A TURKISH FUNERAL.

Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 2774, 4 January 1878, Page 2

A TURKISH FUNERAL.

No sooner has the soul of a devout Mussulman quitted its earthly tenement than the corpse is considered as mere clay, and, moreover, is treated as such by the friends and relations of the deceased. No pompous rites, no useless ceremonies attend the burial of tho true believer, who is hurried to his last resting place in a manner which, would appear highly indecorous in the eyes of Europeans. Immediately life is extinct the body is stripped of all clotlv ing, carried out into a yard, and laid on a table or bench, while the nearest kin proceed to wash the corpse by throwing buckets of water over it. When this duty is performed, the body is dressed again and laid in a common deal coffin, in which are placed a jug of water, a loaf of bread, and generally a small jar containing money, presumably to pay the entrance fee iito Mohammed'i Paradise. A green cloth, the lioly color, is thrown over the coffin, to the head of which are attached the fez and turban of the defunct. The bearers then lift tho coffin on their shoulders by means of poles nailed to it, and set off at a quick walk or half-run for the nearest tncsquo. In Europe it is customary to raise the hat on passing » funeral; but the Mussulman's respect for the dead, even unknown to him, is of a far more demonstrative nature, for he joins the procession and himself assists in carrying the coffin for a fevr yards. 3*ere is nothing of the order and regularity which mark European interments about a Turkish funeral; far it is etiquette that the bearers should be constantly changed, not, however, arresting the progress of tho procession, and thus to allow all tho followers to have their share of paying this last tribute of respect to the departed. On the arrival of the cortege at the mosque, a few prayers are said by the mollah, and it resumes its way to the cemetery in the same order. The body is then lowered into a grave—never more than two feet deep-—the earth is rudely shovelled over it, and the ceremony is at an end.—Pictorial World.