The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-10-28
PECULIAR BURIAL CUSTOMS.
EACR RACE HAS IT'S OWN RITES
AND CEREMONIES.

-EOUNl0 Nu1t W0lNACD WHEN UnD knu
Comes-shOhocs BegHArs Even I'm
DeAh-Kingp BODY I'm silver Canoe.
There arc Gos different ways In which the
people Of tho world bury their dead. Scarcely
pose OF the bodies Of those Who pass away in
the same manner, A man can take his
choice Of a great number Of ceremonies.
8. Lewis Tnlotson. . Baltimore UNDER
taker. has made . study Of tho burial GUS
toms Of the world with a view Of improving,
II possible, the means Of disposing OF bodies
used in most civilized countries and to dis
cover behind the ceremonials and the rites
OF burial and the methods Of disposing Of
b bodies the odd beliefs Of the people.
His discoveries and Investigations rave
shown many strange things, but a. yet he
has made no recommendations looking to-
ward improvement Of present systems.
One thing he has found, say the Chicago
Tribune, is that every tribe OF people in the
world except two-the Veddas OF India and
the Bantus OF Africa-shows some mark of
reverence to the dead-even those that eat
them-and that every one except those
same two shows from its treatment Of the
dead some belief in a future existence.
About three-fourths Of the people OF the
world are sorry, or pretend they are sorry,
when a death happens among their friends
or relatives, and the other fourth are glad.
About four-fifths object to death and the
other fifth welcome it.
Among the Karens OF Burma there is a
close relation between the burial and the
wedding ceremonies, and a death is made the
occasion OF a Wholesale counting, " said MIR.
Tillotson. THE body is placed on a bamboo
platform outside the hut and all the young
men and girls gather there, singing and
laughing. The men seat themselves on one
side Of the body and the girls on the other
and there, as il made happy by the presence
Of death, they carry on their courtships-
and the men select their wives. The Kir-
ghiz-Kazaks are strong in their remem-
hrance Of the dead-and here may be food
for religious thought for Bible students in
their customs. After death the body is
hastily buried, arrayed in white clothes, and
every day for forty days after the death the
mourners visit the tomb. The forty day
period apparently is counted for no special
reason as yet discovered.
-The Shans give the dead a good sendof.
putting money into the mouth to pay pas
sage to the other world. The souls are sup
posed to 20 into butterflies hat fit away and
the body must wait and pay its fare. The
cofins are Of highly colored tinsel and
paper under a gaudy canopy. The wives
parade with the body and the eldest son
walks ahead with a sword, clearing the evil
spirits from the way. The bodies Of priests
and chiefs are burned.
The Bantu and the Veddas, alone Of all
tribes, have no ceremonies and appear to
care nothing whatever about death. In
both tribes the bodies are thrown into the
bushes, covered with leaves and brush, and
left.
"One Of the prettiest ceremonies Is that OF
the Tongans, who mourn for twenty days.
The body is washed, oiled and srrayed in
its best, then laid in a canoe, or cest, together
with the favorite implements or ornaments.
The relatives live for twenty days in little
huts near the house Of mourning-and each
day they go singing in a PROCESSION TO the
Reashore TO get white sand to I'LL the grave.
On the twentieth day they have the final
parade, gathering black and white pebbles
TO strew over the top Of the grave in the
floor Of the hut.
-The Turks, too, show great care and
reverence for the bodies Of the dead. The
body is laid upon the couch Of comfort
and carried into the courtyard, where the
washing and amounting, are carried on IS a
IGlkIOu5 OClCILOhys DONJ 1NNC0
with extreme care, for they believe that
roughness will bring a curse.
Perhaps the most elaborate ceremony
Of all the world is that OF the Siamese. The
Conin IL a gorgeous AFFAIR Of gilded paper.
tinsei. or sometimes Of gold and jewels. For
three days the body lies in state and then
IL taken from the house through q special
hole cut in the wall. Then the bearers
carry the body three times around the house
ut a rapid rate-so as to puzzle the ghost
nd make IL impossible for him to find the
..ouse again. After the ghost is all mixed
up as 70 where it formerly lived the body
il carried IN state to a barge and rowed
slowly to the temple. There the priests
body Ia burned. This Is the signal for the
beginning Of festivities, and a regular fair
II opened in the temple Yards with gambling.
dancing. drinking and fireworks; II the
entertainment the body is cut up and thrown
10 the birds and the feast held just the
same.
the funeral Of a wanyoro king is the
most fearful orgy in the world. The body
Is mummifed by being roasted over a slow
fire. Then. wrapped in cloth. 10 IL carried
10 a long Dit. in which sit the wives in two
rows. with their knees together. The nj ght
before the funeral the kings own regiment
Ecourp the country and brings In captlves.
These are brought to the grave. and their
arms and legs are broken with clubs. Then
the kings body is placed upon the knees
Of the wives, the crippled captives are
thrown into the pit, the earth heaved In on
the wives, king and captfves. and the crowd,
singing and dancing. tramples the mound
fat.
The Somali bury their dead sitting under
stone cairns. the Esquimaux place their
deceased in rocky ~crevasses on hilltops n
cover them with stone, the Tanala wrap the
bodies in mating and throw them into a
pit, and the Tibetans expose the bodies
70 the birds, then collect and save the bones.
Yet they all how reverence for the dead.
Among the Congo tribes ~cannibalisrn Is in
dulged in, but L is q religious feast. The
chiefs are buried with all their weapons,
currency and utensils, whichar r damaged or
killed 40 they may go with them. In some
Of the tribes the slaves are killed a buried
with the king, to take care Of him. Others
roast bodies over slow fires, mummfying
them. The Wadaos do not believe in letting
a prominent citiz en- 90 unattended, so a
man slave and a woman are buried with him
alive. The woman holds the head and the
man goes along to chop wood. The neigh
hors, the Wanyamwezi, believe that burial
pollutes the earth 50 they establish m
teries wherein tha bodies are thrown. They
have fought wars with the Arabs, who
wanted to bury the dead In the ground.
The desire Of every civilized person--to
be buried'at home'-is shown by the Mumias,
who are Nilotic negroes: They frst