FUNERAL RITES, the last religious and ceremonial tribute of friendship and love paid to the remains of the dead. Funeral rites have developed from the belief that the dead are not really dead and the desire to propitiate or alleviate the departed spirit. Among the Hindus the corpse is perfumed and adorned with flowers; it is then burned; after many cere monies the bones are deposited in a casket and buried, but afterward disinterred and thrown into the Ganges. A second series of obsequies commences after the period of mourning has expired, and this is followed by commemorative rites. The voluntary immolation (suttee) of the widow of the deceased, now abolished, was the most remarkable part of the ceremony. The Mohammedans bury their dead. The in terment takes place as soon as possible, in obedience to the command of the prophet! "Make haste to bury the dead, that, if he have done well, he may go forthwith into blessedness; if evil, into hell-fire? No signs of excessive grief, no tears nor lamentations, are allowed, as it is the duty of a good Mussulman to ac quiesce without a murmur in the will of God. On arriving at the burial place the body is com mitted to the earth with the face turned toward Mecca. Monuments arc forbidden by the law, but they are constantly erected. The Egyp tians embalmed their dead. Among the Jews the next of kin closed the eyes of the deceased; the corpse was then washed, and, in the case of persons of some consequence _at any rate, laid for a time in spices or anointed with spices, swathed in find' bandages, and deposited in the tomb. The mourning customs of the Jews may be collected from various passages of the Scriptures. They went bareheaded and bare foot, covered their mouths and kept silence, put on sackcloth, and sat in ashes; funeral songs were sung by persons hired for the purpose; splendid monuments were sometimes hewn out of the solid rock; with numerons niches; as each niche was filled, its entrance was stopped up by a large stone rolled against it. In the re ligious creed of the Greeks and Romans sepul ture was an act of piety to the dead; without it the spirit had to wander 100 years on the banks of the gloomy Styx. The last breath was generally caught by a near relative, who opened his mouth to receive it; the body was washed and crowned with flowers, a cake of flour and honey placed in the hand, as a bribe for Cer berus, and an obolus in the mouth, as a fee for Charon. Interment and burning were practised indifferently. In interment the body was placed with the face upward and the head to ward the west. In burning the pile varied in form and material; it was lighted by the nearest relative; perfumes and wine were poured on it, and the richest clothes of the dead were burned with him. The ashes were then collected and deposited in an urn. This .description relates to both Greeks and Romans, whose rites were nearly identical.
In the Roman Catholic Church the body is washed immediately after 'death, a crucifix is placed in the hands, and a vessel of holy-water at the feet, with which the visitants sprinkle it.
The Ritual prescribes that the corpse be borne in procession from the house in which it lies to the church, attended by the parish priest with acolytes and servitors all in cassock and sur plice, and one of them hearing the processional cross in the van. Before the procession moves, the priest first sprinkles the coffin with holy water and recites the De profundis and the Miserere while the procession is in movement. Taken into the church, the coffin is laid on trestles in the middle of the nave, the feet to the east or the sanctuary, if the deceased was a layman, the head to the sanctuary if he was a priest; lighted candles surround the coffin. Then follows the Office for the Dead, and after that the Mass for the Dead. After the Mass the priest, attended by the acolytes, pronounces the Absolution and certain prayers, meanwhile sprinkling the coffin with holy-water and fumi gating it with frankincense. The procession is now re-formed and the body borne to the place of burial. There the Benedictus is sung or re cited, followed by an Antiphon, Ego sum resur t'ectio et vita (I am the resurrection and the life) ; the corpse is again sprinkled, a final prayer is pronounced, and the body is laid in the grave or tomb. In the funerals of chil dren, the vestments of the clergy are white in stead of black, joyous psalms are chanted or recited, there are antiphons of praise and thanksgiving instead of petitions for mercy and forgiveness; and the church bell is not tolled.
In the Greek Church there are distinct serv ices for laymen, monks and priests severally. The officiant holds a short service at the house of the defunct; service is held at the church, to which the body has been brought, and then at the grave, where the priest takes a shovel and sprinkles dust cross-wise on the body. Finally, before the grave is closed, he casts wax or ashes from his censer upon the coffin.
The English Church, followed very closely by the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States, uses the order for the Burial of the Dead in the Book of Common Prayer. It is a stately and somewhat elaborate service, which is frequently used in part by other Prot estant bodies. The first section of the service is recited in church, to which the body has been brought, or at the house of the defunct. It consists of anthem, psalms and a lesson. The second section, sometimes called the committal, is recited at the grave, where dust is scattered on the coffin as it has been lowered. Consult Yarrow, H. C.,