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(represented by numerous Heb. and several Gr. words). Orientals are much more demonstrative in the signs of grief than natives of Western countries, as is evinced especially by two marked features:
a. What may be called its studied publicity, and the careful observance of the prescribed ceremonies. Thus Abraham, after the death of Sarah, came, as it were in state, to mourn and weep for her (Gen_23:2). Job, after his misfortunes, "arose, and rent his mantle (meil), and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground on the ashes" (Job_1:20; Job_2:8); and in like manner his friends "rent every one his mantle, and sprinkled dust upon their heads, and sat down with him on the ground seven days and seven nights" without speaking (Job_2:12-13). We read also of high places, streets, and house-tops as places especially chosen for mourning, not only by Jews, but by other nations (Isa_15:3; Jer_3:21; Jer_48:38; 1Sa_11:4; 1Sa_30:4; 2Sa_15:30).b. The comparative violence of Oriental mourning — oftentimes, indeed, assumed for effect, and even at times artificial or venal, is evident in several of the forms which Eastern grief assumes. Many of these acts, of course, as being natural, are common to all times and countries, but others are somewhat peculiar. Most of them are spontaneous, being simply the uncontrollable language of emotion; others are purely matters of habit. Yet both these classes of manifestation have their significance and uses, and are not therefore altogether arbitrary. It is not difficult, however, to ascertain the philosophy of mourning. Potter thinks that it consisted in receding as much as possible from ordinary customs and manners, in token that an extraordinary event had happened, and observes that such is the diversity of human customs that the signs of mourning in some nations coincide with those of joy in others (Archceologia Grceca [Lond. 1775], 2:194, 195). Although, no doubt, many modes of mourning are conventional, and originated in caprice, yet there would seem to be physical reasons for certain forms which have so widely and permanently prevailed. We will endeavor to digest the information furnished on this subject by the Scriptures, and contemporaneous as well as modern Writers, referring to other articles for details on minor or collateral particulars. See Geier, De Hebraeorum Luctu (2d ed. Lips. 1666). SEE GRIEF.
I. Occasions. —
1. Instances of mourning for the dead are most numerous in Scripture. Abraham mourns for Sarah (Gen_23:2); Jacob for Joseph (Gen_37:34-35); the Egyptians for Jacob (Genesis 1, 3-10); the house of Israel for Aaron (Num_20:29), for Moses (Deu_34:8), and for Samuel (1Sa_25:1); David for Abner (2Sa_3:31; 2Sa_3:35); Mary and Martha for their brother Lazarus (John 11); and "devout men" for Stephen (Act_8:2). These are a few examples out of many. SEE BURIAL.
2. Instances of mourning on account of calamities are not few; for example. Job under his multiplied afflictions (Job_1:20-21; Job_2:8); Israel under the threatening of the divine displeasure (Exo_33:4); the Ninevites in view of menaced destruction (Jon_3:5); the tribes of Israel when defeated by Benjamin (Jdg_20:26), and many others. The Lamentations of Jeremiah are illustrative of this point.
3. Mourning in repentance is illustrated by the case of the Ninevites adduced above; by the Israelites on the day of atonement, latterly called the fast (Lev_23:27; Act_27:9), and under the faithful preaching of Samuel (1Sa_7:6); by many references in the Psalms, and the predicted mourning in Zechariah (Zec_12:10-11). On the mourning for Adonis (Eze_8:14), SEE TAMIUZ.
II. Modes. —
1. Weeping appears either as one chief expression of mourning, or as the general name for it. Hence when Deborah, Rebecca's nurse, was buried at Bethel under an oak, the tree was then at least called Allon-bachuth, the oak of weeping (Gen_35:8). The children of Israel were heard to weep by Moses throughout their families, every man in the door of his tent (Num_11:10; comp. 14:1; 25:6). So numerous are the references to tears in the Scriptures as to give the impression that the Orientals had them nearly at command (comp. Psa_6:6). The woman washed our Lord's feet with her tears (Luk_7:38; comp. Sir_28:17). Men, as well as women, wept freely, and even aloud. "Lifted up his voice and wept" is an ordinary mode of expression. Giving vent to them is well known to be one of the physical alleviations of profound sorrow. It is so universal a sign of mourning that we need not detain the reader with further instances or illustrations, except to remark that the Egyptian monuments have not failed to depict the tears upon the faces of mourners. SEE WEEPING.
