DEATH AND BURIAL.

Clutha Leader, Volume XXXVII, Issue 50, 20 December 1910, Page 3

DEATH AND BURIAL.

STRANGE SUPERSTITIONS. Of all the strange superstitions of folklore the most curious are those connected with death and burial ceremonies. When we consider the gloomy surroundings of a death-bed, the absence of any definite occupation, and the abnormal conditions of the overwrought minds( of the weary watchers, as well as the dark uncertainty of that unknown bourne to which the traveller is bound, we can scarcely wonder that a fanciful and morbid imagination creates strange visions and imagination. The dying person is usually too unconscious for such visions, or sees pleasing apparitions of welcoming angels. The frequent and well-authenticated appearance at the moment of death to relatives at a distance can only be explained by the belief that there is some mysterious power of momentarily appearing in a transition stage, or that anxiety and some intimate association of thought create the delusion. The latter hypothesis makes the more extraordinary the appearance of a wellknown admiral at the moment of his tragic death to three ladies separately, who were not in any way especially associated or in sympathy with him. In cases of suicide, of undiscovered murder, or even, as in the case of the White lady of Blenkinsopp, where treasure had been buried ) the unquiet spirit is most given to "walk," and steps are taken to lay the spirit. In Berkshire no fewer .that thirteen parsons were required for 'this purposesix to repeat the Lord's Prayer forwards and six backwards, the 13th reverend gentleman apparently acting as chairman or arbitrator between the powers of light and darkness. The place selected in which to lay the wandering spirit was a sheepfold, the sheep as emblematic of innocence and purity, and therefore proof against the powers of darkness. A dying person, after two days of disquietude, was enabled to depart in peace by being wrapped in a sheepskin. The material method of even at the last restoring animal heat by the skin of a freshly-killed sheep is well known. Another most curious custom in Berkshire is to put a lock of wool in the coffin of a shepherd in order that the Judge of all men may know his vocation in life and excuse his frequent absence from the place of worship during life. In Yorkshire the arms and legs of the dead were bound so as to prevent the wandering of the spirit.- The stake thrust through the bodv of a suicide was intended to fix the spirit and to prevent its wandering, while the burial of the suicide at the four cross roads, so far from being intended as a disgrace or warning, was rather to choose the spot most nearly approaching consecrated ground, such spots being dedicated of old to the god Terminus. The "raths" or mounds in Ireland are supposed to contain much treasure guarded by demons, and the country folk resented the attempts to further explore them.