28 Burial riles among the Karens. [No. 1, 



Before the burial, an elder opens the hand of Che dead man and 

 puts into a bangle or some other bit of metal, and then cuts off a few 

 particles with a sword, saying : " May we live to be as old as thou 

 art." Each one in the company goes through the same ceremonials, 

 and the fragments gathered are looked upon as charms to prolong life. 



When about to bury the corpse, two candles made of bees-wax are 

 lighted, and two swords are brought. A sword and a candle is taken 

 by the eldest son, and a sword and a candle by the youngest ; and they 

 march round the bier in opposite directions three times, each time 

 they meet exchanging swords and candles. After completing the 

 circuits, one candle is placed at the foot of the coffin, and the other at 

 the head. 



A fowl or a hog is led three times round the building in which the 

 body is placed, and on completing the first round, it is struck with a 

 strip of bamboo once ; on completing the second round twice ; and at 

 the third round it is killed. If a fowl, it is killed by twisting its 

 head off. The meat is set before the body as food. 



Young people are buried in a similar manner, but with some 

 abridgement of the forms. 



When the day of burial arrives, and the body is carried to the 

 grave, four bamboo splints are taken, and one is thrown towards the 

 west, saying : " That is the east." Another is thrown to the east, 

 saying : " That is the west." A third is thrown upwards towards the 

 top of the tree, saying : " That is the foot of the tree ; " and a fourth 

 is thrown downwards, saying: "That is the top of the tree." The 

 sources of the stream are then pointed to, saying: " That is the mouth 

 of the stream ;" and the mouth of the stream is pointed to, saying : 

 " That is the head of the stream." This is done, because in Hades 

 everything is upside down in relation to the things of this world. 



The body is then buried, and the grave filled in without further 

 ceremony, and when the top of the grave has been neatly smoothed 

 off, a little fence of trellis work is built around it. Within this fence, 

 boiled rice and other food is placed for the dead. 



On returning from the grave, each person provides himself with 

 three little hooks made of branches of trees, and calling his spirit to 

 follow him, at short intervals, as he returns, he makes a motion as if 

 hooking it, and then thrusts the hook into the ground. This is done 



