FUNERAL RITES FUNES. 



337 



of the funeral ceremonies of some nations most dis- 

 tinguished in history. 



A minute account of the funeral rites of the Hin- 

 doos is given in the seventh volume of the Asiatic 

 Researches. The fourth volume of the same work 

 contains a description of the forms of a suttee. The 

 corpse is perfumed, and adorned with flowers ; it is 

 then burnt ; after many ceremonies, the bones are 

 deposited in a casket and buried, but afterwards dis- 

 interred, and thrown into the Ganges. A second 

 series of obsequies commences after the period of 

 mourning has expired, and this is followed by com- 

 memorative rites. The voluntary immolation of the 

 widow of the deceased is the most remarkable part 

 of the ceremony. See Suttee. 



The Mohammedans bury their dead. The inter- 

 ment takes place as soon as possible, in obedience to 

 the command of the prophet : " Make haste to bury 

 the dead, that, if he have done well, he may go forth- 

 with into blessedness, if evil, into hell-fire." No 

 signs of excessive grief, no tears nor lamentations 

 are allowed, as it is the duty of a good Mussulman to 

 acquiesce without a murmur in the will of God. On 

 arriving at the burial place, the body is committed to 

 the earth, with the face turned towards Mecca. 

 Monuments are forbidden by the law, but they are 

 constantly erected. See D'Ohsson, Tableau de 

 VEmp. Ottoman, ii. 18th ; and Chardin, Voyages en 

 Perse, vi. and viii. volumes. 



The Egyptians, it is well known, embalmed their 

 dead. An account of their mode of sepulture may 

 be found in the articles Cemetery and Mummies. 



Among the Jews, the next of kin closed the eyes 

 of the deceased ; the corpse was then washed and 

 embalmed (the remains of Jacob lay thirty days in 

 nitre, and during forty were anointed with gums and 

 spices, Gen. 1. 3.), swathed in linen bandages, and 

 deposited in the tomb. The mourning customs of 

 the Jews may be collected from various passages of 

 the Scriptures. They went bareheaded and barefoot, 

 covered their mouths and kept silence, put on sack- 

 cloth and gashed their bodies ; funeral songs were 

 sung by persons hired for the purpose. Splendid 

 monuments were sometimes hewn out of the solid 

 rock, with numerous niches : as each niche was filled, 

 its entrance was stopped up by a large stone rolled 

 against it. The process of embalming, as practised 

 by the Jews, seems to have been intended merely as 

 a safeguard against infection. 



In the religious creed of the Greeks and Romans, 

 sepulture was an act of piety to the dead ; without 

 it, the spirit must wander a hundred years on the 

 banks of the gloomy Styx. The last breath was 

 generally caught by a near relative, who opened his 

 mouth to receive it ; the body was washed, and 

 crowned with flowers, a cake of flour and honey 

 placed in the hand, as a bribe for Cerberus, and an 

 obolus in the mouth, as a fee for Charon. Interment 

 and burning were practised indifferently. In inter- 

 ment, the body was placed with the face upward, and 

 the head towards the west. In burning, the pile 

 varied in form and materials : it was lighted by the 

 nearest relative ; perfumes and wine were poured on 

 it, and the richest clothes of the dead were burned 

 with him. The ashes were then collected and de- 

 posited in an urn. This description applies to the 

 Greeks and Romans, whose rites were nearly identi- 

 cal. Inhumation was the original practice of the 

 Romans ; nor did burning become common till the 

 end of the republic. The practice of burying by 

 night explains the origin of the word funeral (f units, 

 from funes, torches). Eulogies were often delivered 

 at the funerals of distinguished men, both in Greece 

 and Rome, and funeral games were exhibited, in 

 honour of the dead. Burning was not disused till the 



close of the fourth century. Macroblus (vii. 7) 

 speaks of it as already antiquated in his time. 



In the Roman Catholic church, the body is washed 

 immediately after death, a crucifix is placed in the 

 hands, and a vessel of holy water at the feet, with 

 which the visitants sprinkle it. The ecclesiastics 

 remain with it till the interment, offering up prayers. 

 When the time of burial arrives, the priest bearing 

 the crucifix stands at the head, and the officiating 

 priest at the foot, of the coffin. The minister sprinkles 

 the coffin thrice with holy water, and the De profun- 

 dis and Miserere are chanted. The body is carried 

 to the church, during which time psalms are chanted, 

 especially the Miserere, and, at the close of each, a 

 requiem. In the church, the office of the dead is 

 performed, and the mass is celebrated. In conclu- 

 sion, the body is thrice censed and sprinkled with 

 holy water. At the grave, a prayer and benediction 

 are pronounced, and the body and grave are thrice 

 censed and sprinkled with holy water. The anthem 

 Ego sum Resurrectio then commences, during which 

 the body is again thrice sprinkled. A prayer, fol- 

 lowed by an anthem, Si iniquitates and De profun- 

 dis, succeeds ; and the body, with the feet towards 

 the east, is lowered into the grave, each of the 

 mourners, before it is covered, sprinkling it in turn. 

 The dead are commemorated on the third, seventh, 

 and twentieth day after interment, and on their anni- 

 versaries. 



The wake, or watching, is celebrated in some parts 

 of Great Britain ; particularly in the Highlands of 

 Scotland. Burial feasts, or arvels, are still given on 

 the day of interment. An instance of this kind oc- 

 curred in 1828, at the funeral of Mac Mhic Allister, 

 Glengarry, chief of the Macdonnels, when 150 gen 

 tlemen sat down to dinner, and 1500 attendants 

 were regaled with bread and cheese and whiskey. 

 In North Wales, the wyl nos is kept with solemnity. 

 The friends bring a pic-nic supper, and pass the 

 night before the funeral in singing psalms and read- 

 ing the Scriptures. In Ireland, the wake of the 

 lower classes is a scene of tumult and drunkenness. 

 The ululation has often been described. The law 

 requiring that a corpse should be buried in none but 

 woollen stuff, was repealed in the reign of George III. 



FUNES, GREGORIO ; a patriot of La Plata, exten 

 sively known by his Ensayo de la Historia civil de^ 

 Paraguay, Buenos Ayres, y Tucuman, published at 

 Buenos Ayres, in 1817, in 3 vols. Doctor Funes 

 was then dean of the cathedral church of Cordova, 

 and has been actively engaged in the cause of the 

 revolution, from its commencement. He became 

 member of a junta, assembled at Cordova, which, 

 under the instigation of Liniers, resisted the progress 

 of the revolution, notwithstanding the opposition of 

 the dean to the views of a majority of his colleagues. 

 In 1810, he was sent, as a deputy from Cordova, to 

 the congress at Buenos Ayres, and, on various occa- 

 sions between that and the present time, has been 

 prominent in the political affairs of his country. His 

 brother, D. Antonio Funes, has acted a still more 

 distinguished part, having lost a large fortune and 

 two promising sons in the contest, and signalized 

 himself as governor of Cordova. Doctor Funes ap- 

 pears as chairman of the committee of congress on 

 constitutional affairs, which, in June, 1826, presented 

 their celebrated report, recommending the adoption 

 of the central form of government for the republic. 

 This report is elaborate and specious, and exhibits a 

 plausible, if not a conclusive view of that side of the 

 question which it advocates. Doctor Funes died in 

 Buenos Ayres, at a very advanced age, January 1 1 . 

 1829. His Essay on the History of Paraguay, Buenos 

 Ayres, and Tucuman, is a valuable work, compiled 

 from the best materials, including many unpublished 