2. Loud lamentation is usually and naturally associated with weeping as a sign of grief (Rth_1:9; 1Sa_2:4; 2Sa_3:31; 2Sa_13:36). Nor are Orientals content with mere sobs: their excitableness appears in howls for grief, even amid the solemnities of worship (Joe_1:13; Mic_1:8, etc.). The Egyptians have ever been renowned for the vociferation of their grief; "there was a great cry in Egypt at the death of the first-born" (Exo_12:30). Crying aloud certainly diverts the attention from anguish of mind or body, and the value of moans and shrieks is well known in severe surgical .operations. But in addition to the wail of woe by the immediate bereaved, hired performers were often engaged to swell the lamentation with screams and noisy utterances; and this not merely at the funeral, but immediately after the decease. The first reference to professional mourners occurs in Ecc_12:5 : "The mourners ( äִñּåֹôְãַéí ) go about the streets." (The root of this word, observes Gesenius, signifies "a mournful noise," and he adduces Mic_1:8; Jer_22:18; Jer_34:5). They are certainly alluded to in Jer_9:17-20 : "the mourning women" (probably widows; comp. Psa_78:64; Act_9:39). Another reference to them occurs in 2Ch_35:25 (comp. Josephus, War, 3:9, 5). The greater number of the mourners in ancient Egypt were women, as in the modern East. Mourning for the dead in the East was conducted in a tumultuous manner (Mar_5:38). Even devout men made great lamentations (Act_8:2). Akin to this usage was the custom for friends or passers-by to join in the lamentations of bereaved or afflicted persons (Gen_1:3; Jdg_11:40; Job_2:11; Job_30:25; Job_27:15; Psa_78:64; Jer_9:1; Jer_22:18; 1Ki_14:13; 1Ki_14:18; 1Ch_7:22; 2Ch_35:24-25; Zec_12:11; Luk_7:12; Joh_11:31; Act_8:2; Act_9:39; Rom_12:15). So also in times of general sorrow we find large numbers of persons joining in passionate expressions of grief (Jdg_2:4; Jdg_20:26; 1Sa_28:3; 1Sa_30:4; 2Sa_1:12; Ezr_3:13; Eze_7:16; and the like is mentioned of the priests Joe_2:17; Mal_2:13). Clamor in grief is referred to by Job (Job_19:7; Job_20:28): it is considered a wicked man's portion that his widow shall not weep at his death (Job_27:15). Upon Job's recovery from his afflictions, all his relatives and acquaintances bemoan and comfort him concerning his past sufferings; which seems to have been a kind of congratulatory mourning, indulged in order to heighten the pleasures of prosperity by recalling associations of adversity (Job_42:11). SEE LAMENTATION.
3. Personal Disfigurement. — In all the other acts expressive of grief the idea of self-mortification seems to prevail, whether by injuries to the person or neglect of it, by mean clothing, by unusual and humiliating attitudes, or other marks of individual abasement, intended chiefly for the public eye. Some of the more violent forms have perhaps a natural, if not a remedial or alleviating character. Shaving the head may be a dictate of nature to relieve the excited brain. Plucking the hair is well calculated to assuage the action of some particular organs, to which the sensations of the individual may be a sufficient guide. Beating the breast may relieve the heart, oppressed with a tumultuous circulation. Cutting may be the effect of nature's indication of bleeding. Tearing and rending seem to palliate nervous irritation, etc. But the greater part of the practices under this head have their origin in custom, or some supposed fitness to a state of grief. Among the particular forms observed the following may be mentioned:
a. Rending the clothes (Gen_37:29; Gen_37:34; Gen_44:13; 2Ch_34:27; Isa_36:22; Jer_36:24 [where the absence of the form is to be noted]; 41:5; 2Sa_3:31; 2Sa_15:32; Jos_7:6; Joe_2:13; Ezr_9:5; 2Ki_5:7; 2Ki_11:14; Mat_26:65, ἱìÜôéïí ; Mar_14:63, ÷éôώí ). SEE CLOTHING.
b. Dressing in sackcloth (Gen_37:34; 2Sa_3:31; 2Sa_21:10; Psa_35:13; Isa_37:1; Joe_1:8; Joe_1:13; Amo_8:10; Jon_3:8, man and beast; Job_16:15; Est_4:3-4; Jer_6:26; Lam_2:10; 1Ki_21:27). SEE SACKCLOTH.
c. Ashes, dust, or earth sprinkled on the person (2Sa_13:19; 2Sa_15:32; Jos_7:6; Est_4:1; Est_4:3; Jer_6:26; Job_2:12; Job_16:15; Job_42:6; Isa_61:3; Rev_18:19). SEE ASHES.
