Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1888-01-30
CROSSING THE STYX.
HOW GREEK MEETS GREEK IN THE
OTHER WORLD.

Old Charon stiIl In the Ferryboat Busi-
ness-Connection Between the HiIIen-
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 a pinch of salt for each person
with whom he is at enmity, saying as he
does SO: MAY my wrath perish as this salt :"
for it is considered dreadful for man TO
die leaving an enemy behind him. His spirit,
IL is believed, will not rest, but will wander
about as a poor ghost, sucking the blood Of
his friends, like the shades in ancient hades,
10 gain strength for his earthly wanderings.
II the complaint is consumption, they sup
pose that three Erinnycs stand ready TO
pounce on children ut the corners of the
room; hence the young are kept out Of the
way when the dying is in extremis, and a
hope is opened over his head to allow the
Erinnyes to escape. Fevers are best cured
by priestly incantutions; the name of the
disease is written ON II slip Of paper, and
with prayer and much ;ncensins this is
bound TO a tree, hoping thereby TO transfer
the malady. Incense is much used by the
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
Ninbridled grief. The town crier is sent
round to announce the fact to the ncighbors
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, arrayed
in the deceased's best clothes, decked 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 n robe as the family
could afford, in order, according to Lucian,
that the dead may not be cold on the passage
to hades and may not be seen naked by Ger
berus Then begins the death wall ceremony
a scene of heart rending grief, such as took
place in Priam's palace over the dead body
of Hector.
These death walls are, in fact, one of the
most striking bonds of connection between
the Hellenism of the past and the Hellensm
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 body
which dies unlamented cannot enter hades,
and wanders about like that of Patrocius
aud Elpenor in misery in the upper air,
neither belonging to the living nor to the
dead Consequently, the death walls and
the burials take place as soon as possible
after death that the gates of hades 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 the departed in his garden, and
they come up us weird plants. His tent pegs
are heroes bones, and the ropes are made of
maidens' tresSeS He rides on a horse to col
lect his victims, driving the young and
strong before him, 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 be
preserved among the other sacred things
which are hung up in the sanctuary belong
ing to every mousse
Before the corpse leaves the house q vase of
water is broken on the threshold When any
one starts on a journey, it is customary to
spil water as an earnest of his success and
safe return, and when the body goes on its
last long journey the vase is broken. The
bier is carried by four male bearers, and
about bier the Greek islanders have this
mort 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 see! AS the funeral procession passes
through the 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 hdeous walls, and women come
forth from their houses to groan in concert
with the others.
OF a truth Greek island funeral is a pain
full sight to witness. On reaching the church
the corpse is left in the porch and while 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 bystander casts on to it a handful OF
soil.-Scottish Review.