FUNERAL RITES

the rites and ceremonies connected with the dispoding of the dead. Among the ancient gyptians the friends of the deceased put on mourning, and abstained from gaiety and entertainments for from forty to seventy days, during which time the body was embalmed. (See EMBALMING.) Among the ancient Jews great regard was paid to a due performance of the rites of sepulture; and among the ancient Greeks and Romans to be deprived of the proper rites was considered the greatest misfortune that could happen. The decorous interring of the dead with religious ceremonies indicative of hopes of a resurrection is characteristic of all Christian nations. With Roman Catholics the body is the object of solemn ceremonial from the moment of death until interment. The Church of England funeral service is too well known to require any notice. Among other Protestant bodies there is usually no formal service, but before the interment prayer is offered up or an ordinary religious service held in the house of the deceased or his relatives, or, in the case of a public funeral, in some public place. The delivery of funeral orations by laymen is a common practice in France, and not infrequent in America. The wake, or watching, is celebrated in some parts of the United Kingdom, particularly in its remoter districts. In Ireland the wake of the lower cla es is usually a scene of tumult and drunkenne . For many curious customs at funerals see Brand’s Popular Antiquities and Strutt’s Manners and Customs; see also BURIAL.—BIBLIOGRAPHY: Sir J. G. Frazer, The Golden Bough; ©. B. Tylor, Primitive Culture; Sir J. Lubbock (Lord Avebury), Origin of Civilization.