Page:Queen Moo and the Egyptian Sphinx.djvu/116

10 sion of corn and chicha they renewed through openings arranged on purpose from the exterior of the tomb to vessels placed near the body.

Even to-day the aborigines of Yucatan, Peten, and other countries in Central America where the Maya language is spoken, as if in obedience to this affirmation of the Hindoo legislator—"The manes accept with pleasure that which is offered to them in the clearings of the forests, localities naturally pure; on river banks and in secluded places" —are wont, at the beginning of November, to hang from the branches of certain trees in the clearings of the forests, at cross-roads, in isolated nooks, cakes made of the best corn and meat they can procure. These are for the souls of the departed to partake of, as their name hanal pixan ("the food of the souls") clearly indicates.

Does not this custom of honoring the dead exist among us to-day? The feast of "All Souls" is celebrated by the Catholic Church on the second day of November, when, as at the feast of the Feralia, observed on the third of the ides (February the eleventh) by the Romans, and so beautifully described by Ovid, people visit the cemeteries, carry presents, adorn