The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1888-01-25
CROSSING TIE STYX.
HOW GREEK MEETS GREEK IN THE
OTHER WORLD.

HOW GREEK MEETS GREEK IN THE
OTHER WORLD.
Old charon stiIi in the Ferryboat Busi-
ness-connection Between the Hillen-
ism of the Past and of the Present--A
Painful Sight.
When a death is expected, the attendant
mourners in the Greek islands have many
little customs peculiar TO themselves The
moribund is handed bowl of water, into
which he puts pinch of salt for each person
with whom he is at enmity, saying as he
does so: May my wrath perish as this salt;r
for 1t is considered dreadful for man to
die leaving an enemy behind him. His spirit,
it is believed, will not rest, but will wander
about as u poor ghost, sucking the blood of
his friends, like the shades in ancient hades,
to gain strength for his earthly wanderings.
If the complaint is consumption, thoy sup
pose that three Erinnyes stand ready to
pounce ON children at the corners of the
room; hence the young are kept out of the
way when the dying is i'll extrernis, and a
hope is opened over his head to allow the
Erinnyes to escape. Fevers ure best cured.
by priestly incantations; the name OF the
disease is written on a slip If paper, and
with prayer and much inceiisins this Is
bound to tree, hoping thereby to transfer
the malady. Incense is much used by the
priest in his visitations to the sick; the whole
room is thick with it, and perhaps contagion
is thus often avoided.
Where the death has occurred the women
rush on to the fiat roof or some other conspic-
uous place, where they rend the air with
their cries, tear their hair and give way to
unbridled grief The town crier Is sent
round to announce the fact TO the neighbors
and to summon friends to the death wall,
which takes place an hour or two after the
spirit has left the body. After the body has
been washed in wine it is laid out on Bier in
the center OF the one roomed house, errayed
in the deceased's best clothes, declxed out with
flowers, and with lamps burning at the side
reminding us of the ancient custom OF placing
the corpse thus in the midst Of the hall,
dressed in as handsome robe as the family
could afford, in order, according to Lucian,
that the tlsnd may not be cold on the passage
to hades and ilia.g NOT DO seen naked by Ger
berus! Then begins the death wall ceremony,
a scene of heart rending grief, such as took
place in Priams palace over the dead body
of Hector.
most striking bonds OF connection between
the Hellenism of the past and the Hellenism
of the present, and in the Greek islands, de-
spite the strictness of the more civilized
members of the orthodox church, they cling
to them with surprising tenacity A body
which dies unlamented cannot enter hades,
and wandels about like that of Patrocius
and Elpenor in misery in the upper air,
neither belonging to the living ner to the
dead Consequently, the death walls and
the bur.ials take place as soon as possible
after death that the gates of nudes may be
opened TO them as soon as may be.
From these death walls we learn how much
that is heather is Incorporated in the belief
Of today respecting an after life. They sing
of hades as a frozen, miserable place, where
the dead wander forever, anxious to return
to the upper air, and endeavoring to steal
from Charon, the lord of the lower earth, his
keys, but Intellectually. Charon plants the
bones of tho departed in his garden, and
they come up as weird plants. His tent pegs
are heroes bones, and the ropes are made Of
mnide,s tfesses He rides on horse to col
,J1lak H. jssss. sixkxfag the young and
strong before hiin, dragging the aged after
him By ropes, and carrying with him on his
saddle the little children.
Sometimes, when man dies who has been
conspicuous for his good fortune during life,
they will cut off his nails before the corpse
is removed and tie them up in a bag to DO
preserved among the ether sacred things
which are hung up in the sanctuary belong
Ing TO every house.
Before tho corpse leaves the house q vase of
water is broken on the threshold When any
one starts on a journey, ii is customary TO
spill water as an earnest of his success and
safe return, and when the body goes on its
last long journey the vase is brolgu. The
bier is carried by four male be{t RS, and
about a bier the Greek islanders have this
most grewsome riddle What is that which
he who makes does SO to sell, he who buys
does not use himself, and he who uses does
not sees As the funeral procession passes
through tho village street the priests chant
the offices of the dead, and from time to time
the mourners, who go in front, break forth
into their hideous walls, and women come
forth from their houses to groan in concert
with the others
OF truth Greek island funeral is pain
full sight to witness. On reaching the church
the corpse is left in the porch, and white the
liturgy is proceeding the mourners cease to
wall Then comes the very impressive
stichera Of the last kiss, which is chanted by
all the congregation, and begins, Blessed is
the way thou shalt go to-day whereat each
mourner advances and gives the last kiss to
the cold face of the corpse, and once more
the extravagant demonstrations Of grief
break forth. Finally the corpse is lowered
without coffin into its shallow grave, and
each Jystander casts on to it O handful OF
soil.-Scottish Review.