Twenty Years' Residence among the People of Turkey: Bulgarians, Greeks, Albanians, Turks, and Armenians

by Fanny Janet Sandison Blunt

The formalities connected with this observance are of strictly religious character, and consequently carried out to the letter. The first condition to be observed is to keep the lower part of the body covered, the next to handle it with great gentleness and attention, lest those engaged in the performance of that duty draw upon them the curse of the dead. Seven small portions of cotton are rolled up in seven small pieces of calico; each of these is successively passed between the limbs by the Imam, while some hot water is poured over the bundles, which are then cast away one after the other. After the rest of the body has been washed, the abtest, or formal religious ablution, is administered to it. This consists in washing the hands, and in bringing water in the hand three times to the nose, three times to the lips, and three times from the crown of the head to the temples; from behind the ears to the neck; from the palm of the hand to the elbow, and then to the feet, first to the right and then to the left. This strange ceremony is performed twice. The tabout (coffin) is then brought in and placed by the side of the stretcher, both of coarse deal, put together with the rudest workmanship. Before laying the body in the coffin, a piece of new calico, double its size, is brought. A strip about two inches in width is torn off the edge, and divided into three pieces, which are placed upon three long scarves laid across the shell. The calico, serving as a shroud, is next stretched in the coffin, and a thousand and one drachms of cotton, with which to envelope the corpse, are placed upon it. Some of this cotton is used to stop the issues of the body, and is placed under the armpits and between the fingers and toes.

The body is then dressed in a sleeveless shirt, called kaflet, and is gently placed in the coffin. Pepper is sifted on the eyes, and a saline powder on the face, to preserve from untimely decay; rose-water is then sprinkled on the face, which is finally enveloped in the remainder of the cotton. The shroud is then drawn over and secured by the three strips of calico, one tied round the head, the other round the waist and the third round the feet, and the coffin is closed down.

When all is ready, the guests are admitted; and the Imam, turning round, asks the crowd: “O congregation! What do you consider the life of this man to have been?” “Good,” is the invariable response. “Then give helal to him.”

The coffin, covered with shawls and carrying at the head the turban or fez of the deceased hung on a peg, is then borne on the shoulders of four or more individuals who are constantly relieved by others; and the funeral procession, composed exclusively of men, headed by the Imam and Hodjas, slowly winds its way in silence through the streets until it arrives at the mosque where the funeral service is to be read. The coffin is deposited on a slab of marble, and a short Namaz, called Mihit Namaz, is performed by the congregation standing. This concluded, the procession resumes its way to the burial-ground, where the coffin is deposited by the side of the grave, which, for a man, is dug up to the height of a man’s waist, for a woman, up to her shoulder.

A small clod of earth, left at one end of the excavation, in the direction of the Kibla, takes the place of a pillow. The coffin is then uncovered, and the body gently lifted out of it by the ends of the three scarves, previously placed under it (one supporting the head, another the middle of the body, and the third the feet), and lowered into its last resting-place. A short prayer is then recited, a plank or two laid at a little distance above the body, and the grave is filled up.

At this stage, all the congregation withdraw, and the Imam is left alone by the side of the grave, where he is believed to enter into mysterious communications with the spirit of the departed, who is supposed to answer all the questions on his creed which his priest puts to him. He is prompted in these answers by two spirits, one good and one evil, who are believed to take their places by his side. Should he have been an indifferent follower of the Prophet, and forbidden to enter Paradise, the evil spirit forces him to deny the only true God, and make a profession unto himself. A terrible battle is supposed to ensue in the darkness of the grave between the good and evil spirits called Vanqueur and Veniqueur.[33] The good angel spares not his blows upon the corpse and the evil spirit, until the latter, beaten and disabled, abandons his prey, who by Allah’s mercy is finally accepted within the fold of the true believers.

This scene, however, is revealed to none by the Imam, and remains a secret between Allah, the departed, and himself. I have questioned several Mohammedans of different classes about this superstition, and they all appear to believe in it implicitly. Most credulous are the women, who embellish the tale with Oriental exaggeration and wonderful fancies that pass description.

The funeral ceremonies of the women are similar to those of the men, with the exceptions, that the washing is done by women screened from view, and that when the body is laid upon the “couch of comfort,” the face, as well as the body, is half covered, instead of the body only. During the procession the only apparent difference is that, instead of the fez on the peg at the head of the coffin, one sees the chimber, or coif.

The necessity of immediate burial in hot climates where Islam had its birth and passed its childhood must have been the cause of the adoption of the custom in Turkey. It has the disadvantage, that in the time of an epidemic, such as cholera, a great number of people are falsely taken for dead and buried alive; but when accident reveals the disturbed condition of these unfortunate beings to the living, instead of exciting the horror of relations, the disturbance is universally attributed to struggles with evil spirits after burial. Few invalids receive regular medical attendance, and post-mortem examinations are unheard of.

It is considered sinful for parents to manifest extreme sorrow for the loss of their children; for it is believed that the children of over-mourning parents are driven out of Paradise and made to wander about in darkness and solitude, weeping and wailing as their parents do on earth. But it is the reverse with the case of children bereaved of their parents; they are expected never to cease sorrowing, and are required to pray night and day for their parents’ forgiveness and acceptance into Paradise.