The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1877-10-27
Corsican Funeral Rites.
From The Co,WhW ltuyd2inc.
". W. WOODWARD.

From The Con,hW lhtyasinc
In Corsica, wailing is kept up
from the hour of death to the hour
of burial. The news that the head
of Il family hhs expired is quickly
communicated and the relatives and
friends form in Il troop OF band
and advance i'll procession toward
the house of mourning. If the
death was caused by violence, the
scirrata makes halt when it
arrives in sight of the village, and
then it is that the Corsican women
tear their hair ana scratch their
faces till the blood flows. just as do
their sisters in Dalmatia and
Montenegro. The widow awaits
the scirratn by the door of her
house, and as it draws near the
leador steps forth and throws q
black veil over her head to sym-
boliZe her widowhood the term Of
which must offer a dreary prospect
to woman who has tho misfortune
to lose her husband whilo sic is
still i'll the primo of life, for public
opinion insists that she remain for
years in almost total scclusion.
The mourncrs and rs many us can
enter the room assemble round the
body, which lies on table or plank
supported by benches: it is drapcd
in Il long mantle, or it is clothed in
tho dead mans best suit. Now
begins the tirgo, or Voccro. Two
persons will perhaps start off sing
ing together, and in that case the
words cannot be distinguished; but
more often only one gets up at Il
time. She will open her song with
Il quietly delivered culogy of the
virtues Of tho dead, and a few
pointed illusions to the most im>
portant events of his life but
before long she warns to hcr work,
and pours forth volleys of Rhythmic
lamentation with fire and anilna-
ton that stir up the women present
into frenzied delirium Of GricG, in
which, rs the prscfca pauSes 10
take breath, they howl, dig theiy
nails into their flesh, throw thon,~
selves OH the ground, and some
times cover their heads wi,j ashes.
Whom tho dirge is endcd they JON
hands and dance frantira!ir yound
the plank on which tho hydr bcs
Moro singing takes pta&n On The
way to the grave yard. After tno
funeral the men do not shave for
weeks, and the women lei .ncir hair
60 loose and occasionally cut X eff
at the grarc--cutting oil the hair
being, by the way, Il universal sign
of female. mourning; it was done
by tho women of ancient Greece,
and it is done by the women of
India. A good deal of eating and
drinking brings the cerenlonials to
a close. If the bill of fare comes
short of that recorded of the funeral
feast of Sir John Pastor, of Barton,
when 1,300 eggs, IL pigs, DO calves,
and 10 nete were but few of the
items-nevertheless tho Corsican
baked meats fall heavily upon tho
pockets Of such families as deem
themselves compelled to 'keop mp
position" Sixty persons is not an
extraordinary number to be enter
tanned at the banquet, and there is,
over and above, general dis.
tribution of bread and meat to
poorer neighbors. Mutton in
summer and pork in winter are
esteemed the viands proper t. the
occasion. In happy contrast to all
this lugubrious feasting is the
simple cup of milk drunk by each
kinsman of tho shepherd who dies
in the mountains; in which case
his body is laid out, like Robin
| Hoods, in tho open cir, green sod
under his head, his loius begirt with