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Taranaki Daily News, 12 June 1926, Page 18

A GAY FUNERAL. Dancing girls, . wjth castanets, musicians, and revellers in fancy dress, all took part in the funeral, of an 80-year-old widow in the commune of Castalia, Spain, where some amazing scenes were witnessed. According to the Alicante correspondent of El Sol, when the woman realised that she was about to die, she chose her own funeral wreaths, called for an orchestra, and finally summoned a number of peasants who, on account of a local fete, were parading the town in old Spanish and Moorish costumes, as well as several gay young girls playlag castanets, and asked them to accompany her funeral to the cemetery so that it might be as “joyous” as possible. When the octogenarian died, the programme which she had drawn up was rigorously adhered to, the young people dancing in the .cemetery while the musicians played the liveliest tunes. When the ceremony was over, this extraordinary funeral cortege returned to the dead woman’s house, where all the wine in her cellar - was set before them with the request that they should finish it up.