d. Black or sad-colored garments (2Sa_14:2; Jer_8:21; Psa_38:6; Psa_42:9; Psa_43:2; Mal_3:14, marg.). SEE COLOR.
e. Removal of ornaments or neglect of person (Deu_21:12-13; Exo_33:4; 2Sa_14:2; 2Sa_19:24; Eze_26:16; Dan_10:3; Mat_6:16-17). See NAIL.
f. Shaving the head, plucking out the hair of the head or, beard (Lev_10:6; 2Sa_19:24; Ezr_9:3; Job_1:20; Jer_7:29; Jer_16:6). SEE HAIR.
g. Laying bare some part of the body: Isaiah himself naked and barefoot (Isa_20:2), the Egyptian and Ethiopian captives (ib. Isa_20:4; Isa_47:2; Isa_1:6; Jer_13:22; Jer_13:26; Nah_3:5; Mic_1:11; Amo_8:10). SEE NAKED.
h. Fasting or abstinence in meat and drink (2Sa_1:12; 2Sa_3:35; 2Sa_12:16; 2Sa_12:22; 1Sa_31:13; Ezr_10:6; Neh_1:4; Dan_10:3; Dan_6:18; Joe_1:14; Joe_2:12; Eze_24:17; Zec_7:5, a periodical fast during captivity; 1Ki_21:9; 1Ki_21:12; Isa_58:3-5; Isa_24:7; Isa_24:9; Isa_24:11; Mal_3:14; Jer_36:9; Jon_3:5; Jon_3:7 [of Nineveh]; Jdg_20:26; 2Ch_20:3; Ezr_8:21; Mat_9:14-15). SEE FASTING.
i. In the same direction, diminution in offerings to God, and prohibition to partake in sacrificial food (Lev_7:20; Deu_26:14; Hos_9:4; Joe_1:9; Joe_1:13; Joe_1:16).
k. Covering the " upper lip," i.e., the lower part of the face, and sometimes the head, in token of silence; specially in the case of the leper (Lev_13:45; 2Sa_15:30; 2Sa_19:4; Jer_14:4; Eze_24:17; Mic_3:7).
l. Cutting the flesh (Jer_16:6-7; Jer_41:5). SEE CUTTING (in the flesh).
m. The sitting or lying posture in silence indicative of grief (Gen_23:3; Jdg_20:26 : 2Sa_12:16; 2Sa_13:31; Job_1:20; Job_2:13; Ezr_9:3; Lam_2:10; Isa_3:26); also bowing down the head (Lam_2:10), and lifting up the hands (Psa_141:2; Lam_1:17; Ezr_9:5). SEE ATTITUDE.
Some of these outward expressions of mourning were usual among the heathen, but forbidden to the Israelits, e.g. making cuttings in the flesh (Lev_19:28), which seems to have been a custom of the votaries of Baal (1Ki_18:28); "making baldness between the eyes for the dead" (Deu_14:1), i.e., shaving the eyebrows and eyelids, and the fore-part of the head, which was, no doubt, an idolatrous custom. The priests were forbidden to "defile themselves for the dead" by any outward expression of mourning, except for their near relatives (Lev_21:1); and the high-priest even for these (Lev_21:10-11), under which restriction Nazarites also came (Num_6:7).
4. Formal Celebrations. — Besides and in connection with the funeral there were certain still more public usages indicative of grief, as noticed in the Scriptures:
(1.) Mourning for the dead in the earliest times was confined to the relatives and friends of the deceased; but in later times hired mourners, both men and women, were employed. Thus we are told that the "singing men and singing women spake of Josiah in their lamentations" (2Ch_35:25). In accordance with this the Lord says to the JeWs, when threatening heavy judgments for their sins-judgments calling for universal mourning: "Call for the mourning women that they may come,... let them make haste, and take up a wailing for us" (Jer_9:17). At first, most probably, hired mourners were called in to help to swell the tide of real sorrow. but afterwards they became a mere formal pageant, demanded by pride and custom rather than sorrow. (See above.) Mourning for the dead became a profession, learned and paid for, like any other; and the practice of it often became very boisterous and tumultuous. Hence we read of the "minstrels and people making a noise" in the house of Jairus (Mat_9:23), giving one the idea of a scene resembling an "Irish wake." SEE MINSTREL.
