Eternal troupers

From funeral processions rich with spectacle to annual concerts in cemeteries, American circus persons unfailingly honour their dead and include the departed as full members of the circus community long after they leave the corporeal realm. These funerals and death events, both historic and contemporary, are loaded with insider symbols and indicators of membership in the closely connected circus community and use circus-specific performance, music and ritual to care for their dead and declare belonging in the present and future. This chapter examines a sample of American circus funerary and death memorialisation examples from the 19th to the 21st centuries to explore how these practices and rituals reflect not only a form of ‘dark events’ but also a distinct insider community identity. Though fans and outsiders can play a part in the continued interest and memorialisation of circus decedents, it is the enduring commitment from within its community that honours the dead in a remarkable, abiding way.