AN EGYPTIAN FUNERAL.

Otago Witness, Issue 1875, 28 October 1887, Page 32

AN EGYPTIAN FUNERAL.

A funeral in Egypt is indeed a strange sight, and the first one the visitor sees astonishes him very much. At the head of tlie procession march a corporate body of the blind and a certain number of men, who proceed at a quick step, singing a most jubilant air, while swinging themselves from right to left. Behind them comes the funeral car, or rather a sort of bier, bearing a great red shawl, at which the body is depo.-4l.vjd. At the extremity of the bier, on a perch, is placed the turban or the tarbouche ■of the defunct. Two men carry this bier. They follow with such high spirits the movement of the head of the procession that the corpse, rocked in every direction, seems to jump under the shawl that shrouds it. The women bring up the rear — some on asses and some on foot.

The first row is formed o[ weepers, or rather screamers, who send forth towards heaven at each stop the shrillest notes. The •weepers hold in their hands a hankerchief, which they use, not to wipe their eyes, but for pulling up at the two ends behind their Leads with a gesture that would be desperate if it were not droll. On arrival at the cemetery they cast the corpse from the bier, such as it is, into the grave. The grand funerals, however, take place with much more solemnity. An important personage is hardly dead in Egypt before Ins friends and acquaintances hurry to the house. During one or two days they eat and drink at the expense of the dead, or rather of his heirs, indn!'iin«r in the noisiest demonstrations. "Wlh'ti 1 lie hour of the interment arrives, a scorn; of th<- wildest character is produced. The s'avfs and women of the household Ihrow themselves on the corpse and feign a determination to hinder it from passing the threshold. This lugubrious tragedy is played conscientiously : they snatch away the coflin ; Uiey belabour each obher with blows ; and the most violent and frightful clamour is heard.

At last the procession leaves the house and passes to the cemetery, preceded by camels loaded with victuals, which are distributed to the poor, who hurry in crowds along the road. All along the route the mourners and friends of the family fight for the honour of bearing the bier for an instant, and thus it passes, or rather bounds, from hand to hand amid the most frightful disorder. The interment ended, every one returns to the house of the dead to recommence the festivities which consist of dancing and other demonstrations.