemnly and satirically
- "faire-part" -- death announcement card; Marie notes writing them for her father (100, 1883-06-10)
- "catafalque" -- ceremonial platform for coffin display
- "corbillard" -- hearse; Marie notes the Gambetta funeral deliberately avoided "le corbillard classique" (097, 1883-01-06)
- "oraison funebre" -- funeral oration
- "crepe" -- mourning crepe fabric; chemically treated for its distinctive dull texture

Key Patterns

- Death as spectacle: Marie approaches funerals with an artist's eye -- the draperies, the procession, the music, the crowd. Gambetta's funeral is explicitly a visual event watched from a window.
- Death as fashion opportunity: Mourning dress is simultaneously obligation and aesthetic project. She takes "trop de plaisir" in her deuil.
- Death as failed emotion: Marie is often disturbed by her own composure -- "je suis trop froide" after her father's death (100, 1883-06-13), "ne m'a pas emue" at the Queen's requiem. She monitors her own grief with clinical detachment.
- Death and superstition: Broken mirrors, dreams of teeth falling out, and birds circling are interpreted as death omens throughout the diary.
- Death and politics: Public deaths (Thiers, Gambetta, the Prince Imperial) trigger political analysis alongside grief. Deaths are also social events: who attends, who sends cards, who wears what.
- Orthodox-Catholic duality: Marie participates in both traditions. Pannychides for Russian deaths, requiem masses for Catholic ones. The Queen of Spain gets a full Catholic ceremony at the Madeleine; grandfather gets Orthodox prayers before the coffin.

Related Entries

- MORTALITY -- Marie's figurative and philosophical death obsession ("il est mort pour moi")
- HEALTH -- Illness and medical themes, often preceding death
- DISEASES -- Specific named illnesses (cholera, tuberculosis, typhoid)
- RELIGION -- Religious aspects of death rituals (Orthodox and Catholic)
- EMOTIONS -- Marie's emotional responses to death events