(2.) On such occasions neighbors and friends provided food for the mourners (2Sa_3:35; Jer_16:7; comp. Eze_24:17); this was called "the bread of bitterness," "the cup of consolation." See Garman, De pane lugentium (Vitemb. 1708). In later times the Jews had a custom of giving bread to the poor at funerals, and leaving it for their use at tombs, graves, etc., which resembles the Roman visceratio (Tob_4:17; Sir_30:8). Women went to tombs to indulge their grief (Joh_11:31).
(3.) The period of mourning varied. In the case: of Jacob it was seventy days (Gen_1:3); of Aaron (Num_20:29) and Moses (Deu_34:8), thirty; a further period of seven days in Jacob's case (Genesis , 10); seven days for Saul, which may have been an abridged period in time of national danger (1Sa_31:13). Excessive grief in the case of an individual may be noticed in 2Sa_3:16; Jer_31:15; and the same hypocritically in Jer_41:6.
The first complete description of mourning for the dead occurs in 2Sa_3:31-35, where David commands Joab and all the people that were with him to rend their clothes, gird themselves with sackcloth; and mourn for Abner; and David himself followed the bier, and they buried Abner in Hebron; and the king lifted up his voice and wept at the grave of Abner, and all the people wept, and David fasted two days, and wrote a lamentation for the deceased. Elegies were composed by the prophets on several disastrous occasions (Eze_26:1-18; Eze_27:1-36; Amo_5:1, etc.). The incident of Jephthah's daughter is too uncertain to afford any index to the modes of mourning at that aera. It appears that she was allowed two months to bewail her virginity with her companions, and that the Jewish women of that country went somewhere yearly to lament or celebrate her (Jdg_11:37-40). SEE JEPHTHAI.
III. Illustrations of these Scriptural Usages from Contemporary and Later Sources. —
1. Similar practices are noticed in the Apocryphal books:
a. Weeping, fasting, rending clothes, sackcloth, ashes or earth on head (1Ma_2:14; 1Ma_3:47; 1Ma_4:39; 1Ma_5:14; 1Ma_11:71; 1Ma_13:45; 2Ma_3:19; 2Ma_10:25; 2Ma_14:15; Jdt_4:10-11; Jdt_8:5-6; Jdt_9:1; Jdt_14:19 [Assyrians]; 10:2, 3; 3Ma_4:6; 2Es_10:4; Esth. 14:2);
b. Funeral feast with wailing (Bar_6:32 : also Tob_4:17; see in reproof of the practice, Augustine, Civ. D. 8:27);
c. Period of mourning (Jdt_8:6; Sir_22:12 [seven days, so also perhaps 2Es_5:20]; Bel and Dragon, verse 40);
d. Priests ministering in sackcloth and ashes, the altar dressed in sackcloth (Jdt_4:11; Jdt_4:14-15);
e. Idol priests with clothes rent, head and beard shorn, and head bare (Bar_6:31).
2. In Josephus's writings, these notices are in the main confirmed, and in some cases enlarged:
a. Tearing hair and beating breast (Ant. 16:7, 5; 15:3,9);
b. Sackcloth and ashes (Ant. 20:6,1; 19:8, 2; Wis_2:12; Wis_2:5); clothes rent (Wis_2:15; Wis_2:4);
c. Seven days' mourning for a father (Ant. 17:8, 4; War, 2:1, 1) for thirty days (War, 3:9, 5);
d. Those who met a funeral required to join it (Rev_2:26; see Luk_7:12, and Rom_12:15);
e. Flute-players at a funeral ( War, 3:9, 5).
3. The Mishna prescribes seven days' mourning for a father, a mother, son, daughter, brother, sister, or wife (Bartenora, on Moed Kat. 3:7). Rending garments is regularly graduated according to the degree of relationship. For a father or mother the garment was to be rent, but not with an instrument, so as to show the breast; to be sewn up roughly after thirty days, but never closed. The same for one's own teacher in the law, but for other relatives a palm breadth of the upper garment to suffice, to be sewn up roughly after seven days and fully closed after thirty days (Moed Kat. 3:7; Shabb. 13:3; Carpzov, App. Bib. page 650). Friendly mourners were to sit on the ground, not on the bed (see Lightfoot, Hor. Heb. on Joh_11:19). On certain days the lamentation was to be only partial (Moed Kat l.c.). For a wife there was to be at least one hired mourner and two pipers (Kefuboth, 4:4).
