The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1899-09-28
Funerals in Puerto Rico.

Funerals are CHASTITY things, at best.
and always more or less greusome to write
about OF course, every one has to become
the principal participant in such an affair
sooner or later, but that makes If only tbe
harder to think of! Although we all have
to die, the disposition of our bodies by
our relatives and friends is by no means
always the same.
The funerals of rich Puerto Ricans are
more in accordance with modern ideas
than, to the eyes of foreigner. the novel
disposal of the poverty stricken. Collins
intended for the wealthy are usually dec
Grated in barbaric splendor, with gold and
vari- colored trimmings; while those of the
poor are mean pine boxes with no finish
lngs OF any kind, not even side handles 1t
is the latter kind which stir the sympathy
in foreigners breast.
When poor man dies, his friends gath
er together in his small hut the evening
before the burial and have wake. There
is drinking, dancing and music, and merry
making in general. They fully believe
the spirit of the deceased is present and
appreciates the honor. The native music
is the most weird imaginable. the instr,l
ments being, usually, rudeIy made chi
tar, often of piece of native hard wood.
and long gourd. The gourds are pulled
! from trees and dried in the sun. and a
piece of iron wire about foot long. is
passed rapidly back and forth over the
naturally rough surface, making weird
ly musical sound After the dance
comes the burial, or rather, the removal
to the catacombs Two men on each side
of the crude coffin-which is hired for the
occasion-carry the dead man. and the
friends of the deceased trail along behind
chatting.
AT the graveyard the man is taken
from the coffin and placed in the catacombs
and his particular cell filled with quick
lime and then sealed The on lockers
then disperse, each going his own way.
No one is put in the ground if he is rich
his remains are carefully laid in costly
vault; if he happened to be poor, as is US
ually the case in Puerto Rico, his body is
placed in catacomb cell. Catacombs are
built in rows around the inside of the
graveyard walls and leased for five wears :at
the end of which time the bones are evict-
ed, if the annual rent is not forthcoming.
In San Juan bones collect very fast, and
there is a lot set aside for them, which is
commonly call ed the bone yard. This ward
is piled with the accumulation of years, and
some enterprising Yankee might do well
if he represents phosphate syndicate.
Funerals in the rural districts seem very
queer to an outsider. The officials in the
town take care of the poverty stricken
dead, and a public coffin is kept for such
purposes. Now rural townships in the
West Indies never keep the Municipal
treasurer overburdened with duties, and
public cotfins as all such property, are
made to do service a long time
In a little town on the military road
there was such a coffin which had long
since fulfilled its duties, but was still pres
sed into service. Two men usually carried
| this public receptacle to the catacombs,
one at each end-as is the custom-and
upon one ocC aston the funeral came to
| halt suddenly, as the result of an unlock
ed for calamity. The coffin was being
| carried on the heads OF these two men,
who We're putting along up steep hill,
when the head of the rear man was push
ed clear through the rotten bottom. One
can quite believe that the dead man was
shocked at the wonderful vocabulary of
Spanish adjectives of the other. The
Government had to finally supply the
| town with new coffin.
After all, their methods of disposing of
! dead bodies may not be 50 barbarous as
at first seems; it is surely more sanitary
than placing them in the ground.
R. A. P.