A Woman's Journey Round The World, From Vienna To Brazil, Chili, Tahiti, China, Hindostan, Persia, And Asia Minor By Ida Pfeiffer
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For This Purpose, There Are, In Every Church,
Particular Chambers, With Catacombs Formed In The Walls.
The corpse
is strewed with lime, and laid in a catacomb of this description,
where, after a lapse of eight or ten months, the flesh is completely
eaten away.
The bones are then taken out, cleaned by boiling, and
collected in an urn, on which is engraved the name, birth-day, etc.,
of the deceased. These urns are afterwards set up in the passages
of the church, or sometimes even taken home by the relations.
On All-souls' day, the walls of the chambers are hung with black
cloth, gold lace, and other ornaments, and the urns are richly
decorated with flowers and ribbons, and are lighted up by a great
number of tapers in silver candelabra and chandeliers, placed upon
high stands. From an early hour in the morning until noon, the
women and young girls begin praying very fervently for the souls of
their deceased relations, and the young gentlemen, who are quite as
curious as those in Europe, go to see the young girls pray.
Females on this day are dressed in mourning, and often wear, to the
great disgust of the curious young gentlemen before mentioned, a
black veil over their head and face. No one, by the way, is allowed
to wear a bonnet at any festival of the church.
But the most brilliant of the public festivals I saw here, was the
christening of the imperial princess, which took place on the 15th
of November, in the Imperial Chapel, which is connected with the
palace.
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