4. When we turn to heathen writers we find similar usages prevailing among various nations of antiquity. Herodotus, speaking of the Egyptians, says, "When a man of any account dies, all the womankind among his relatives proceed to smear their heads and faces with mud. They then leave the corpse in the house, and parade the city with their breasts exposed, beating themselves as they go, and in this they are joined by all the women belonging to the family. In like manner the men also meet them from opposite quarters, naked to the waist and beating themselves" (Herod. 2:85). He also mentions seventy days as the period of embalming (ibid. 86). This doubtless includes the whole mourning period. Diodorus, speaking of a king's death, mentions rending of garments, suspension of sacrifices, heads smeared with clay, and breasts bared, and says men and women go about in companies of 200 or 300, making a wailing twice a day
åὐñýèìùò ìåô᾿ ὠäῆò
. They abstain from flesh, wheat bread, wine, the bath, dainties, and in general all pleasure; do not lie on beds, but lament as for an only child during seventy-two days. On the last day a sort of trial was held of the merits of the deceased, and, according to the verdict pronounced by the acclamations of the crowd, he was treated with funeral honors, or the contrary (Diod. Sic. 1:72). Similar usages prevailed in the case of private persons (ibid. 91, 92). The Egyptian paintings confirm these accounts as to the exposure of the person, the beating, and the throwing clay or mud upon the head; and women are represented who appear to be hired mourners (Long, Eg. Ant. 2:154-159; Wilkinson, Anc. Eg. 2:356-387). Herodotus also mentions the Persian custom of rending the garments with wailing, and also cutting off the hair on occasions of death or calamity. The last, he says, was also usual among the Scythians (Herod. 2:66; 8:99; 9:24; 4:71).Lucian, in his discourse concerning Greek mourning, speaks of tearing the hair and flesh, and wailing, and beating the breast to the sound of a flute, burial of slaves, horses, and ornaments as likely to be useful to the deceased, and the practice for relatives to endeavor to persuade the parents of the deceased to partake of the funeral-feast ( ðåñßäåéðåíïí ) by way of recruiting themselves after their three days' fast (De Luctu, 2:303, 305, 307, ed. Amsterdam). Plutarch mentions that the Greeks regarded all mourners as unclean, and that women in mourning cut their hair, but the men let it grow. Of the Romans, in carrying corpses of parents to the grave, the sons, he says, cover their heads, but the daughters uncover them, contrary to their custom in each case (Quaest. Rom. 7:74, 82, ed. Reiske). Greeks and Romans both made use of hired mourners, preficae, who accompanied the funeral procession with chants or songs (Horace, Ars Poet. 429). Flowers and perfumes were also thrown on the graves (Ovid, Fast. 6:660; Trist. 5:1,47; Plato, Legg. 7:9). The preficae seem to be the predecessors of the "mutes" of modern funerals.
5. With the practices above mentioned, modern Oriental customs in great measure agree. D'Arvieux says Arab men are silent in grief, but the women scream, tear their hair, hands, and face, and throw earth or sand on their heads. The older women wear a blue veil and an old abbe by way of mourning garments. They also sing the praises of the deceased (Trav. pages 269, 270). Niebuhr says both Mohammedans and Christians in Egypt hire wailing women, and wail at stated times (Voy. 1:150). Burckhardt says the women of Atbara, in Nubia, shave their heads on the death of their nearest relatives, a custom prevalent also among several of the peasant tribes of Upper Egypt. In Barbary on a death they usually kill a sheep, a cow, or a camel. He also mentions wailing women, and a man in distress besmearing his face with dirt and dust in token of grief (Nubia, pages 176, 226, 374). Speaking of the Arab tribes of Upper Egypt, he says, "I have seen the female relations of a deceased man dance before his house with sticks and lances in their hands, and behaving like furious soldiers" (Notes on Bed. 1:280). Shaw says of the Arabs of Barbary, after a funeral the female relations during the space of two or three months go once a week to weep over the grave and offer eatables (see Sir_30:18). He also mentions mourning women (Trav. pages 220, 242). "In Oman," Wellsted says, "there are no hired mourning women, but the females from the neighborhood assemble after a funeral and continue for eight days, from sunrise to sunset, to utter loud lamentations" (Trav. 1:216). In the Arabian Nights are frequent allusions to similar practices, as rending clothes, throwing dust on the head, cutting off the hair, loud exclamation, visits to the tomb, plucking the hair and beard (1:65, 263, 297, 358, 518; 2:237, 354,409).
