Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 25.djvu/850

832 duty and virtue. The ancient Egyptians, so far as their monuments have revealed them to us, lived in constant view of death, and made the preparation for it, both for the care of their bodies and the salvation of their souls, the most important work of their lives. No other people seem to have paid so paramount attention to it; but few if any tribes have ignored it or relegated it to an insignificant place.

The ideas about death and the customs associated with it are as various as are the tribes. They have been formed under the influence of the surroundings and local circumstances among which the people have lived, have been molded by religious beliefs and institutions, and have been affected by historical changes. A substantial sameness in reference to them prevails at this time among civilized nations, particularly in the higher and more cultivated classes; but, even in these nations, we have to go only a little way into the rural districts, among the peasantry, to find the most quaint and curious customs still in vogue, coming down from the times cf heathenism and barbarism, before conventionality had become the potent social force that it is. Very interesting illustrations of these survivals of old-time notions may be found in the provinces of Hungary, whose polyglot nationalities of various origin and history have hardly yet begun to feel the influences that have nearly reduced the busy population of the cities to a European homogeneity. A few of the most striking customs of these peoples have been studied by Herr Hugo Klein and described by him in "Das Ausland," and from his article is derived what follows in that division of our subject.

A characteristic of the funeral ceremonies of the Magyars is the feast which is eaten by the relatives and friends of the deceased after the burial, and is frequently accompanied by religious songs. The custom is beautifully illustrated in Palota, where the hymns are sung as the guests separate. The singing is continued on the streets, and the soft, clear tones of the, dirge can be heard in all parts of the town. In Agard, fruit-trees are planted around the graves, to mark them in the years to come after time and the elements have removed the wooden crosses that are set at their heads. In Bonghad, the dead were formerly escorted with torches to their eternal rest.

The funeral pomp formerly displayed by the Magyars in Transylvania reached a mark that defies description. The coffin was covered with gold-embroidered velvet fastened with silver nails bearing the arms of the deceased. The man's weapons and the woman's jewels and dresses, frequently to the value of many thousands, were deposited in the grave. If the deceased was a great land-holder, the bells were tolled twice a day from the time of death till the burial, and all the families within the circle of his acquaintance were invited to witness the ceremonies, so that sometimes the village could hardly contain all who came. Special officers were appointed to direct the proceedings, and these, with the magnificent catafalque and the two armored knights