The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1874-06-13
3oefrg.
BLESSEDNESS.
2Wiscellaneous.
Funeral Ceremonies Of TdriOUS Na-
tjOnS.

tiOnS.
The funeral ceremonies Of the Norwegians
contain vestiges of former Paganism. They
play Oh the violin at the head OF the coffin, and
also whilst The corpse is conveyed to the church I,
which is often done in a boat. In several dis
tricts it is customary to put d number OF ques-
tions to the deceased ; as, why he died wheth
er his wife and neighbors were kind to him
at the same time the mourners implorc forgive
ness, if at any time they have in ured or Of
Tended him.
When a Lap plander is supposed to be approach
ing the close of life, his friends exhort iiim to
die in the Christian faith but they unwil-
ling to attend him in his last moments. AS
soon as he expires even his nearest kindred
flee from the place with the utT ost precipita-
ton, from belief that the spirit remains in or
about the corpse, and delights in doing mis-
chief to the living. The sepulchrc consists of
an old sledge, turned bottom upward, over the
spot where the body is buried. An ak and a
| tinder-box are placed by the side OF mans
corpse, and scissors and needles by that OF
woman, from a superstition that they will be
useful to them in the other world. From be-
lief that the felicity of the future state consists
| in eating, drinking brandy, smoking, etc, they
| for the first three years alter the decease OF a
friend or relation, dig holes from time to
time by the side of the grave, and deposit
therein a small quantity of tobacco, or what
y
The funeral ceremonies especially in the dis
tant prov nces of Russia, embrace some peculiar
customs. Soon after II person expires the body
is dressed in his usual clothes and laid in a cof
fin, with luncheon of bread, pair of shoes
/ and few pieces Of money, and IL priest is hired
to pray for the soul, TO purify the body with in
cense, and to sprinkle it occasionally with holy
water, till the time OF interment. When it is
carried to the grave the priest produces tick
ct, signed by the bishop and another clergy
man, and directed to ST. Nicholas This is
sidered as the passport to heaven, and is placed
between the fingers of the deceased. The body
is then lowered into the grave, and the attend
ants return to the house whence the funeral
proceeded, to drown their sorrow in intoXica-
ting liquor. The funeral festivities are contin
ued with very little interruption for the space
of forty days.
Grecian funeral is attended by the nearest
relatives and friends of the deceased the wo-
men with their hair dishevelled, and weeping:
they cry, indeed, from the moment the death
occurs, and refuse both nourishment and sleep
till nature is completely exhausted. When
young unmarried woman dies, the body is dress
ed in the richest habits, the head is crowned
with roses and the women throw roses and
scatter perfumed water on the bier, as it passes
through the streets.
The Mohammedan Circassians bury their
dead with the face toward Mecca, and the n,ool-
lah, or priest reads some passages from the Ko-
ran at the funeral, for which he is usually re-
warded with the best horse Of the deceased
The most valuable effects were formerly buried
with the body but now his common clothes only
are buried. Black is worn for a twelve month,
except for such as are slain in battle with the
Russians, whose spirits are believed to pass
Immediately into paradise; so great is the mer
it deemed of opposition to that nation, which
they utterly abhor. When the head of fam
lily dies, the surviving widow expresses her af-
Fiction by scratching her face and bosom till
the blood issues and the men strike their faces
with whip till they produce black spots,
which they exhibit for some time afterward.
The eXpiation of a Brahmin, when on his
death bed, is attended with many ceremonies,
some of which to Europeans cannot but appear
absurd. Such is the practice Of laying the dy-
ing man upon consecrated spot OF earth, from
belief that if he should expire on bed or
mattress, he must carry it with him in all his
peregrinations in the invisible world. COW
is introduced to him with her horns decorated
with rings Of gold and brass, her neck with
chaplets of flowers, and her body covered with
fine cloth the sick man takes hold of her
tail, while prayers are chanted, of which the
petition is that the COW may conduct him by
blessed path to the next world. AS soon as the
sick man has expired abluton and offerings
are practiced by his friends, by way of purif
cation. At the place set apart for burning the
dead, offerings are again made, and several dis
gusting ceremonies are performed before the
torch is applied to the funeral pile. The hor-
rid practice of widows burning themselves,
with the bodies of their deceased husbands, is
still practiced, though with less frequency than
formerly.
When prince, or great man dies, in Japan,
ten, twenty or more youths OF his household,
and such as were his greatest favorites, put
themselves to voluntary death, at the place
of interment, or burning. The funeral pile
consists of odoriferous woods, gums, spices,
oils, and other com mbustibles; as it is
lighted, the relations and friends of the de-
ceased throw their offerings Of clothes, arms,
food, money, herbs and flowers into the flames,
imagining they will be of use to him in the
other world The mausolea, in which the ashes
of the great are deposited are generally very
magn fcent, and situated at some distance from
the towns. The middle and lower orders of the
people bury their dead, with no other ceremo-
ny than that of burning some odoriferous woods
and gums. Periodical visits paid to the
tombs, and festivals are held in honor of the
dead.
When a native of Guinea lin Africa) expires
his wives and relatives smear themselves with
a white chalky substance, shave their heads,
and, equipped in old garments, run about the
streets, or country, making hideous bowling,
and incessantly repeating the name of the de-
ceased. The body, splendidly dressed, is placed
in the coffir, with the finest corals and other
valuable articles, which it is supposed he will
have occasion for in the invisible world, togeth-
er with his fetishes. The funerals of their
kings are attended with human sacrifices.
In Ashantee when person of consequence
dies, one or two slaves are Immediately sacri
feed at the door of the house, and others are
afterward inundated at the funeral. The death
is announced by the firing Of musketry, and
large quantities of powder are subsequently
spent in the same way. On the death of a
King, among other barbarities, the brothers,
sons, and nephews, of the deceased monarch,
affecting temporary insanity, burst forth among
the crowd and fire muskets promiscuously; if
they meet even man of rank he becomes their
victim. The scene of carnage is truly horri-
BILE.