Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1883-07-11

rection of the hydrant, the "band"
meanwhile doing their best with the
toms-toms apd that close imitation of
the Scotch bagpipe, the Chinese pipe.
Arrived at the hydrant, the party knelt
around that useful apparatus; the
musicians" redoubled their cxertions,
and the priest his prayers; more incense
was burned, and q tremendous burst OF
wailing and lamentation went up from
the mourners. While these perform
ances were in operation, the youth TO
whom have just referred drew, with
requisite prostrations and solemnity, a
basin of water from the hydrant, and
then scattered few coins on the ground
by way of payment. 1t is essential in
this ceremony that the water should be
paid for. The procession thereafter re-
turned to the house, where doubtless
the body of the deceased was washed by
the boy, in compliance with the custom
of his country.
After the body of the deceased is
washed in this manner, it is dressed in
the best clothes which belonged to the
man in his lifetime, u hat being placed
on his head, fan in his hand, and shoes
on his feet, the idea being that he will
be clothed in these habiliments in
Elysium, and consequently that he must
appear there as q respectable and
superior member of society. At inter-
walls during these and subsequent cere-
monies, gilt and silvered paper in the
shape of coin and sycee bars is burned,
in the belief that il will also pass into
the invisible world, where it will be re-
coined into solid cash; and clothes,
sedan-chairs, furniture, buffaloes and
horses, made of paper, are transferred
on the same principle to tho "bctter
land' for the benefit of the dead.
The body was now brought through
the window and placed in the coffin on
the stage at the top of the temporary
wooden structure. 1t is the practice
with the richer Chinese to keep the
conined bodies of their relatives in their
houses for long periods, sometimes for
years. This custom was not followed
on this occasion, for the funeral took
place Immediately after the ceremony
of "buying the water" Large sums of
money are expended on collins blythe
"celestials," and dutiful son will see
that his parents are provided with these
melancholy receptacles sometimes many
years before their death. They arc
made of heavy boards four or five inches
in thickness, and rounded at the outer
joints, and appear to invariably take
the form, in this colony, of the polished
trunk of tree. Inside, they appear to
be lined with sort of mortar; the joints
are all carefully closed with a similar
substance, but small hole is drilled
through the coffin over the face of the
deceased so us to leave u channel of es-
cape and entrance for the spirits.
1t was work of some difficulty to
bring the coflined body down the steep
footway from the window to the road;
but the task was finally accomplished
without mishap, amidst the renewed
wailings of the mourning-women, the
shrieks of the pipe, and the bclaboring
of the tom-toms. Awaiting the arrival
of the coffin in the street were some
twenty claboratcly carved and lavishly
gilded sedan-chairs, constructed es-
pecially for use on such occasions
These chairs contained meats, fruits and
cakes-real and artficial-in profusion.
Among other articles displayed were
two eXcellently cooked sucking-pigs
Two or three altar-pieces, emblazoned
with the name and age of the DECEASED,
were also carried in the procession;
also banners, the deceased's tablet and
photograph, and other articlcs-the
bearers all being dressed more or less in
mourning costume. Before the pro-
cession started for the battle-ground at
Mount Davis, there was more wailing,
more incense burned, more shrieks from
the "gusty pipe" and more prayers
from the priest. One of the last acts of
the mouIners was to walk round the
coffin; and then the procession moved
off, the coffin taking the last place in
the cortege
AT Mount Davis the body was con-
signed to the earth with much lamenta-
ton, incense-burning and prayer. There
was, however, apparently but little diff
ference between the ceremonies engaged
in ut the grave, SO far rs the priest, the
mourners, and especially. the ''musi-
clans" were concerned, and those earlier
in the day. The deceaseds tablet is
carried back in procession to the house,
and there set up in room specially re-
served for such purposes, with other
tablets of the family Before these
tablets, incense is daily burned and
prayers offered. The food carried in
the procession is, we believe, commonly
distributed among the poor; sometimes,
however, a portion of it is consumed in
the house.
The burial places are sometimes Sc
lected by necromancers; and if the fam
lily be rich, this selection is often made
a matter of considerable difficulty and
expense. A good view for the entombed
spirit is one of the chief requirements
for grave. The side of hill, over
looking water, a copse, or n ravine near
a hill top, are highly favored spots.
About the 9th of April in each year, the
population of the country may be seen
troopng out to their tombs to repair
and sweep them and make offerings.
A Chinese tomb i'm the south of China
seems invariably, so far as the outline
on the ground is concerned, to take the
form of the Greek letter Omega; and
when raised to any height, il usually
much resembles huge armchair with a
round back, the coffin being placed in