The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1885-10-21
Sicilian Fuueral Customs.

In past ages piece of money was put
into the mouth of the corpse-a survival
of the fare which Charon was bound to
receive. A virgin has palm branch
and a crown in her colin; child gar
land of flowers. 1t is the worst possible
omen for bridal procession to meet a
funeral 1t has to be averted by making
the "horns"-or "le tichc" (thrusting the
thumb between the first two fngers), or
by putting promegranate before the
door or in the window. At Piano de-
Greci certain little loaves or bread cakes
in the form of cross are given to the
poor on the day of death. In Glacoss,
behind the funeral procession comes an
ass laden with food, which, after the
burial, is distributed either here in the
open or under cover in some house. The
Sicilian-Albanians do not sit on chairs
during the first days of mourning, but on
; the dead mans mattress. In some houses
all is thrown into intentional confusion
turned upside down to mark the pres
ence of death. Others put out the
mattress to show that the invalid
is dead; others again rcmake the
bed as for marriage, placing on
it the cruci6x which the sick man had held
in his hand when dying. Woe to those
who let the caudle 60 out while burning
at the foot of the bed On the first day
of mourning there is only one of these
corpse lights: on the second day two;
on the third three Men and women sit
round-the men covered up in their
coaks with black ribbon around their
throats-the women with their. black
mantlcs drawn closely over the head,
all in deep mourning. For the first nine
days, friends, also in strict deep mourn
ing, throng the house to pay their formal
visits Of coincidence. The mourners do
not speak nor look up, but sit there like
statues, and talk of the dead in solemn
phrases and with bated breath, but en-
tering into the minute and sometimes
most immodest details. The mourning
lasts one or two years for parents, hus-
band or wife, and brothers and sisters;
six months for grandparents and uncles
and aunts; three months for cousin.
Babies are buried in white with red
ribbon as sash, or disposed over the body
in the form of n cross. They lie in
basket on the table, with wax candles set
around, and their faces are covered with
fine veil. They are covered with
! flowers, and on the little head is also
garland of flowers. No one must weep
for the death of m infant. It would be
an oifense against God, who had COM
passion on the little creature and took it
| to make of it an angel in Paradise before
it had learned to sin. The announce
ment of its death is received with a cry
of "Glory and Paradise!' and in some
places the joy:bells are rung as for q
fiesta. When taken to the Campo San
to, it is accompanied with music and
singing.
The soul of the dead is to be seen as
butterfly, dove, an angel. The soul OF
a murdered man hovers about the cross
raised to his memory on the place of his
murder; the soul of one righteously
executed BY the law remains on earth to
frighten the timid the soul of the sui
eide goes plump to hell, "casaldiavolo,"
unless the poor wretch repents at the
supreme moment. Judas is condemned
to hover always over the ''tamarix CALI.
Ca" on which he hanged himself, and
which still bears his name; children 60
to the stars; while certain women be-
lieve that their souls will 90 up the
"stairs of st. Japicu di Galizia," which
plain people call the Milky Way.-Tem-
| Dle Bar,