The three main occasions for which the people of Boston make use of Hester’s sewing skill are “public ceremonies . . . the installation of magistrates, and all that could give majesty to the forms in which a new government manifested itself in the people,” funerals (clothing the dead), and clothing newborns with baby linen. (34-5). Hester is never asked, however, to embroider a bride’s white veil, which is supposed to symbolize purity.