They also mention ten days and forty days as periods of mourning (1:427; 2:409). Sir J. Chardin, speaking of Persia, says the tombs are visited periodically by women (Voy. 6:489). He speaks also of the tumult at a death (ibid. 482). Mourning lasts forty days: for eight days a fast is observed, and visits are paid by friends to the bereaved relatives; on the ninth day the men go to the bath, shave the head and beard, and return the visits, but the lamentation continues two or three times a week till the fortieth day. The mourning garments are dark-colored, but never black (ibid. 481). Russell, speaking of the Turks at Aleppo, says, "The instant the death takes place, the women who are in the chamber give the alarm by shrieking as if distracted, and are joined by all the other females in the harem. This conclamation is termed the wulwaly (Heb. éָìִì , Gr. ὀëïëýæù , ἀëáëÜæù , Lat. ejulo, ululo, an onomatopoetic word common to many languages. See Gesen. page 596; Schoebel, Anal-Constit. page 54; and Russell, volume 1, note 83, chiefly from Schultens): it is so shrill as to be heard, especially in the night, at a prodigious distance. The men disapprove of and take no share in it; they drop a few tears, assume a resigned silence, and retire in private. Some of the near female relations, when apprised of what has happened, repair to the house, and the wulwaly, which had paused for some time, is renewed upon the entrance of each visitant into the harem" (Aleppo, 1:306). He also mentions professional mourners, visits to the grave on the third, seventh, and fortieth days, prayers at the tomb, flowers strewn, and food distributed to the poor. At these visits the shriek of wailing is renewed; the chief mourner appeals to the deceased, and reproaches him fondly for his departure. The men make no change in their dress; the women lay aside their jewels, dress in their plainest garments, and wear on the head a handkerchief of a dusky color. They usually mourn twelve months for a husband and six for a father (ibid. 311, 312). Of the Jews he says the conclamation is practiced by the women, but hired mourners are seldom called in to assist at the wulwaly. Both sexes make some alteration in dress by way of mourning. The women lay aside their jewels, the men make a small rent in their outer vestment (ibid. 2:86, 87). Lane, speaking of the modern Egyptians, says, “After death the women of the family raise cries of lamentation called welweleh or wilwai, uttering the most piercing shrieks, and calling upon the name of the deceased, 'Oh, my master! Oh, my resource! Oh, my misfortune! Oh, my glory' (see Jer_22:18). The females of the neighborhood come to join with them in this conclamation: generally, also, the family send for two or more neddabehs, or public wailing women. Each brings a tambourine, and beating them they exclaim, 'Alas, for him.' The female relatives, domestics, and friends, with their hair dishevelled, and sometimes with rent clothes, beating their faces, cry in like manner, 'Alas, for him!' These make no alteration in dress, but women, in some cases, dye their dress, head-veils, and handkerchiefs of a dark-blue color. They visit the tombs at stated periods" (Mod. Eg. 3:152, 171, 196). Wealthy families in Cairo have in the burial-grounds regularly furnished houses of mourning, to which the females repair at stated periods to bewail their dead.
The art of mourning is only to be acquired by long practice, and regular professors of it are usually hired on the occasion of a death by the wealthier classes (Mrs. Poole, Englishw. in Egypt, 2:100). Dr. Wolff mentions the wailing over the dead in Abyssinia (Autobiog. 2:273). Pietro della Valle mentions a practice among the Jews of burning perfumes at the site of Abraham's tomb at Hebron (see 2Ch_16:14; 2Ch_21:19; Jer_34:5; P. della Valle, Viaggi, 1:306).
The customs of the. North American Indians also resemble those which have been described in many particulars. as the howling and wailing, and speeches to the dead; among some tribes the practice of piercing the flesh with arrows or sharp stones, visits to the place of the dead (Carver, Travels, page 401; Bancroft, Hist. of the United States, 2:912; Catlin, N.A. Indians, 1:90). The former and present customs of the Welsh, Irish, and Highlanders at funerals may also be cited as similar in several respects, e.g. wailing and howling, watching with the corpse, funeral entertainments ("funeral baked meats"), flowers on the grave, days of visiting the grave (Brand, Pop. Antiq. 2:128, etc.; Harmer, Obs. 3:40). One of the most remarkable instances of traditional customary lamentation is found in the weekly wailing of the Jews at Jerusalem at a spot as near to the Temple as could be obtained. SEE JERUSALEM. This custom, noticed by St. Jerome, is alluded to by Benjamin of Tudela, and exists to the present day. (Jerome, Ad Sophon. 1:15; Ad Paulam, Ep. 39; Early Trav. in Pal. page 83; Raumer, Palastina, page 293; Martineau, Eastern Life, page 471; Robinson, 1:237.) SEE FUNERAL.