Paseo de los Tristes - Walk of the Sad

AOK: History - Ethics - Religious KS - Human Sciences

 Real Life Situation:
This area gets its name from its location on the old funeral route to the graveyard in Sacramonte. Large funeral processions would pass through the streets, availing of this large open area for mourners to gather. Similar to today, a fairly reliable objective way of measuring a persons popularity (or at least notoriety) can often be made by counting the numbers of mourners at their funeral.
One difference is that today we do not avail of profession mourners which used to be quite commonplace. These are people who are paid money to cry and wail at a funeral as the body goes by. They may not even know the deceased person. 

First Order Question:
Was it expensive to hire professional mourners?
Were they easy to distinguish from ordinary mourners?
Second Order Questions:
Why would anyone wish to hire a professional mourners services?
Apart from the uncontrollable outpouring of sorrow and grief one experiences when a loved one has died, is there any other role of mourning? Does it serve a bigger role for the mourner or for the deceased person?

WOKs: Emotion - Reason - language - Perception - Intuition - Faith - Memory