FUNERAL. “i 39 
” tehenieiit, more than a lamentation for his loss. “Mirth served ; and a solemn requiem takes place among Ro- Funeral. 
——— 
ae 
and merriment prevail ; and, in the Highlands of Scot- 
land it ‘has been carried to such an extent, that when 
given before the funeral, where the successor always 
presides, examples have occurred) of the party set- 
ting out for the place of interment, and leaving the 
corpse behind them. This is identically the Silicer- 
num of the Romans, at’ which certain viands were 
served up, or distributed’ to the people. In the 
north of Jand, the entertainment is’called arvil, 
and the bread employed: arvil éread—names of un- 
certain etymo ; and, in Scotland, the subsequent 
¢arousals are said to be drinking the dirge of the de- 
ceased. The origin of these ceremonies is doubtful.) A 
feast wherein much lavishness and extravagance are dis- 
layed, is given by the Washington islanders, on wash- 
is and laying out the body ; and twelve months af-~ 
terwards another, equally profuse, is given to thank the 
= for having permitted the deceased to arrive safe in 
other world. These throw considerable light on 
the of the entertainment, which is perhaps 
jointly for oblation and commemoration. It is repeat- 
ed successively for years by various nations; by the 
Tunquinese it is considered disgraceful to be sparing ; 
and the South Americans, in pouring some of their first 
made beverage yearly on the graves, drink to the good 
health of the dead. The inhabitants of Thibet have.an 
annual festival in honour of the dead, which takes 
place at night, and then innumerable lamps are lighted 
up, amidst the sound of mournful music. We shall ab- 
stain from speaking of the festival of souls, said to have 
been practised by certain American tribes, from being’ 
ignorant whether itis not entirely discontinued ; but 
at intervals of ten or twelve years, the dead were dug 
up, and carried on the backs of their relatives to their 
huts, where great entertainments ensued ; after which, 
they were, in like manner, replaced... The Greeks and 
Romans performed the obsequies of the great with un- 
common splendour: Races, » and theatrical: en- 
tertainments, were all exhibited; and at present, with 
some Eastern nations, whole fleets and armies are put 
in action, for the greater pomp, on the funeral of an 
‘In many countries, independent of the natural la- 
mentations by the mre one deceased, it as been 
customary to employ hi mourners, whose shrieks 
and despair might cohants the display of grief. In 
scripture, it is said, ‘ or be in all the streets : 
and they shall say in all the high ways, alas! alas! and 
they shall call the husbandman to mourning, and such 
as are skilful in lamentation to wailing.” At the mo- 
dern funerals of the lower classes’ of Ireland, the wo- 
men collect, and utter hideous outcries, emphaticall 
called the Hoolaloo, mixed with the praises of the dead, 
and with the questions, «« Why did he die? Had he 
not a wife and fanil ? Had he not. ev ing he 
could wish? Why did he leave this world?” and the 
like: a savage ‘custom, istic of a barbarous 
state of society. 
A funeral b+ pa has been prevalent, as well as the 
performance of music, at the quies of persons de- 
; as also an ium) or oration u them: 
The funerals of the and: Romans were attended 
by the sounding of Pipes, and sometimes of trumpets 
and horns ; but the lyre, being consecrated to Apollo, 
was prohibited; and a hymn, song, or dirge, called 
Nenia, was sung by girls or adults: The singing of 
psalms at modern funerals is part of these customs pres 
man Catholics for the repose of the soul. Frequently 
the most celebrated composers are entrusted with the 
composition of this piece of music; and it has been 
said of Mozart, that the requiem he composed for a 
German prince was first performed for himself. A 
musical solemnity sometimes attends the funeral of 
celebrated musicians, as of Rameau in Paris in the 
year 1764; and there was a commemoration of Han- 
del in 1786, in Westminster Abbey, 27 years after ‘his 
decease. The music composed or performed on these 
occasions in more humble life, is called a dirge or la- 
ment, as in the Highlands of Scotland, ; and there is’ 
yet known a lament composed and performed by some 
freebooter for himself, while leading to the gallows. 
Solemn music is an invariable concomitant of nig 
funerals ; that of our officers being attended by a full 
band, and that of a private soldier by fifes and drums. 
But in marching from the place of interment, a lively’ 
air always succeeds the mournful tune. 
A number of minor ceremonies earpie | interment,. Funeral 
ifferent dis- hymn or 
tricts of the same country. Of this number are ring- ditge. 
are in use in different countries, and in 
ing the passing bell for a person expiring—wakes or 
watching with the dead, often rendered a scene of the 
grossest debauchery—placing a platter ‘of salt on the 
corpse, or candles around it, and the like. Sometimes- 
it is the custom to have funerals by day, sometimes 
by night.. The colour of the fringes of the pall, and ceremonies: 
the gloves worn by mourners in Britain, denote that>in Britains- 
the deceased was unmarried if white; and it was 
lately the custom of some parts of England, for six. 
maidens to bear the pall of a young man, and six 
youths to bear that of a young woman. In’ Wales,. 
the graves of the deceased are adorned with flowers > 
The white rose always decorates that of a virgin : Those: 
of persons distinguished by piety and benevolencé are 
planted with red roses.. The road to the grave‘ of un- 
married persons is also strewed with evergreens and 
sweet-scented flowers. In Scotland, the body is lower-: 
ed into the grave by the nearest relatives; no funeral 
service is performed, and’ but rarely a funeral sermon 
on the subsequent Sabbath, in commemoration of the: 
virtues of the deceased. Suicides are denied the right: 
of interment in consecrated ground ; and infants dying 
before baptism, are interred on its-confines.’ But these’ 
tules are not strictly enforced. 
Commission of suicide has- generally been viewed as 
a criminal act: By the usages of Britain, the body 
should be buried in the highway, and a stake driven 
through it; of which recent examples are to be found, 
In the later periods of the Jewish history, when. de- 
spair prompted the miserable objects of conquest to 
self-destruction, their leaders endeavoured to avert 
their intentions, by representing the ignominy to which 
their bodies would be exposed, by the privation of sepuls, 
ture. The Fantees, a.modern African tribe, testify 
their abhorrence of the deed, by refusing to pay the ac- 
customed rites to the bodies of suicides. ‘ 
A great variety of customs has been practised 
among nations, in respect to the remembrance’ of the 
dead.” By some, the ashes have been scattered‘in the- 
air, and’all memorials of them consigned to oblivion: 
By the Abipons of South America, every thing that 
may recal the image of a person deceased is destroyed ; 
his cattle are killed, all his’ implements ‘burnt, and his 
hut is overthrown ; his wife and family migrate else- 
where, and. his name never is again repeated, The 
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