Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1885-11-14
A MEXICAN FUNERAL.
CHASTITY SCENES IN THE CHAR
MEL YARD.
Rented Graves and Borrowed Collins
Neither Wife, Mother nor Sister
Allowed at the Funeral.

fSpecial Correspondence of the RECORD UNION
MEXICO, November 6, 1885.
The days of "All Saints" and "All
Souls" through which we have just been
passing, are the saddest of the year to re-
ligious Mexico-and that means everybody
of Latin blood within her borders. In our
own older Republic few church ceremo-
malls, unless it may be those of Christmas
and Easter, call for special observance
from the people at large; but in Mexico,
notwithstanding the new epoch in
which the State, instead of the Church, is
supposed to rule-the latter is still the all
prevailing power. The "holy days" in her
calendar out-number the days of the year;
but among them all none touches the pub
lie heart so deeply as those two days de-
devoted to the dead. BLACK Friday -
commemorative of the crucifixion-is sad
enough, for on that day no sound of wheel
or hammer or human labor is
heard, no carts or carriages are permitted
on the streets, and the whole nation,
dressed in black, goes to church to mourn
with the virgin mother. But that far
away tragedy, with nearly nineteen hun
dred years between, does not come home
to all hearts like the
COMMON SORROW OF EVERY HOUSEHOLD
For death is alike tragedy in palace or
hotel, in the home Of the highest Don, or
in the family of the untutored Indian, who
has only mother earth for a bed and the
blue sky for a covering.
On All Saints day, Immediately after
early mass, the people crowd the cemete-
ries, and it is about the only day in all the
year when the cities of the dead are ever
visited. except by Sightseeing tourists.
But this day, solemn though it be- is more
especially devoted to the remembrance of
those who died in other years, the saints
and martyrs, and GLORIOUS army of Just
men made perfect" who are supposed to
have safely passed the pains of purgatory
and long since become acclimated to the
atmosphere of heaven.
On All Souls day people pray in the
churches, each for his own dead and every
family in the land, high and low, rich and
poor, sends lamenting Rachels for true in
deed il is that
There is no iock however watched and tended,
But some dead lamb is there.
Cathedral scenes on that day are long to
be remembered. For hours the bells tolled
dsmally and the streets were filled with
mourning figures, with black shawls or
rebosas covering their faces, silently wend-
ing their way to the place of prayer. In
the center of each darkened church, the
black paled funeral dias was erected, with
its Pickering candles and grim suggestions
The affairs were draped with Grape the
usual gaudy paper roses replaced by black
ones, and sombre banners bore lin SPANISH
the words,
REMINDER THE DEAD"
The kneeling crowd, all with devout
faces tured toward the cross-the symbol of
their hope-repeated their prayers SO earn
estly that the united muImur sounded like
the distant roaring OF the sea. They were
mostly of that sex who are first at the
cross and last at the tomb" and il was easy
to read in the upturned countenances
whose sorrows were freshest. There were
orphaned children, the widow in her weeds,
the white-haired mother bereft of sons and
daughters-every face had its history. And
itdid not detract from the solemnity of the
occasion to know tnar the floor of the
sanctuary in which we kuelt was sue
cession Of trap-dOors. covering vaults filed
to the brim with bones of two centuries
dead.
A Mexican funeral is very different
from the same sad ceremony in the United
States, tor here all that is ghastly is
brought to the front, and every cheering
suggestion carefully excluded. Apparently
these people mean to enjoy the luxury of
grief" to the full, and decline to be robbed
of a single pang. Here no floral tributes
are sent by sympathizing friends-no pill
lows of white carnations with Rest !" in
purple immortelles, nor crosses and anchors
of spotless lilies, and the dear departed are
not laid away in beds of roses with white
blossoms upon their bosoms. If flowers
are used at all, they are generally the most
gaudy of artificials, with leaves and stream
ers of gilt paper-precisely like those fast
ened to iron hooks which are thrust into
the bulls hide at the Sunday dirertissemert
of the Plaza de Torres. / have seen a
bunch of these monsrosities as big as a
cabbage in the waXen hands of dead baby,
and a wreath of bloOd-red roses browning
the gray head of an old man-which gave
the poor corpse rakish air most comically
grotesque.
at whatever hour of the day or night a
person dies in Mexico, it is customary to
appoint the funeral services Just twenty
four hours thereafter, or as near 10 it as
can possibly be arranged. 1t is we'll
known fact the world over that the major
ity of souls go out of the body at the mys-
tic hour between night and dawn, when all
the forces Of life are at their lowest ebb
and therefore, in consequence of the ma
tional custom aforesaid most funerals are
conducted before sunrise. About the sad
ueSt sights ever saw, enough
TO MAKE ANY NOTIFIES HEART ACHE,
Are frequently met in the twilight of the
early morning; a little procession of men
on foot, with seldom a woman among
them, vending their way to the Campo
Santo, or Field of Saints" as the GENE
terry is called. The bereaved father marches
in advance, with the little blue coffin bal
anced on his head, while male relatives
follow with lighted candies, and the rear
is brought up by a boy carrying the coffin
lid The dead child is plainly visible
within the gaily painted box, wearing its
brightest garments, garnished with many
paper flowers, and often the little features
are hardly recognizable from the dust Of
the street that has settled upon it before
the dust TO dust" process begins.
All bodies must be carried to the church
before being laid in consecrated ground,
but it is not the fashion here for women tC
attend funerals, nor to follow their dead
to the cemeteries. So the wife the mother
the sisters. the daughter, take their last
farewell On casa, and the corpse is then
borne away by male relatives-first to
the sanctuary and then to the sepulchre
How mothers can endure this when their
children die paSseth American understand
ing: but the iron hand Of custom is far
more memorable here than in orr own
country, and none dream of defying it. Al
my first visit TO q Mexican " field Of saints "
l learned the wisdom of excluding women
from the last horrible rites. Except among
the wealthy the coffin is not buried with
the body. but is merely rented for the Jour
ney between the house and cemetery the
same pine box (which for adults is usually
painted black, with white or yellow stripes),
serving the same purpose great many
times. Arriving at the grave, whether the
L I Il