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State of Religion amongst the Modern Greeks. 435
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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rockets , from the Acropolis , with the sound of drums and pipes , at the same time that the Christians were manifesting their glee to torn me mo rate another event , in every street of the city below .
This oppressed people woiild find life too long and burthensome , were it not for their religious festivals , and accordingly they have retained much of the joyful part of the ceremony attached even to the funeral rites of their ancestors .
On the death of any person of dignity , the body is dressed in a rich garment , and laid upon a litter , strewed with flowers , and covered with a , rich canopy , and the corpse , with the face displayed , is left a short time in the vestfb'ule of the
house , surrounded by the family of the deceased . At the stated time , the procession sets forward . The servants of the household jnove two and two before the bier ,
which is borne on poles at a litile height from the ground . The male relations and the priests immediately precede the-body . On each side of the bier are two or
three old women lamenting aloud , detailing the dignities and virtues of the deceased , and interrogating him ' , as to his reasons for quitting the wdrld . — " Why did you die ? You had money , you bad friends , yob had a fair wife , and many
tpildrCn , —why did you die r " These unotimers are hired , and the common pay of each is five loaves , four jars of wine , half a cheese , a quarter of mutton , and about fif . teen pence in money , ph 'eir howling is extremel y ludicrous , and has not even the semblance of
grief . Behind the body is a long train , of the female relations and friends , ' muffled up in . mourning habits . If the dead toe a young
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woman , several girls in white precede and follow the bier , and dt intervals scatter real or artificial flowers on the body . At Constantinople , or rather at Pera , the distance to ihe bury ingground is considerable , and gives * time for lame bodies of followers
to collect and accompany the procession to the tomb . Arrived at the place of interment , the bier is set down , a short service read , and ih& body deposited , with its
dress , and rolled in a windingsheet , in the grave , the mourners continuing to howl most piteously during this last ceremony . The garlands that adorned the bier arc some of them thrown into the
grave , and others carried home by the mourners and friends . Afterwards , and generally on ( he ninth day after the funeral , a feast is prepared by the nearest relation , accompanied with music and dancing , and every oilier
species of merriment . But the priest gain the most by these festive demonstrations of grief . They are supplied always on the ninth day , and frequently also during the mourning , with large colyvas , which present is repeated also for thiee or four anniversaries of the
bunal . Yoii rnav have before seen it % n . observed , that thefe is a remarkable conformity between some customs of the Irish and of the Greeks . The funerals of the two
nations bear the strongest irirriilarify to each other , though the lower classes alone of the ionner people preserve that part of the ceremony which , amongst the . latter nation , is peculiaily attached' to ( btf wealthy and important , ( or according to a ! modern Greek aJayk ){ £ , *• a rich man is wept by Unctt
State Of Religion Amongst The Modern Greeks. 435
State of Religion amongst the Modern Greeks . 435
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1813, page 435, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2430/page/11/
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