Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 40, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 October 1895 — Survival of a Strange Custom. [ARTICLE]

Survival of a Strange Custom.

A strange custom, dating back to !jhe dark ages, has survived in some of the mountain districts in Austria —the painting of skulls. The small size of most cemeteries in those regions makes it necessary to regularly remove the skeletons of the buried who have lain there eight or ten years, to make room for newcomers. The relatives of the dead thus to be exhumed are generally notified before the removal 60 that they can attend to the cleaning of the skeleton and be present at its deposit in the so-called “bone-house” or “charnelhouse.” On such occasions the skull is often ornamented with paintings, representing rosaries, wreaths, snakes, <fcc., or it is marked with the name of the dead person .