Smyrna times., 1872-03-27
Burial Customs,

| ON'ASSO IIlIleS Vi which hOuo
any record men of nearly all races have bonnroS
Inelr dead In the disposition of their hnd;na
L ne MODES have been various as mannors '',.i
circumstances have differed; but bnriaI =, .I,1
earth' the return of the body to the dnst fn [lle
whlch IL came, has always been the nraotinn ~ ~
1ne majority OF mankind. The earliest rocorJ
we nave OF this or any other funeral rite iI
SEeu Ill the twenty-third chapted of Genes;S
"ncIe we are told how Abraham buried Sarah
~ ~ Tue cave IN the land of Canaan. and how
the owner Of the cave made if over - Shn SIu no"
as ms own, and so we may safely ASSUME t%at ~
9urlal was the earliest mode DracticnI in tbo
disposition of the dead. O'''0'' |" ''le
In some countries it has been tho ,roo.;oo
W preserve some portion of the loved one Snob
sHueu skull, as a memento. inst as ,vo
~ 1eCter taste, lay lock of hair awav 70 h.,
looked at IN after years. Out of the SAM d;S '
PosItioh' perhaps, came the practice Of om
ior the preservation of the whole body
r Ipraclce which has never been common ont
osoon.i ppei ISypC' PROBABLY because of the now
dsGertalhed fact that there are pecnliar;ties of
sou and climate that make embalm;na oS go. VI
enete than 1t ever can be in aDv other nort oi
the world. " ""V o'her part OF
T., "A more refined and poetic people. with .
IKE impulse, adopted the plan of hnrp;n,r ,b =
o9uy ana gathering the ashes into An nm
wherc they could be kept in due honor This
Rractlce was common in Greece. in Nortbarn
EUROPE ana IN Etruria even before that tconntrv
became Roman. '-"U 0ou"'ry
In some parts of Europe whole bodies have
been inurned, though bv whom ond 20 udve o
precise period of time this w1s domn ,uo ,1n %ma'
no means OF knowing The nearest annroacb
we nave to Information in regard to The or;,,;r
" tnls system OF sepulture lies in the fact that
alCer the tall or Sebastopol, British officers
found remains of such ntermentS in rho Ill,
0I the Scamander, on the ground which ~
%h 9%ShSlegGrs OF Troy are suppose to have occunied
ihe Dahlsh antlquarles tell Us that during
tneir STONE age, when the art of working metals
was "hoily unknown, all bodies were entombed
Ia 10 chambers or stone, and that burning with
the lnurnlng Of ashes came in with the uso nf
bronze 'N 'no use VI
!. C0stly monuments are the work of no mar
Cicular age OF people. The Pyramids Of Egvnt
were PROBABLY the tOmbS of KINGS and ,ro
certainly the most durable of all senulchers
put puC there Is strong probability that they are
out an improvement upon the older tunnli Of
earth found all over Northern Eur1ne And
oenef parts OF the world, of which the greatest
STPecllneh T IS the Irish tumulus at New Grange.
Ihese belng built of earth, are necessarily
pyramldal in form, and from these oIder
monuments DOUBTLESS, the stone pyramids
borrowed their shape.
Much of our information in raoord % H.
manners, customs, dress, and history If mast
ayes mas been dug from the graves wherein
superstition led the living to place articles of ali
KINDS tor the use of depIrted spirits. and go
ignorance itself has been made tribntarv 70
our later stores Of knowledge.
India has furnished us much that is cur;ors
on TINS as other subjects of the kind and onr
chlidrens literature is full of the curious ems.
.I .In'S anu ouu 3el'ets IN regard to death and
the disposal of dead bodies The suttee widow
In.nNS IL privilege as well as duty to be
burned on her dead husbands funeral r,,ro D'
Finding belief prevalent that the sonl rot;rns
20 the 6ody after death, AMI that during it's So
Jourh there the angels come to lge il and to
carry 1t to It's heavenly homo, the EnpIisb
adth0rltles have given an additional st;ng :,
the death penalty in India by ordering rho
Dodles OF the criminals to be mn.il,ted or
burned, SO that the souls can not return m
' cneul' ana SO are necessarily lost because the
a1geis can not mud them, 1t may be doubted
wneCner human government has a right to
inlet punishment after death Ibn novt
world Is beyond the jurisdiction of the indie
Even ln England We find the remains of
somewhat similar superstition in the law as Il
Is TO day. Until the time Of George the FoTrtb
custom required that suicides should he huriad
al ihluhight' at crossing Of roads. and that
stake should be driven through their bodies
statute passed in the fourth wear of that
klng relgn' however, forbade this practice,
out directed that suicides should be buried
prtTdtely and at night, bet,ocen the hours of
m'ght G"d ttoel0e, AMI such the law of EpgIan
remains to this day. '''''
Few people, probably, know how burial in
churchyards came into use, and vet the custom
Is one that has grown regularly out of
Kind OF religious superstition. In the old
omaStc Zines, when the relics of holy people
were deemed themselves holy and supposed to
possess miraculous powers, it was the custom,
when church was dedicated to saint 70
gather his remains, or whatever was supDosed
10 De such, tor lnterment within the chancel-
rdll' just before the altar and in the hone of
securing the benefit of the miraculous mowers
attributed to everything connected with the
saints, other people sought the privilege of
puryihg thelr DEAD as near the sanity grave as
possible; and thus the practice of burying
ooules uDder the stone floors Of churches be-
came general. The limited space within the
walls, however, soon made an extension TO the
churcnyard necessary, and thus from this old
superEtltIOn came the custom, still somewhat
common, OF surrounding churches with sepu-
chers. PN-
The peculiar situation of New Orleans
Loulslan1, on low aluvial plain, where water
Is Always found very near the surface of the
ground mas made 1T necessary for the people
there to devise some mode of burial different
from that In common use, and accordingly their
cemeteries have been constructed above ground,
as seen in our illustration (page 249), and these
form one of the places of in crest first visited
Dy strangers IN the singular city of the South,
where nothing is at all like what we see else
where IN America La these odd structures
each compartment is designed to hold a BODY,
and they are arranged with especial reference
TO sanitary laws, since the Health Board pro.
noqnced their presence detrimental to health.
Hearth and Home.