Page:Vol 3 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/782

762 funerals were pompous; the mourning was deep and of long duration. Indeed, the king found it necessary to interfere in more than one decree with the reckless extravagance in this respect that must prove a serious burden to many. The draping of the church and house was limited to the coffin vault and the widow's reception room; candles or torches were reduced to about a dozen, coaches forbidden for the funeral procession, and the funeral dress was prescribed to narrow forms. Mourning should be worn for not more than six months, and only for nearer relatives, not by servants of the family. The fees of the clergy for the necessary masses, tolling of bolls, and other ceremonies, also suffered a reduction. These like other regulations were either overruled or fell into disuse, and had to be repeated with different modifications, and with indifferent result. A peculiar feature was the rejoicing which attended the funeral of a child, with singing, drinking, and dancing, in token of gladness over its incorporation among the angels while yet uncorrupted. Cemeteries beyond the limits of the towns were rare before the time of Revilla Gigedo, who urged their formation on sanitary grounds, but it required special royal and ecclesiastic orders to enforce the measure.

It did not require much effort to sustain life in so sunny a clime, where the masses were content to