Las Vegas daily optic., 1900-05-02

Rosario. which is used now by the St
Catherine school.

The devout native never passes a
church without taking OF his hat. The
churches are open all the time. and
people going in and out. Some of the
customs are very strange to US Amer
icans-the weddings. funerals and so
on. A wedding took place at the ca
thedral on February %, which was of
more than ordinary interest, the con-
tracing parties being representatives
of old leading Spanish families, trac-
ing their lineage back to Spain. The
bridal procession entered the cathedral
at 10 o'clock. 1t was high noon when
the ceremony was over, and they re.
paired to the sumptuous banquet pre-
pared. In the afternoon a reception
was held, and at night the grand dance
with which all weddings end.
It is the custom among the Mexican
people when man wishes to marry,
for his father, mother, brother, or in
case he has neither, his nearest friend.
to arrange the marriage with the girl
She is not consulted until all is ar
ranged. If he is accepted, he must
pay for the trousseau, or outfit. In
many cases after this has been done,
he has nothing left, and very little the
bride gets afterward. IN the wedding
have just told of, the bridegroom
gave for the trousseau $1,000, a dia-
mond necklace, and bore all the ex-
penses of the feast and ball. besides
giving presents to the attendants and
relations.
The burial of the dead is strange,
too. Women do not attend funerals.
Time was when all bodies were car
ried by men to the place of burial, but
Americans have brought more modern
ways, and now hearses and wagons
are used. Still, children are often
carried ON bier, through the streets
with the coffin open. One poor pitiful
funeral saw one day at the Guada-
lupe church. The corpse, tiny child
was dressed in pink, with coarse white
swiss over it, wreath of white arti
fetal flowers on it's head and bunch
In its hand. The open coffin was GOV
cred with bright red and trimmed with
silver tinsel braid. 1t was brought
to the church in an old wagon with one
horse. Two men and several small
boys were in the wagon One man lift
ed 1t out, carried it. and set it on 9
chair at the door Of the church. He
then went to find priest. After {
time the priest came, with a small
boy carrying cross, who stood at the
foot of the coffin
The priest sprinkled the tiny bod,
with holy water, softly read a prayer
then led the way into the church. The
man, probably the father, carried tht
coffin up the aisle and set 1t down be
fore the altar. Another sprinklinf
and few more words of mutteret
prayer, and 1t was done. The cofir
was carried out to the wagon, ant
taken TO the buriaI-place. another
day a small. pink coffin was carried o.
bier to the cathedral by four small
boys with several men and boys fol
lowing, and one man carrying the cof
fin lid. The boys dropped their bur
den at the door of the cathedral, while
one of the men went out for the priest
They enjoyed themselves playing
around until the priest came; then al
stood with uncovered heads while he
sprinkled the babe and read the pray
er Then they carried the coffin ir
and out of the church and trottet
away down the street, the man witt
the lid behind, small boy with q
cross, in front. At the home they usu
ally have mourning something like
wake. and they nail over the dool
strips of cloth-black, sometimes
black and white, which is left there
until 1t falls off. or Is blown away
by the wind. This is 'luto" or mourn
ing. They say. "Tienen luto en- Ii
puerto"-"They have mourning owe
the door"