Response to Veil

The congregation was shocked when it first saw the minister walking in with a black veil. Throughout his sermon, the congregation was uneasy with the presence of it. People murmured, feet shuffled and some of the women couldn’t bear it and had to leave early. Nobody knew why the minister did so, but all them felt some kind of evil when they see the minister with the veil. They no longer wanted to be too close to him and tried to avoid him.  The reason for their reaction might be that the black veil is usually used for mourning death. It’s a symbol for evil. It is even worse because it covers the minister’s face. Even though the minister acted and preached the same way, the congregation was great affected the by the black veil. I feel like the congregation had overreacted a little. Even though it is a weird thing to wear a veil to a sermon, I wouldn’t freak out if I saw this happen. Yet, I would not criticize the Puritans because I am not as religious as them. Some very religious people in the present day might also feel the uneasiness when they see a minister preach in a black veil. The symbolism of the black veil is not as strong to me as it is to them.