
History and Where ‘Memento Mori’ Comes From Whenever you look at something or hear something that reminds you of your own inevitable death, you’ve stumbled upon a ‘Memento Mori.’ This type of imagery and symbolism is popular in art, culture, and music. Typically a decorative object or ornament, ‘Memento Mori’ decorations come in all different shapes and sizes. This phrase became popular during Medieval times when death brought final judgment before God. This term gained popularity in culture during the 1590s, and it’s a noun that applies to any reminder of life. » MORE: Celebrate a life well-lived with a beautiful memorial website. It implies that there’s an important balance to strike between remembering that death could always be near and dwelling on the inevitable. It’s the slogan for the death positive movement, and it’s simply a way to encourage people to live life to the fullest. While it’s easy to mistake this term as depressing, it’s truly the opposite. In English, this term translates to ‘Remember you must die.’ The Latin word ‘Momento’ means ‘to remember’ while ‘more’ means ‘death.’ Since Latin isn’t widely spoken today, most people don’t recognize the meaning of ‘Memento Mori’ at first glance. In this guide, we’ll define this Latin phrase and take a trip through time to trace its use through history. The Latin phrase ‘Memento Mori’ is a simple way to describe the lingering presence of death. It’s hard to capture the complex meaning behind this ever-present knowledge that death could be closer than you think. Everyone meets this same end regardless of how they get there. Rich or poor, old or young, death could be around any corner.

Yet, no matter how little we talk about it, death is the great unifier.

‘Memento Mori’ in Popular Culture and Real-World Examples.How Do People Put ‘Memento Mori’ Into Practice?.History and Where ‘Memento Mori’ Comes From.

While you might have been to a family member’s funeral or watched a gory horror movie, death isn’t something that’s talked about much in polite society. In our contemporary western culture, the average person isn’t very exposed to death. For a lot of people, thinking about death is uncomfortable.
