Rensselaer Republican, Volume 21, Number 1, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 September 1888 — ORIGIN OF "BLOODY SHIRT.” [ARTICLE]

ORIGIN OF "BLOODY SHIRT.”

Thi> KxpreMlon 8a«tl to U»t« u oen Del lvf.l from nn 01(1 Conlcan Cuktoni. The origin oT the expression of ‘‘bloody ghirt” is said bv ■> _jcorreapondenl to lie I from o Torcican custom, uow nearly ob Sdete. lu the day's of the fierce "venettA” bloodshed was a common occur ence. Before the burial of a murdered man the “gridatft'' was celebrated. ~Gridata,” means crying around. Let us translate it a "wake,” The body of the nnir dered wps laid. -Upua-A -plaolt, tln-o his | weapons were placed near his band aral life j blood stained shirt hung over his head, j Around tin- rude bier j circle of women 1 wrapped in their black mantles, rocked themselves to auj fro, with vociferous wailing. The men, relatives and friends of the | murdered man, armed to the teeth, stood i around, mad with thirst for revenge. One of the I Women—the wife, or mother, or sister of the murdered man—with a veil would snatch the bloody shirt, and, wav ing it aloft, begin the “vo'cero” (kunanta tion howl). ■ e The rythmic howling was maiWip of expressions of love for tbe'dcad audalter naie bowls of hatred of his- enemies,atid it; startling image.! and tremendous curse? were echoed in the faces and mnueiiugr of the armed • mourners. By 'ir.m-itif.V the piirnse "bloody shirt” was applied to the Southern rebeiliou.