BURIAL CUSTOMS IN MANY LANDS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2010, 1 September 1892, Page 39

BURIAL CUSTOMS IN MANY LANDS.

From the eailiesi pedod it; appears that four forms of disposal of the dead have been practised — 1, exposure ; 2, the simple closing up of the body in earth or stone; 3, the burning of the body and the. entombing of the asheß ; 4, embalming. At the present time these four methods ate still in use, though the last-mentioned is not so common as in the time of the ancient Egyptians.

IN MUNICH.

Not only in distant and savage lands must we look for strange burial rites, for on the continent of Europe many may be found. In Munich the dead are buried in a sitting posture, and for three days before interment the corpses are "on view " in a semicircular brick building between the southern and the new cemetery. Young girls are attired as brides, whilst others are in their ordinary clothes. To allow of burial in this upright position the coffins are shaped differently from ours.

BESUBRECTION NOTIONS.

The Polish Jews believe that the resurreofcioa will take place in the Holy Land, and therefore all bodies will have to make their way thither before the day of judgment. To, facilitate this task the tl Ohassidim," or ultrapious of Russia and Poland put a fork in the hand of the deceased on interment to enable him to dig through to Palestine before the last day. The Australian aboriginals, in the firm belief that their departed relations and' friends will scratch their way out of their graves and annoy the living, take the precaution of tyingthe corpses' hands together and extract the finger nails.

A PBE^TV CUSTOM.

The Greeks have a pretty funeral custom which is common in some parts of tbe country. They dress their dead in new clothes, especially new shoes, and place be-, neath the head a pillow of sweet-smelling lemon leaves. In the mouth is put a bunco of violets, and around the head (of the unmarried only) rests a wreath of white flowers. Lastly, in the hand they place a small coin, this being a relic of the fee paid to Charon, the grim ferryman of the Slyx, who was supposed to receive this sum for rowing the sonls of the departed across the dismal river towards the fields of Elysium. This practice of placing different articles in the hands of the departed is followed by many nations. Among the Russians a paper certificate of the character of. the deceased, to be shown to

Peter at the gate of heaven, is very often used. The North-American Indians bury the bow and arrows of the deceased beside him, in the believe that the spirit of death is an animal which follows the body to the grayo ; therefore they supply the departed one with his bow to keep this animal at bay. The Chinese sometimes buiy a fan, and somelimes a coin or paper money, in the hand or the deceased. The Japanese employ a com, and this same token is used in some parts of France and Portugal, as well as by several Indian tribes.

LABELLING SKULLS.

The invariable funeral custom among the monks of Mount Athos is of digging up the bodies three years after interment, and the skulls are , then neatly labelled with the names aE their owners and dates of their deaths, and, placed in a crypt of the cemetery church, whilst the other bones are confusedly thrown into a large chest. In the grave out of which' the skeleton has been dug (corpses aie interred colfinless) another body is buried, and so on without ceasing. A custom almost similar prevails in Bulgaria, only the skull and bones, after having been dug up, are laid upon the altar of the church for the priest's blessing, and are then together reburied in a linen bag. IN THE ANTIPODES.

The Andaman Islanders, like their more civilised brothers in Munich, inter their dead in a sitting posture, and after a while, when the flesh is supposed to have deoayed, the corpses are disinterred and the bones given to friends as mementoes of the deceased. Among some of the aboriginal tribes in Australia, when a mother loses her only cbiJd she carries her darling's bone 3 about with her for months. Should a man die, his widow will carry one of his skeleton hands about with her for a considerable period. PLEASANT FOB THE AGED. It is strange to note that the Esquimaux and Fiji Islanders, whose climates and habits are so much at variance, should have ' burial customs closely allied to each other. In both countries the dead are interred in a sitting posture, and the Esquimaux and Fijians who are in the prime of life exercise the delicate attention towards their elderly relatives of burying them alive or strangling them, for in these countries ib is considered cruel to let people live till they become very aged and infirm.

BURIAL FEAST.

