Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 33.djvu/608

590 hastily brace himself for the arduous labors that have come upon him through bereavement.

Messengers go to inform all the kindred of the demise, and an elderly man, of the same surname as the deceased, dressed in sackcloth and followed by the eldest son, takes a new earthen saucepan, goes to a running stream, throws three sheets of spirit-money upon it, and, dipping in the direction of the current, takes water with which to cleanse the corpse. A sprig of bamboo or of banyan is inserted in the snout of the saucepan, the bamboo with its straight, evenly jointed stem being the type of paternal rule, and the banyan, with its unfading verdure, being the symbol of maternal affection. While the son is gone to buy the water of purification, the relatives assemble in the house, and, when his return is announced by his moans, they burst out simultaneously into a loud wail, each naming the relationship of the deceased to himself. It is thought that the son may be comforted by this indirect reminder that his parent had many friends who share the grief of the nearest of kin. The corpse is sprinkled with the water shaken from a branch of pomegranate, the many-seeded emblem of increase, and it is then ready for encoffining. Two paper images, one of a man, the other of a maid-servant, are bought and placed beside the body. A son puts some boiled rice in the mouth of the corpse, saying, "You fed me while I grew, I feed you when you are dead," and then commands two images to obey the behests of the departed and to run on all errands as directed by him. The images stand rigid before any number of prostrations made by the mourners, but are blown down by a breath of wind. They perhaps inspire the general feeling of superstitious aversion against being fanned by another, and originate the common polite inhibition, "I would receive a hundred obeisances from you sooner than one puff of air from your fan."

The male relatives then go in a body to the temple of the local tutelary deity, and announce the death. They carry lighted lanterns, because the daytime of men is the night of gods and spirits. The bell is tolled, the eldest son prostrates himself before the shrine as many times as will correctly indicate the years of the departed, and gives the sad information of his decease. They then return to the house of mourning, and some one goes to a soothsayer to ascertain what time will be lucky for the encoffining of the corpse. The natal dates, recorded for every member of the family, must be laid before the soothsayer, and some moment must be chosen whose signs are geomantically in accord with those of the birthdays and hours of the living, else evil will accrue to any whose horoscope conflicts. To lay the dead in the coffin without regard to the birth-times of those who assist would endanger life needlessly. Some propitious hour during the first, second, or third