with flowers, wreaths, and garlands of evergreen the resting-place of those who have been dear to them—a very tender and impressive usage, speaking eloquently of the most affectionate human sentiments.
Mr. R. G. Haliburton, of Boston, Mass., in a very learned and most interesting paper[1] on the "Festival of Ancestors," or the feast of the dead, so prevalent among all nations of the earth, speaking of the singularity of its being observed everywhere at precisely the same epoch of the year, says: "It is now, as it was formerly, observed at or near the beginning of November by the Peruvians, the Hindoos, the Pacific islanders, the people of the Tonga Islands, the Australians, the ancient Persians, the ancient Egyptians, and the northern nations of Europe, and continued for three days among the Japanese, the Hindoos, the Australians, the ancient Eomans, and the ancient Egyptians. … This startling fact at once drew my attention to the question, How was this uniformity in the time of observance preserved, not only in far distant quarters of the globe, but also through that vast lapse of time since the Peruvian and the Indo-European first inherited this primeval festival from a common source?" What was that source?
When contemplating the altar at the entrance of Prince Coh's funeral chamber, we asked ourselves. Are we still in
That small present we owe to the ghosts;
Those powers do not look at what we give them, but how;
No greedy desires prompt the Stygian shades.
They only ask a tile crowned with garlands,
And fruit and salt to scatter on the ground.
The Romans believed, as did the Hindoos and the Mayas, that salt scattered on the ground was a strong safeguard against evil spirits.
- ↑ R. G. Haliburton, "Festival of Ancestors," Ethnological Researches Bearing on the Year of the Pleiades.