Burial in the island of Timor is an expensive matter, as it entails a gift to the deceased from all his kitn and kin, in return for which his widow (or surviving relatives) has to give a burial feast. If the deceased is a man of rank, this banquet oftens means

ruin to his family, for the.higher the rank the more gorgeous the display. Consequently a Timur burial is sometimes postponed for months till enough substance of v/ealth and cattle is gathered for this burial banquet. In the meantime the corpse is enclosed in matting and sheltered by a tree or a hut. At last, when the feast takes place, the body is interred. CREMATION ' AND EMBALMING.

Japan favours cremation more than any other land ; every town in that topsy-turvy country has a crematory, which is under Government inspection. Next to Japan the United States of America have the greatest number of crematories;- in the States, too, the process of embalming by injection of fluid into the arteries is practised, so tbat America employs three forms of disposal of the dead. Burmese priests are embalmed- at the present day even as gorgeously as the ancient Egyptian mummies. The corpses are stuffed with spices and honey, and coated with gold leaf; so the ancient method of embalming, which was so general centuries ago in Egypt and other countries, is not quite obsolete. >

Although the Indians of Alaska have few crematories (if any), they dispose of their dead principally by means of cremation *> The ceremony of setting fire to the corpse, which is laid across a pile of logs, takes place while the relatives of the deceased dance around the flames till all is consumed, then . the ashes are gathered and laid in a box, which, together with other articles of the departed, are placed in one of the houses built for the purpose of holding the ashes of each family. • « .

A CURIOUS SYSTEM. The burial rites in Palma, in the Canary Islands, are indeed unique. The corpse is placed in a hole in the wall, in lieu of a vault, probabl}, where it remains so long as the surviving friends keep up a certain annual payment. Should this ient fall into arrears, the uncoffined remains, with more or lesß flesh about them, are thrown into a pit, and there rest bleaching and decaying beneath the rays of a scorching sun. BUBIALt AT NAPLES.

In the Campo Santo Vecchi Cemetery at Naples are 365 burial pits, one' of which is opened each day in the year, and in it all the interments of the day take place. Bach night a funeral service is performed, and the " pit is filled with earth and lime, not to be reopened till the year after. - A Moslem grave is never reopened, and after every burial a cypress is usually planted.

TOWJSB OF SILENCE.

In Thibet the corpse is literally thrown into the lakes, or exposed on the hilltops for eagles and other birds of prey. A Parsee "Da Hamas," or " Tower of Silence,'' as it is styled, is a familiar sight in India. It is a round tower of masonry, on the summit of which is an iron grating; across this is laid the body of the deceased, where it remains a continual feast for the vultures for about a month, when tha bones fall through the grating, and are deposited in open pits containing the dust of many generations.

CAIBNS.

The Indian tribes of Oonlaska and Nootka Sound in North America bury their dead on the hill tops, and expect every passer-by to add a stone to the mound on the grave. This custom resembles one in use in Pritain in bygone years, when "cairnp," or artificial heaps of unhewn stones formed a cove-ing to some burial vaults. Some of these whsm dug up were found to contain both burnt and nnburnt remains. Ihere is an oii* Gaelic proverb, "Ourridh mi clach ad oharn" (I will add a stone to your cairn), and in the North-west Highlands it is still the oußtom to ereot cairns oretones at the halting plaofls on the jownf y to the oeuwtery

to which passers-by are supposed to add a stone.

A HORRIBLE CUSTOM.

The most peculiar and repellent burial custom imaginable is practised among the natives of Brazil. The corpse is buried and disinterred after about a .month, by which time naturally it becomes much decomposed. It is then put into a pan over the fire, the heat drawing off the volatile parts, and leaving a carbonaceous mass. This is ground to a fine powder, and, after having been mixed with "caxiri," ia drunk by relatives and friends, who hope by imbibing this awful decoction to gain the virtues of the deceased.

The mortuary customs of the- North American Indians— the Tokotins of Oregon — with regard to widows are horrible. The widow is obliged to He beside her dead husband for nine days, from sunset till sunrise, no matter what the time of the year may bo. On the tenth day the body is burned, and the widow must lie beside it until the doctor gives orders for her to be removed. If at any time duringjier life she has neglected her husband, bis friends now punish her by throwing her .back on the pile as fast as her friends drag her forth. After perusing these various modes of burial, it would be strange indeed if we did not arrive at the conclusion that the British mode of interment is by no means the worst. — J. E. L. G.