ABOUT SPANISH FUNERALS. Some Curious Ceremonies.

Otago Witness, Issue 2326, 29 September 1898, Page 49

ABOUT SPANISH FUNERALS. Some Curious Ceremonies.

In many parts of Spain the death ceremonies are peculiar. The corpse is elaborately dressed in its best, and has its hair beautifully done and a pair of new boots put on its feet. It is then got rid of as soon as possible, and all the furniture in the room is taken out and sold or given away. Everything that can remind the family of the deceased is removed. A notice of the death is not only inserted in the newspapers, but in some cases placarded on the walls ; and you are requested to go to such and such a church on such an.l such a day, when a mass will be said for the repose of the dead person's soul. Among the poor there is a very free-and-easy way of getting their dead buried. One day, outside a great cemetery. I came upon 3 common coffins lying on the ground near the gate. Seeing that the coffins were occupied, I started back in horror, and asked what, in Heaven's name, such an exhibition meant. " Oh," said my Spanish friend, " they are very poor people, who cannot afford to be buried yet. There is a little fee to be paid. Someone will come by presently and pay for the coffins to be put away as an act of charity." Unburied coffins are bad enough, but what do you think of dead children hung up outside the cemetery gates, waiting for some kind soul to pay for them to bo put into the earth? The sight is not uncommon in the south of Spain, where every form and shape of beggary is rampant. Sometimes the friend of a, small corpse, instead of asking charity, will smuggle it into the cemetery hidden under a cloak and, when no one is looking, drop it into one of the big square graves I have told you about, and kick a little loose earth over it. There are plenty of uncoffined dead under the loose earth in the great cemetery of Seville. Buriala alive are far more oommon in hot

countries, where the burial takes place witbu in 24 hours after death, than they are in England, where one gets, as a rule, a weeks grace. In Spain the body is frequently removed to the undertaker's shop a few hours after death. In one of the lai'gest of these establishments in Madrid, somo years ago, an extraordinary sight was witnessed. A gentleman was brought in his " casket " one afternoon and placed in the room set apart for that branch of the business. The proprietor lived over his premises, and on this especial evening was giving a grand ball. Vv hen the ball was at its height, a gentleman in full evening dress suddenly joined the company. He danced with the wife of the undertaker, and he danced with the undertaker's daughter, and seemed to be thoroughly enjoying himself. The undertaker thought he knew his face, bat did not like to be rude and ask him his name ; but by-and-by all the guests departed, and the strange gentleman was the only one left. " Shall I send for a cab for you?* 1 sai.l the host at last. " No, thank you," replied the gentleman; "I'm staying in the house." " Staying in the house!" exclaimed the undertaker ; " who are you, sir?" "What don't you know me? I'm the corpse that was brought in this afternoon." The undertaker, horrified, rushed into the mortuary room and found the coffin empty. His wife and daughter had been dancing with a corose. An explanation, of course, followed. The gentleman, who had only been in a trance, had suddenly recovered, and hearing music and revelry above, and haviug a keen sense of humour, had got oub of his cofKn (the Spanish coffin closes with a lid, which is only locked just previous to interment) and joined the festive party. He was quite presentable, as in Spain the dead are generally buried in full evening dress. Writing about funerals in Spain reminds me of a curious ceremony in connection with the burial of Spanish kings. The Pantheon in the Escorial is their last home. Here they lie in splendid marble sarcophagi in great niches, a.nd yon can walk about and see them all. Alphonso's sarcophagus is empty as yet. The late king's body lies on a table in an adjoining vchamber — a chamber called El Pudridero, which is really a place where the royal bodies are left to undergo the natural process of decay which at last fits them to be placed in the ornamental arrangement in the Pantheon. The ceremony to which I referred above took place at the late Icing's funeral The body was brought in great state from Madrid to the Escorial, a distance of 30 miles. The ',' intendant " of the royal palace was in charge of it. When the procession reached that gate of the Escorial which is only opened to admit a dead sovereign, the procession halted. The "intendant" then went to the coffin and opened it, and exclaimed in a loud voice, " Don Alfonso !"' then again still louder, " Don Alfonso !'* and again " Don Alfonso !" He then turned to the officials and said, " Don Alfonso does not answer ; he is dead !" The coffin v/a-s locked again, and the King passed on to his last home — From lt Dagonet Abroad."