Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 14.djvu/53

MORTUARY CUSTOMS. 41 MORTUARY CUSTOMS. ing through the roof or by some roundabout way, ill onk'r lliat the ghost may get bewildered and not return. Tlic procession to the grave, among savages, lias cluuiged little in the course of cen- turies. t'.sually, mutilations of a more or less cruel character are then observed by certain persons, while among other tribes only a small number carry the dead away and are thereafter unclean. Di.sposAL OF THE CoEPSE. The disposal of the corpse docs not necessarily mean interment. We may distinguish five methods which have under- gone countless modifications as outgrowths of race, climate, soil, and grade of culture. ( 1 ) Exposure. — The bodies are not .scaled up, but are left to destruction on the ground (rare), or are hidden in clefts, caves, or grottoes; in the hut where the death took place; on trees, posts, scaf- folds, or platforms ; in boxes or canoes ; in log pens, or dead houses ; or in Towers of Silence. (2) Aquatic Burial. — The corpse is placed on the water or under the water, as among the Hindus, who consign dead bodies to the Ganges. (3) Inhumation. — The corpse is buried in a single grave, which is often shelved or recessed; in pits or Golgothas ; in cairns, or under mounds or tumuli ; under the floor of the home or in con- secrated structures. (4) Encysted. — The body is inclosed in rude boxes of wood, stone, or other materials, which are placed in dolmens, vaults, sepulchres, house-tombs, kistvaens, or mauso- leums. (5) Cremation. — The corpse is burned and the ashes are abandoned, scattered, buried, boxed, or inurned. In this ccinucction belongs the custom of mak- ing deposits with the dead. No other part of this complicated series of customs comes so near to the world of shades. Thus in Dahomey the bodies of wives and slaves were sacrificed with- out number, and in the days of knighthood the horse and armor accompanied the warrior. It is through these relics found with the dead that archaeology' is to a large extent possible. Most extinct peoples were without the art of writing; hut stone implements, pottery, objects in bone and metal, and even textile fabrics reveal enough to enable the archfeologist to reconstruct ancient society. Among some American tribes articles of use were punctured or broken before being placed in the grave. One of the tribe who robbed a grave would not be tolerated, but an inimical tribe might be tcniptcd. The Polynesians would rob sacred inclosures of the enemies' dead in time of war and steal the bones of distingilislied men to make tools, fish-lumks, and other degrading im- plements. To avoid this, bones were carried to the caverns far away and hidden in clefts of rocks. In the Fiji Islands favorite wive.s as well as slaves were strangled on the death of a chief in order that they might wait upon him and be happy with him in the spirit world. To this they gladly submitted, not only in the prospect of greater happiness, but to avoid unspeakable miseries in after life. Po.sT-jMoRTEM Ceremonies. These may be grouped together under the general head of mourning, including both what is done and what is left undone in dress, conduct, etiquette, and rites. As soon as a burial takes place among the -Australians and other savage races, the camp is burned down, everything in it is destroyed, and the people move to another place. During the mourning period no person may mention the name of the dead except in case of necessity, when it must be done in a wliisper for fear of annoj'ing the ghost. If the ghost should hear the name mentioned it would come to the con- clusion that the relatives were not properly mourning, and they would be in consequence lia- ble to liis vengeance; for, if their grief were genuine, it would cause them too much pain to hear his name mentioned to allow them to speak it. Many seemingly absurd customs about the graves or tombs of the dead are easily explained when it is kept in mind that the dead are not regarded as really dead. Putting rags or parts of torn clothing about the tombs, or on trees near by, as a notice to the ghost that the appropriate rending of garments had taken place, is one of these customs. A complete list of them would fill a volume. It is enough to mention the tolling of bells, choice and fashions of mourn- ing, cutting one's flesh, calling the dead, turn- ing pictures toward the wall, feeding the dead, scrupulous care of the grave, hired mourners, and the imperative customs as to who shall mourn, when, how long, and how, sacrifices at the grave, naming the dead, and the widow's lot. Cult of and for the Dead. The ghostly world of savages is never far away. The anthropomor- phism of nature does not end with this life. The dead go at once to some place on the earth or under the earth where the most congenial occu- pations are renewed. When the ghost of the Polynesian leaves the body it is drawn out through the head as the sword is pulled out from the scabbard. Evil powers also lie in wait for the ghost to seize it when it is drawn out. Arriv- ing safely at the place of the blessed, it is de- voured by the gods, cannibalism being in full vogue above. Not in savagery only, but in all races, ages, and grades of culture this belief in the nearness of lost ones is held. More than this, reinearna- tiiin and metempsychosis are believed to be pos- sible. The savage woman comiilacently murders her babe thinking that the same one will enter into the mother's womb and be born again. As the dead are not considered dead, but are even more powerful as ghosts than they were as men, a complex and wide-reaching cult of almost uni- versal extent has been evolved, which has for its object the propitiation and gratification of the spirits of the dead. See Demoxology ; Ghosts. Memorials for the Dead. Combined with the fear of the dead is a desire, primarily, perhaps, based on anxiety to propitiate the ghost by a proof of suitable mourning, and later founded on real affection, to preserve the memory of the departed. The Andamanese widow carefully dries the skull of her deceased hu.sband, paints it with ochre, decorates it with rude lace-work, and wears it for a memorial about the neck. Analo- gous synecdochic preservation of the dead is al- most universal among primitive peoples. The Eskimo place by the side of the grave the huge jaw of a whale. The Northern Pacific tribes set up great posts of cedar. The ancient people of the Mississippi Valley built mounds of earth and stone. In Easter Island images cut in lava were memorials. The Tahitians set up little models of their houses about six feet high where the body of .a chief clothed and rubbed with aromatic sub- stances was laid while offerings were made. These all tell the same story. As culture advanced