Echoes of the Reformation: Scotland’s Battle Over Burial Rites

St Peter’s Cemetery, Aberdeen

The way we bury our dead says a lot about the times we live in. In Scotland, the transition from medieval Catholicism to Protestantism brought dramatic changes—not just in how people worshipped but also in how they mourned.

After the Reformation, traditional funeral practices like singing psalms and saying prayers at gravesides were suddenly viewed as suspiciously “Popish.” Even John Knox, the firebrand reformer, weighed in on the debate. By 1645, the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland had enough and officially banned the customs of “praying, reading, and singing” at funerals. The reasoning? These rituals were “no way beneficial to the dead and have proved many ways hurtful to the living.”

But, of course, old traditions die hard.

Take incense, for example. Despite the religious crackdown, it lingered in many Scottish parishes long after the Reformation. The city authorities of Aberdeen even found a way to profit from it—charging 40 shillings Scots for anyone caught burning incense in a kirkyard, and a whopping £4 Scots if they did so inside a kirk. Imagine paying a fine just for a bit of scented smoke!

Sources and further reading:

Dane Love: Scottish Kirkyards. Amberley, 1989