The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1925, Page 125

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THE LUTHERAN PIONEER.

morning she had passed away, not having regained
consciousness as far as they could ascertain.

Although she had not received Baptism, yet on
the strength of our Christian brother’s testimony
that she really desired the salvation of Christ we
consented to bury her together with her husband.
Consequently the double burial.

The burial service took place on April 19; the
undersigned officiated. A short service was held at
the house, and then the remains were carried to the
chapel; but because of the immense weight and

125

heathen use, and of the firecrackers, which are ex-
ploded to scare away the evil spirits. The services
at the chapel were attended by such a throng that
the pastor, on ascending and on descending the
altar platform, was obliged to push his way forcibly
through. While delivering his address, he had
people so close to the right, to the left, and to the
rear that gestures had to be eliminated. The ad-
dress was based on Luke 2, 25—82.

From the chapel we accompanied the remains
to the burial-grounds, about one mile outside

yr 2th

Voda, 4

feat a ‘
Ti wai |
aw

A Chinese Funeral.

clumsiness of the coffins it was impossible without
exceeding difficulty to get them into the chapel.
Therefore one was gotten as far as the court, and
the other was left standing in front of the chapel.
Some of the Chinese coffins weigh as high as six
and seven hundred pounds., The procession was as
follows: The officiating pastor rode in a sedan chair
at the head, then came the schoolchildren, after
these the two coffins, borne on the shoulders of
coolies by means of heavy beams and carrying-poles.
Each coffin required sixteen coolies. Closely follow-
ing the coffin came the mourners decked in white
mourning, then. the friends and distant relatives.
The schoolchildren sang hymns while marching,
which took the place of the noisy minstrels the

of the city. As a rule, only the immediate rela-
tives accompany the departed to the grave, but fol-
lowing the custom of the West, we asked the con-
gregation to accompany the remains of our departed
brother and sister to the grave, where the last rites
were administered. This ceremony was delayed for
over half an’hour because the graves were not fin-
ished. : :
Taking all the inconveniences together, the en-
tire services were dragged out to about five hours.
This being our first Christian adult burial service,
naturally it caused much interest in Shihnan, also
much time and labor. We hope that our other
Christians will now understand far better the
solemn beauty of Christian burial as contrasted