East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1905-08-31
QUEER BURIAL CUSTOMS IN
ARGENTINE REPUBLIC.

Buenos Ayres being seIni-tropical
city, the law requires that burial shall
take place within twenty-four hours
after death and II the body is to be
buried in one of the cemeteries with
in the city limits, or placed in a vault
1t must be put not only in the regular
coffin, but, in addition, in hermeti-
cally sealed lead coffin. which fits
closely inside the other, glass in
sert permitting the race only to be
seen.
AS soon as person dies the room
in which the body is to be laid out Is
transformed by the undertaken into
a "capilla ardente," or lighted chapel
that u.s. the room is darkened, the
walls are all hung in black, an altar
is erected at one end, in front Of
which the body is laid and the whole
is lighted up by from six to dozen
large candles in heavy silver candle
sticks three feet high.
AS the time between the actual
death and the burial Is so short, there
is usually not time to send individ-
ual notices to friends, so the invita-
tion to take part in the funeral SER
vices, as 1t is called is printed in the
papers.
The cemetery itself is a veritable
city of the dead for, instead of hav-
ing a mound with headstone or
monument, regular little mortuary
chapels, called 'panteones," are built
by every lot owner, completely COW
ering the plot of ground he holds.
These are of stone or marble, about
twelve feet suare, and they are built
in rows like city houses, and laid out
in squares like city streets, with
broad sidewalks and roadways be-
tween.
Each of these "panteones" contains
an altar of marble on which are can
dies, flowers, sacred pictures and
other religious emblems and symbols
of the Catholic church
In front of this altar is a large slab
which. when lifted, discloses a ladder
or stairway leading down to a vault
which is whitewashed chamber
with spaces one above the other in
the walls, of sufficient size to receive
coffin After each space is filled,
it is sealed up with a marble slab.
giving the name, age and date Of
death.
Private vaults will usually hold
from dozen to fifteen bodies, but as
these are expensive the various bene-
ficial societies have erected mortuary
chapels in which their members can
be buried, the expenses for the indi-
vidual member thus being made
much less.
Some of these chapels are as big
as church, with vault two stories
deep and entered from the interior
of the chapel by wide flight of mar
BILE steps. the whole being well venti-
lated and lighted
For the poorer classes, who can
neither afford TO erect a "panteone"
of their own or belong to one of these
societies, there is long peristyle on
each side of the entrance gateway,
and here inches can be rented or
bought, these inches being about two
feet square at their outer end, with
sufficient depth to take the coffin.
and arranged in groups of 500, the
niche when filled being walled up
with the usual slab.
In the front of the slab there is
often photograph of the dead, COW
cred with glass, and under each one
is a small shelf on which flowers vot-
i've offerings or little oil lamps, kept
constantly burning, are placed.
When a near relative dies, like a
parent or child. the men wear crepe
on the left arm, half way to the ell
bow, and the women a crepe veil,
falling over the face and reaching to
the ground. and usually large black
shawl hiding the figure, indicating
that they have entirely withdrawn
from the world and its fashions
New York Tribune.