Evening star., 1899-04-01
GAY FUNERALS.
Some Peculinrities of BnriaIs as Seen
i'm the Far Southwest


From the Chicago Inter Ocean
I'm the hotel at Santa Fe last summer the
! notes of a brass band playing the tune
Marching Through Georgia., with great
vigor called me to the window said
! tourist who recently returned from New
Mexico and California. TT was Mexican
funeral procession that 1 saw advancing
toward the plaza. The mourners followed
| the hearse on foot, and in advance marched
| the local Mexican band. AS it reached the
plaza the band changed its tune to 'Ihere'u
| Be Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight
| and to this melody the procession moved
across the public square on it's way to
Campo Santo. The expression of all the
mourners grave and decorouS and
some OF the people on the plaza uncovered
| their heads as the procession passed This
marching to music was the time-honored
mexican way OF showing respect 10 the
| dead: A New Mexican friend explained to
! me that the musical repertory of the band
being limited to three four pieces. it
was necessary to make the same tunes do
duty at funeral, a merrymaking, OF a po-
litical meeting.
"On passing the ancient Indian village Of
| 1sleta on my way by train down the Rio
Grande, man described to me the funeral
OF an Indian chief that he witnessed there.
The body, laid out in state in the open
| abr before the church. was wrapped from
head to foot in gay-colored ribbons and was
watched by a band of warriors attired in
| the ancient war dress of their tribe, with
feathers, beads and antique weapons Three
musicians of the tribe, with tom-toms sat
| on the ground, beating time to a dolorous
chanting which they kept up while the
| guard Of honor Joined in the refrain All
the people of the town We're dressed in hoi-
day attire, in preparation for the process
| sion and burial. which, though conducted
J under the rites of the Roman Catholic
Church, We're to have many features pc
culiar to the Indians, vestiges of the heath
en- customs of their ancestors. The cere-
| monies concluded with funeral feast for
which bread, tortillas, mutton, native wine
and aguardiente had been provided in pro-
fusion.
I'm the quaint New Mexican town of Me-
slla, with it's great willow trees, vine
yards and broad irrigating canal winding
| along the main street. through the plaza,
heard the church bell changing loudly one
day at noon. 1t for the funeral of a
young child, and the procession was just
entering the plaza. Four rown-skinned
girls, bareheaded and gowned in white,
| with flowers in their hair held each a
corner of a board swung between them
On this the body lay under a white cloth
strewn with flowers. Behind them walked
six or seven women and half-grown chill
dren. The bell continued to clang until the
procession entered the church where the
| simple burial service was to be performed
After that the body would be taken 70
Cambo Santo the great white sandbank
which was the burial ground for the com
moner sort Of Me&icanS-an uncertain SPOT
for final resting place, for the sands SHIFT
ed with the wind, and the capricious Rio
Grande in one of it's sudden changes of
channel might wash away or cut through
| at any time. The Mexcans make no
mourning over the death of infants, be-
happy future existence angelItos-little
angels"