Again, at Mazatlan in Mexico, the funeral of a child is very revolting. The corpse of the child, dressed in great state, is placed erect on a board, by means of a pole, and, thus standing, is carried on men's shoulders through the streets, giving at every step a nod with his head, which is most disgusting to behold. A band of musicians leads the train; then follow the priest, the mourners, and several men, who throw up rockets and crackers. In some parts of Mexico deceased children are actually attired as angels, with a pair of goose or pelican wings, suspended by a rope between two trees, and thus swung in the air, while the friends and relations dance around it like a herd of savages.[1] But this realism in angelic representation is not one whit more gross, in my humble opinion, than that represented in the beautiful paintings of the President of the Royal Academy, who is content to imagine that birds' wings growing out of human shoulder-blades is the best representation of the angelic that art can give us.[2]
I will finally refer to one other curious piece of evidence under this head. In the Caucasus, among the Armenian Christians, in case of necessity—for instance, if a person is at the point of death and there is no human being near — confession may be made to a tree or stone, and in place of the consecrated elements the dying man may take earth into his mouth.[3] Stone worship is a cult of surprising vigour
- ↑ Seeman, Voyage of H. M.S. "Herald", ii, 151-52.
- ↑ Popular ideas about angels are well worth noting. The poorer classes, some years ago, considered "that they are children, or children's heads and shoulders, winged. It is notorious and scriptural they think that the body dies, but nothing being said about the head and shoulders, they have a sort of belief that they are preserved to angels, which are no other than dead young children. A medical man told me that he was called upon to visit a woman who had been confined, and all whose children had died. As he reached the door a neighbour came out, saying, 'O she's a blessed 'oman, a blessed 'oman.' 'What do you mean?' said he. 'She's a blessed 'oman, for she breeds angels for the Lord.'"—Essays by the Rev. J. Eagles.
- ↑ Haxthausen, Transcaucasia, 317.
