104 CANARY ISLANDS. 



tions on the day of their annual festival for defraying the 

 necessary expenses attending their respective shrines. 



The brotherhood of El Gran Poclcr cle Dios, (the great 

 power of God) is composed of persons of the middling and 

 higher classes of society, the uniform of which, consists of 

 a scarlet, silk gown, called laopa, in the shape of a carter's 

 frock, worn over their ordinary habiliment. Their annual 

 festival is held on the second Sunday of July, an uncom- 

 fortable season in this latitude to perambulate the streets, 

 which they do, bare-headed, at mid-day, with lighted tapers 

 in their hands. 



Blarriage and Funeral Ceremonies. The marriage cere- 

 monies of the middling and louder classes are generally per- 

 formed in church at an early hour of the day ; but the 

 wealthy are married in the evening, at the house of the 

 bride's parents. The people here look without repugnance 

 on the matrimonial alliances of an uncle with his own 

 niece, as well as men marrying the sisters of their former 

 wives. The practice in either case is confined, however, 

 to the more opulent, who can afford the expense of obtain- 

 ing the necessary license from Rome. 



When a widow marries, on the eve of her wedding, her 

 residence is surrounded by a concourse of people, some of 

 whom are tinkling mule-bells, sounding conch-shells, and 

 uttering the most diabolical terms of reproach ; while 

 others are performing on musical instruments, and lauding 

 the couple in question to the skies, according to their 

 approval or disapproval of their marrying. It is generally 

 disapproved of for a widow to marry a second husband, 

 which, they say, indicates that she did not duly and virtu- 

 ously appreciate her former husband. A similar custom 

 prevails in Spain, called la cencerrada. 



In regard to their funeral ceremonies, the general points 

 are the same as those of Spain and other catholic coun- 

 tries, but I will cite a few peculiarities which were 

 entirely new to me. When a wealthy person dies, his 

 relatives perform one or more solemn offices for his de- 

 cease, on the days immediately succeeding that of the 

 interment, and then in addition to the regular surplus 

 fees, the clergy receive from them tma ofrcnda, or offering, 

 which consists of provisions that are deposited in the 



