The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1884-03-13
Chinese Funerals.

Of ali the multifarious ceremonies
and proprieties which regulate the
social intercourse and daily life of the
Chinese, there is lone so scrupulously
performed as the obsequies of their
higher relatives. The infant may be
laid in some corner to gasp away its
little life and finally wrapped in mating
and be dropped into the river or buried
like a dog in the back garden, but
great is the pomp and interminable are
the ceremonies consequent upon the
decease of one who has lived long
enough to rear a son. If that son is
poor he will pawn his personal effects,
stint himself of food, borrow money at
eXorbitant rates of interest, and if there
is no other security he will pawn a
wife, a child, or even sell his own body
as a slave so as to raise sufficient money
to defray the cost of his parents
funeral. Confucian tracts call this by the
name of filial piety, though everybody
knows that in the majority of cases the
underlying motive is a self-interest born
of the most debasing superstition. The
man believes that the least omission of
the orthodox funeral rites will bring the
most terrible calamities upon him and
his posterity; that he will be haunted
until the last moment of his life by the
unhappy ghost of his departed sire, or
in fancy hear the angry voice of his
neglected parent pouring curses upoll
his head wherever he goes. He ac-
cordingly observes every minute custom
in order to avert these evils and give
repose to the spirit of the dead.
Let us suppose the last hour has come
and 'sthe venerable one," whom a score
of doctors have tried in vain to cure, is
lying IN drticaio morris, with his feet
toward the door, ready for his last exit.
His best robes, hat and shoes are
brought out, for all these articles will
be needed when he crosses the chill
border-land of the other world. A
piece or two of silver is put into the
dying mans mouth, for this, too, will
be needed to pay Charon, the grim fer
ryman. These preliminaries occasionno
look of dismay, but rather a smile that
such loving provision is made for his
long journey. When the last gasps
come that usher death, the eldest son
approaches and closes his fathers eyes,
or perhaps orders the opening of a hole
in the roof to facilitate the departure of
the three spirits of the dying man.
Life is hardly extinct before the eldest
son or nearest relative issues forth tn
buy water, escorted by musicians. He
carries a bowl to the nearest river OK
well, where he deposits a few cash foe
the water dragon. With this so-called
purchased water he proceeds to wash
the corpse, and then decks it in the
costliest and 'gayest clothes ever worH
in life. Buddhist or Taoist priests, robert
in their colored cassocks and chasuble@
of brocaded silk, are called in to chant
the prescribed ~litanies, to break open
purgatory, to cast the dead mans horcs
scope, to say what form, whether II
man or beast or bird, the dead man as :
sumes in another world; to facilitate
his migration to happier realms,
procure him a passport to the Western
Paradise. At the door of the house is
erected an awning, hung with blue
lanterns and streamers of blue and
white paper, the outward manifesto
tioEs to passers-byo of a house of mourn
ing and death. Inside the house pre-
parations are made for coffining the
corpse. Meats and cakes are piled upon
the table, and lamps, incense and
candles are lighted around the dead.
A Chinese coffin resembles the trunk
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hardest wood procurable. So expen-
sive are these collins that the wood for
one will sometimes cost as much as
$4,000, and no coolie would think OF
paying less than 800 for his fathers
case. One of the most appropriate
presents for a father sixty years of age
ses the aged one in wordswhich may be
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want you. to die, but your boxis ready
receives the gift with unbounded graft
tube, discourses upon its merits to
every visitor, proud to possess such a
coffin, therefore, is usually near at hand.
removed to the coffin by hired attend
ants, while others proceed to beat the
floor to terrify evil spirits from the
chamber of death. A coronet of gold
or silver, bracelets, earrings, chains,
watches and other ornaments of gold,
silver and jade are put upon the body,
according to the rank and sex of the
deceased. With q fan in one hand anI
a written prayer in the other, the corps
is now ready for the world of shade,
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white silken shroud or ~coverlets pre-
scented by relatives and friends, thos
not used being committed to the flame.
through which they are said to pass tc
the world below. The nearest relative
then presents the nails to the under
taker and holds the coffin while it il
nailed down and Theoretically sealed
At a given signal the. lamentation:
begin, hired mourners, mostly women
lift up their voices, wailing ant
bowling till they are nearly
hoarse, the amount of tears shed b.
different relatives being limited b,
strict regulations. The hollowness o
the whole performance is seen wher
some newcomer arrives. In a momen
tears will turn to smiles, accompanied
by a half audible litter as they ex
change compliments. Having takel
, breath, there m another weep-up
more vigorously than before.
After the corpse has been nailed
down it is placed near the ancestra
altar, where stand the portrait of tn
deceased and a tablet bearing his name
Offerings of food and drink, a pair o
chopsticks and sometimes an opium
pipe, accor ling to the tastes of the de
ceased during his lifetime, are place.
{ OF the altar for the entertainment o
the lingering ghost. Banners inscribed
with glowing tributes to the memor.
! ! of the departed e the altar an
: candles, lamps and incense fill the roon
. with light and fragrant fumes day an
night. The relatives now stand roun'
or PROSTATE themselves before tn
! coffin. An attendant proclaims alou'
the virtues of the deceased, to which tn
company responds with loud wailings
. For seven weeks they must sacrific
morning and evening before the ~coffine'
S dead, Offering portions of food to propi
tiate the wandering ghost. Occasion
: ally they issue forth into the street
where they kneel upon the ground op
posite the house with loud demonstra
/ tons of grief-San Francisco Chronicle