Death Superstitions and Customs.

Te Aroha News, Volume VIII, Issue 485, 5 July 1890, Page 3

Death Superstitions and Customs.

It is curious to note that through all ages when death is spoken of, we find an endeavour made to hide its grim reality by the use of a softer name. Thus, it is frequently referred to as ‘sleop,’ 4 departure,’ or ‘eternal rest.’ Among the Greeks sudden death of men was attributed to Apollo,, and of women to Diana. As a rule, uncivilised races bury with their dead such articles as they suppose the departed spirit may find it noeessary to take into the next world. Thus various weapons and implements are often buried with a corpse-although these are in some cases purposely damaged in order that they may not excite the cupidity ottho irreverent—and in many cases ibis customary at the death ofagreat man toslay a number of his wives, slaves, and cattle for his use hereafter. Before interment the Greeks placed in the mouth of a corpse a piece of money, together with a special kind of cake, the former being Charon’s fare for ferrying across the Styx, and the latter to propitiate Cerebus, the gatekeeper of Hades. The idea of the soul having to cross a river on its journey to the land of the departed spirits is of much greater antiquity than the Greeks or Romans, and may be traced back to the early Aryan Mythology. Possibly it may have originated in a fancied resemblance of the Milky Way bo a river flowing across the sky, which river would have to be crossed in order to reach the region beyond the stars, where Heaven was supposed to be situated. In Greece the obsequies of the dead were in ancient times considered most important, for it was supposed that, without interment of the body, the scul could nob at once enter Pluto’s dominions, but would be forced to wander miserably about for a hundred years, unless in tho meantime a proper burial should take place. Thus, in some extreme cases of %'engeance or punishment carried beyond tho grave, wo find records of rho body being thrown to the beasts and birds of prey instead of being honoured with the usual funeral rites. Those persons who were struck by lightning being regarded as objects of divine wrath, were, some writers suppose, left unburied on the spot where they had fallen. At any rate, even where interment took place, the body was buried apart from tho rest of the community. Tho melancholy fate of those who did nob enjoy .proper burial naturally caused death by drowning to be regarded with great terror. When the body could not- bo recovered, however, an endeavour was sometimes made to mitigate the suffering of the deceased by erecting a tomb to his memory and thrice calling the wandering soul to’ the abode prepared for it. Some bribes of North American Indians consider it very unlucky to mention a dead person by name. By. most of them, too, a corpse is regarded with more or less horror, and is consequently squeezed with as little delay as possible into tho box which does duty for a coffin. These boxes, wo may add, instead of being buried in the earth, are in some localities frequently placed up in trees. In Greece the practice of burying the dead in their nativ® land was followed as far as possible, and accordingly the ashes of those who died abroad were usually conveyed to the mother-country for interment. With the ancient Greeks, as with ourselves, it was customary to close the eyes and mouth of a corpse, and when laid out the body was washed by the women. The final ablution, however, waß sometimes performed before death. Thus, Socrates is said to have washed himself beforehand, in order that the women might be saved tho trouble after his decease. There is a Manx euperstition that if the knots of a shroud are not untied before the coffin lid is finally screwed down the restless ghost of the deceased will wander about at large, which contingency, let us hope, is carefully guarded against, for in all probability the Manx folk are not more partial than other people to visits from denizens of another world, and it cannot be denied that however great one’s affection may be for a deceased relative or friend, one does not usually feel any very great desire to have the disembodied spirit of the latter hovering around, and unexpectedly turning up at a late hour in lonely places. There is, we believe, a superstition in Islay that the last person buried in a churchyard has to keep watch over the spot until relieved by the next comer. In the north one may still find superstitious people who during a funeral open all the windows of the house in order that free egress may be allowed the spirit of the deceased, which is supposed bo hover near bhfc corpse until after burial. In some parts of the country it is customary at a death to • inform the bees of tho calamity, or to put their hives in mourning with black crape, it being supposed that otherwise the. bees might desert their owners. A belief in the transmigration of souls is tolerably universal, and according to the North American Indians the spirits of the departed generally enter birds favoured in this respect. The Kaffirs suppose that when the dead visit the living they generally enter the bodies of snakes or lizards for that purpose, although sheep and many other kind of animals may sometimes be made use of,