What is the source of the term "Tear Bottle?"?

Question

My mother was given a Tear Bottle by a relative and we are wondering where the "Tear Bottle" orginated from?

Answer 1

The history of the tear bottle is captivating and poignant. Legends of tear bottles or lachrymatories abound in stories of Egypt and middle eastern societies. Tear bottles were prevalent in ancient Roman times, when mourners filled small glass vials with tears and placed them in burial tombs as symbols of love and respect.

In the Old Testament of the Bible, the notion of collecting tears in a bottle appears in Psalm 56:8 when David prays to God, “Thou tellest my wanderings, put thou my tears in Thy bottle; are they not in Thy Book?” David’s words remind us that God keeps a record of human pain and suffering and always remembers our sorrows.

Tear bottles reappeared during the Victorian period of the 19th century, when those mourning the loss of loved ones would collect their tears in bottles ornately decorated with silver and pewter. The mourning period would end when the tears evaporated from the bottle.

Answer 2

Ancient Egyptians were among those who used tear bottles. the mourners of the deceased caught tears in these small bottles and in some cultures and societies were placed in tombs in other cultures and societies these tear bottles were kept by the family who made an altar in memory of their departed ones upon which the tear bottles were placed.

Answer 3

never heard of it sounds like a pagan Catholic tradition though.