FIRE AS AN AGENT IN HUMAN CULTUBE 16^ 



The most outstanding mortuary fire custom .is cremation. The 

 custom is widely but irregularly distributed, and appears at all grades 

 of culture. The reason, place, and time in respect to its origin are 

 conjectural. It is surmised that it refers to the idea of purification 

 involved in the worship of fire. A deeper idea may be that of the 

 transference of the spirit at once to the gods in the manner of incense. 

 Still another idea could be the feeding of the gods, like burnt offer- 

 ings, or with blood, as in the strengthening of the spirits for the 

 interview of Odysseus in hades. 



As an important and perhaps the chief cause for the custom of 

 cremation of the dead may be suggested, the desire to remove the 

 house of the ghost or perhaps by the power of fire to destroy the 

 ghost. A like instance is observed in the custom of some of the tribes 

 of Siberia in cutting many incisions in the body of the dead for the 

 presumed purpose of rendering the earthly tenement uninhabitable 

 by the ghost. 



It is plain that the matter is quite complex and may never reach 

 a satisfactory elucidation. Modern cremation is alleged to rest on 

 a sanitary basis, but insensibly there must remain the traces of the 

 ancient custom. 



"But the most remarkable celebration I attended while in Billi- 

 gam [Ceylon] was the burial of an aged Buddha priest on the 13th of 

 January. While the common people here are simply buried (in the 

 gardens behind their houses, or in the nearest cocoa grove), the priests 

 alone share the honor of being consumed by fire. The priest to be 

 burned on this occasion was the oldest and most distinguished in the 

 community. Accordingly, the funeral pyre of palm stems was erected 

 near the principal temple. After the body, which rested on a flower- 

 adorned bier, had been carried amid solemn chanting through the 

 village, a band of young Buddha priests in yellow robes hoisted it to 

 the top of a funeral pile which was about 30 feet high. The four 

 corners of the pyre were supported by four cocoa palms between 

 which was stretched a canopy like a large white cloth. After the 

 conclusion of various ceremonies, solemn dirges, and prayer, the pile 

 at 5 o'clock was hghted amidst a most deafening tom-tom uproar. 

 A crowd of sev^eral thousand people watched the burning pile with 

 expectant interest, and when the flames seized and devoured the mus- 

 lin canopy, a loud, jubilant cry went up from every throat — the soul 

 of the burning priest had taken its flight to heaven. This was the 

 signal for inauguration of more cheerful ceremonies. Rice, cakes, and 

 palm wine were distributed among the crowd, and a merry carousal 

 followed that was kept up around the burning pyre the greater part 

 of the night."" 



"Ernst Haeckel. India and Ceylon, New York, 1893, p. 153. 



