Tokens to remember the departed

Hilde G. Lee Daily Progress correspondent
Published: September 16, 2008

In doing research recently on election cakes, I ran across a strange cookie I had never heard of before — the funeral cookie or biscuit, as these cookies or biscuits were called in the 17th and 18th centuries. They also were known as funeral tokens.

At that time funeral entertainments were of considerable importance in Colonial America. In the small rural communities of the eastern United States, the custom of lavish dining at the house of mourning or in a nearby tavern had become firmly established. Although the type of feasting varied from region to region and from one religious denomination to another, one of the most significant items was the funeral token. They were distributed to the mourners as a reminder of the departed.

Mourning cookies

However, funeral tokens also assumed many other forms beside a cookie. In New England, gifts of white mourning gloves were common from the 17th century on. Elsewhere, the token might consist of a copy of the sermon, a copy of the hymn sung at the graveside or, if the deceased permitted, religious pamphlets on the theme of salvation. The most popular, however, was the funeral cookie. As it was ornamented, often with symbolic motifs, the funeral token was highly prized and saved for years.

Historical references to funeral tokens and the carved wooden stamps (or molds) used to make them are skimpy because the custom was so commonplace. The most obvious person to bake these funeral tokens was the wife of the minister. After all, funerals were in her husband’s line of work. However, the wife of the coffin maker also might bake them, or even someone in the household of the deceased.

Heart of the matter

In rural communities, the molds for funeral tokens were scarce and often lent out, circulating as the need arose from household to household. The most popular motif for funeral tokens was the heart. It also is the most ancient decoration found in funeral cookery, predating Christianity. Another popular design was a cherub or winged head, symbolizing the spirit of the deceased rising to heaven.

In larger cities, such as Philadelphia, where there was a thriving cookie trade, some bakers specialized in funeral tokens. An advertisement by Benjamin Betterton in the Pennsylvania Journal of Feb. 9, 1748, offered an extensive line of “Burial Biscake.”

Bakers like Betterton had easy access to excellent wood carvers to make the cookie molds, and they could afford to use elaborate molds. City clientele demanded more sophisticated and fashionable designs.

A rare Philadelphia funeral token mold from the late 1700s depicts three

plumes. The plumes do not refer to the insignia of the Prince of Wales, but to the black plumes decorating the corners of a hearse and worn by the horses pulling it.

Another mold of about the same time is carved with an elaborate rooster. This was the symbol of resurrection and a popular motif on early American funeral cookies.

The dough for funeral tokens or cookies was a type of shortbread that could easily be molded or stamped. It consisted of flour, butter, superfine sugar, powdered ginger, caraway seeds, eggs, molasses and milk.

The dough was rolled to a fourth- to a half-inch thick and stamped with a funeral token print.

Because of the climate in America, cookies and gingerbreads were made much harder than those in England.

It soon became evident to the American Colonists that most “hard” gingerbread could serve as funeral cookies or tokens, provided that caraway seeds, a favorite flavor, were added to the dough. It did not matter that the funeral tokens were hard as a rock, as they were designed to be dipped in wine or beer, if eaten at all. Most of the time they were saved as souvenirs of the funeral.

John Conger, a resident of New York City, became one of the best-known mold carvers in the late 1820s. He made an unusual roller mold about 1835, which depicted sprigs of roses. The rose as a funeral motif grew popular at that time. It often symbolized a child who had died young.

In an attempt to give a Christian connotation to the secular American New Year’s celebration, the rose, as a symbol of renewal and hope, also became a symbol of the New Year. It was used on New Year’s cakes, as well as New Years cards.

The appeal of the rose as an image of rebirth and renewal grew with the evangelical movement in this country. However, as evangelism also brought with it temperance, funeral feasting was gradually re-organized along more restricted lines. By the late 19th century, the funeral token was replaced by multitudes of bake-sale goods. By that time, the trend toward Prohibition further reduced the serving of wine or beer at funeral feasting.