p. 733 | A CHINESE FUNERAL

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Dec 2, 1889

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 15, No. 46.

A CHINESE FUNERAL.

AMONG the strangest customs of foreign nations are those connected with the burial of the dead. What a terrible thing death is to those who have not heard the words: "He that liveth and believeth on me shall never die"!

A little Chinese girl was buried in Evergreen Cemetery, in New York, the other day, in a way that would seem very odd to an American child. Red candles, which emitted a disagreeable odor, were burned in the house, and at the grave a fire was kindled to burn all the girl’s clothes. Into this the relatives kept throwing a white powder, which burned with a bluish light. The Chinese believe that Satan has a fashion of racing to the grave and seizing the body as soon as it arrives, so on the way there the friends keep tossing bits of paper out of the carriage window, which Satan is supposed to pick up and read, thus allowing the procession to reach the cemetery first.—Selected.