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Page 18
When the corpse was laid out, a plate of salt was placed upon the
breast, ostensibly to prevent the body swelling. Many did so in this
belief, but its original purpose was to act as a charm against the devil
to prevent him from disturbing the body. In some localities the plate of
salt was supplemented with another filled with earth. A symbolical
meaning was given for this; that the earth represented the corporeal
body, the earthly house,--the salt the heavenly state of the soul. But
there was an older superstition which gave another explanation for the
plate of salt on the breast. There were persons calling themselves "_sin
eaters_" who, when a person died, were sent for to come and eat the sins
of the deceased. When they came, their _modus operandi_ was to place a
plate of salt and a plate of bread on the breast of the corpse, and
repeat a series of incantations, after which they ate the contents of
the plates, and so relieved the dead person of such sins as would have
kept him hovering around his relations, haunting them with his
imperfectly purified spirit, to their great annoyance, and without
satisfaction to himself. This form of superstition has evidently a close
relation to such forms of ancestor-worship as we know were practised by
the ancients, and to which reference has already been made.
Until the funeral, it was the practice for some of the relations or
friends to sit up all night, and watch the corpse. In my young days this
duty was generally undertaken by youths, male and female friends, who
volunteered their services; but these watchings were not accompanied by
the unseemly revelries which were common in Scotland in earlier times,
or as are still practised in Ireland. The company sitting up with the
corpse generally numbered from two to six, although I have myself been
one of ten. They went to the house about ten in the evening, and before
the relations went to bed each received a glass of spirits; about
midnight there was a refreshment of tea or ale and bread, and the same
in the morning, when the relations of the deceased relieved the
watchers. Although during these night sittings nothing unbefitting the
solemnity of the occasion was done, the circumstances of the meeting
gave opportunity for love-making. The first portion of the night was
generally passed in reading,--some one reading aloud for the benefit of
the company, afterwards they got to story-telling, the stories being
generally of a ghostly description, producing such a weird feeling, that
most of the company durst hardly look behind them for terror, and would
start at the slightest noise. I have seen some so affected by this fear
that they would not venture to the door alone if the morning was dark.
These watchings of the dead were no doubt efficacious in perpetuating
superstitious ideas.
The reasons given for watching the corpse differed in different
localities. The practice is still observed, I believe, in some places;
but probably now it is more the result of habit--a custom followed
without any basis of definite belief, and merely as a mark of respect
for the dead; but in former times, and within this century, it was
firmly held that if the corpse were not watched, the devil would carry
off the body, and many stories were current of such an awful result
having happened. One such story was told me by a person who had received
the story from a person who was present at the wake where the occurrence
happened. I thus got it at second hand. The story ran as follows:--The
corpse was laid out in a room, and the watchers had retired to another
apartment to partake of refreshments, having shut the door of the room
where the corpse lay. While they were eating there was heard a great
noise, as of a struggle between two persons, proceeding from the room
where the corpse lay. None of the party would venture into the room, and
in this emergency they sent for the minister, who came, and, with the
open Bible in his hand, entered the room and shut the door. The noise
then ceased, and in about ten minutes he came out, lifted the tongs from
the fireplace, and again re-entered the room. When he came out again, he
brought out with the tongs a glove, which was seen to be bloody, and
this he put into the fire. He refused, however, to tell either what he
had seen or heard; but on the watchers returning to their post, the
corpse lay as formerly, and as quiet and unruffled as if nothing had
taken place, whereat they were all surprised.
From the death till the funeral it was customary for neighbours to call
and see the corpse, and should any one see it and not touch it, that
person would be haunted for several nights with fearful dreams. I have
seen young children and even infants made to touch the face of the
corpse, notwithstanding their terror and screams. If a child who had
seen the corpse, but had not been compelled to touch it, had shortly
afterwards awakened from a sleep crying, it would have been considered
that its crying was caused by its having seen the ghost of the dead
person.
If, when the funeral left the house, the company should go in a
scattered, straggling manner, this was an omen that before long another
funeral would leave the same house. If the company walked away quickly,
it was also a bad omen. It was believed that the spirit of the last
person buried in any graveyard had to keep watch lest any suicide or
unbaptized child should be buried in the consecrated ground, so that,
when two burials took place on the same day, there was a striving to be
first at the churchyard. In some parts of the Highlands this
superstition led to many unseemly scenes when funerals occurred on the
same day.
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