Page:Guatimala or the United Provinces of Central America in 1827-8.pdf/92

Rh generally performed before day light on the following morning, and all attendant expenses are paid by the parents of the bride. The newly married couple then adjourn to the house of the lady's father, where they reside for fifteen or twenty days.

The other rites of the church are conducted in the same way as in other Catholic countries. Funerals are very expensive, owing not only to the number of individuals who take part in the ceremony, but also to the splendid dresses in which bodies are interred. The wealthy throw away considerable sums in the indulgence of this foolish vanity, and not unfrequently expend a sum equal to £50 sterling upon the interment of a new born infant.

The most splendid funeral I witnessed in Guatimala, was that of a rich Canonigo. The friars of the different convents, two by two, led the procession, one bearing a massy silver cross, and the others lighted wax candles, the canonigos and the doctors following in their robes. After the bier walked the priests and curas two by two, the chief of the state, the friends of the late canon, and the principal military officers. Between the house of the deceased and the place of interment, a distance of about 500 yards, were arranged at equal distances in the street, four large tables covered with black cloth, and holding six