The herald., 1897-08-19
FUNERAL FESTIVITIES
Custom of Making Merry Over Death
of Ancient ORIGIN

On Tuesday of this week curious
event occurred in Hoboken, when the
Independent Fraun-Verein (Woman' s
union) gave a celebration in honor of
Mrs. Elizabeth Livermore, a member,
who had died two mon this ago. In her
will she set aside small sum, which she
directed to be spent after her death by
the members of the Women's union for
a festival in honor of her memory. This
was done on Tuesday by the thirty five
members of the club, who made merry
as we'll as they could under the cir
cumstances.
This would be an extraordinary per-
formance if it were the first of its kind,
but celebrations of this class occur quite
frequently in the United States, and
much more frequently in Europe. AT
one time it would seem as if the prac-
tice of making merry a these events was
quite general in Christendom. 1t has
been followed as custom in the Irish
wake from time immemorial in that
country, and in every land to which the
Irish have gone in large numbers. In
the sos Neroutsos Bey discovered be-
meath the deep mounds of debris in
Alexandria, Egypt, some ancient Chris
tian catacombs They had not been used
since the second century of the Christian
era, and were apparently in the same
condition as when they had been last
employed by some funeral party prior
to the breaking down of the building
which stood either alongside or over the
entrance to the subterranean chambers.
The great hall reached from the entrance
to the cells prepared for the dead.
On either side of the hall were great
banqueting rooms. They were floored,
walled and rooted in stone. A stone
bench ran around the wall of the room,
handsomely carved, and very comforta-
BILE shelves and tables furnished the
place neatly and attractively, and eve
rywhere We're the dishes which had been
used by the mourners and the friends
of the departed. Those in one room were
clean, while in the other little pieces
of bone, fishbone. the seeds of fruit and
unrecognizable organic matter showed
that feast had been held prior to the
destruction or closing of the place. The
dishes were neat and we'll made and
varied in size, shape and purpose.
The learned scholar said that the ban.
quet had consisted of at least one soup.
several stewS two or three kinds of
fish, one or two roasts, one or two veg
etables, several fruits, including dates.
figs, pomegranates, plums, grapes and
apricots or peaches, and several varie-
ties of African and Palestine wine. On
the wall were queer drawings of the
Saviour and his disciples, but without
the halo, which was brought into Chris
tian art later From the large number
of cells and bones, and from the styles
and excellence of the construction, it
was obvious that this burial place was
one intended for the better classes, and
bore the same relation to society in those
days that Greenwood does to the Greater
New York today.
In the south Of France, where there
is much Gaelic blood, there is a cere-
mony similar to the. wake.
In Germany there are "sitting up"
parties, who are literally supplied with
food and drink, while in Russia many of
the Slavonic communities, if not a ma
jority, employ the cemeteries as picnic
grounds.-New York Mail and Express.