The weekly Thibodaux sentinel and journal of the 8th Senatorial District. [volume] (Thibodaux, Lna. [i.e. La.]) 1875-1898, 1896-09-19
FU.>trHLS Nv PALESTINE.
Manifestation Of Grief That Gone Down
From Great Antiquity.

From Great Antiquity.
At each death the women begin =
peculiar laiuentaticn, BY which the en-
tire village is informed that q death has
taken place. At once the relatives come
in their best clothes and join in with
TIE lamentation. The women nearest
connected with the departed rend their
clothes-l. G., the upper garment, which
is III / shape Of a shirt, and is held by
means of a girdle around the waist.
The garment they seize at the opening
III front Of the chest and tear it down
ward, and the deeper the grief the
larger will be the rent. This is after
ward stitched together. but in such a
Way IS to show TIC seam en- the outside.
Then these mcU-Ecrs Put OH their best
garments, uncover their heads, which
it all other times are covered, tear cut
their hair. strike their faces, scratch
their countchances, beat their breasts,
and many smear scot over their faces.
Occasionally it happens that men, too,
give vent to the violence of grief bv
tearing their clothing and pulling cut
their boards. That ahese manifestations
OF grief arc from great antiquity we can
see from the book CT Job, written prob
ably 1900 years before Christ. When
Jobs three c%or,forters came to him.
they, too, wept and lamented and tore
their garments and strewed dust upon
their heads and set with him seven
days and seven nights upon the ground
yV1fhCnf Sopokipr {10h - VvLa..
David, according to II Samuel xviii, SO,
received the news that his son was dead,
he went into his room and wept. His
grief was so great that those without
heard him Gil Samuel xix, "a.
On the following day the body is car
ricd into the church. While this is be-
ing done q num5er CT women keep up a
kind Of a dance outside of the church,
while they lament and moan, with their
hair i'll disheveled state. The same
thing is done at the grave. It is pecul-
lar that the Arabs are SO anxious to
have their dead buried in the tomb Of
their ancestors, and this prevails to such
an extent that many families can re-
member that their great-great-grand-
father and all his descendants were put
into the same grave. IN case Il person
dies at a distance from his native vii
lage his body is brought home for burr
al. This reminds us Of Jacob and his
last request made to joseph to bury him
With his fathers Genesis Xvii, 80, and
!. 90. On the next morning, very early,
certain women go to the grave to weep
over the dead, as Was lone by the wom-
en- on the morning CT Easter luke
xiv, u. After they have returned to
their homes and have attended to their
daily duties they go to an open place,
which IS IN many cases a thrashing
place, while the men are invited into
the house of some friend. In these
t~hrashlng places the women sing funer-
al songs and repeat their lamentations,
III which the virtues Of the departed are
eAtolled. Every family of standing in the
village brings some freshly baked bread
Jeremiah xvi, y, together with some
dessert, such as lard, fried eggs, honey,
olives, ETC., for the women lamenting
at the thrashing places, where, too,
women from other villages have gather
ed for h same purpose. These things
are brought to the mourners as food,
and, after eating, all present take part
III this official mourning for the dead.
The men, too, come, bringing a sheep,
which is killed for the benefit Of the
family and the mourners.
This reminds US of the official mourn
ing Of 70 days for Jacob and Of 40 days
for Moses. At the present time it is the
custom to keep up the lamentation for
W or three weeks, during which time
the participants in the ordeal change
from day to day. The women from the
n~eighboring villages spend at least one
night in this mourning place, while
some remain from three to seven DAYS.
On the third, ninth and fortieth DAYS
special services take place at the graves,
on which occasion the minister blesses
the food which has been brought by,
This is repeated after six
months and OF the first anniversary Of
the death.-Evangelische Blatter.