Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 40, Number 14, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 October 1907 — Marriage After Death in China. [ARTICLE]

Marriage After Death in China.

The strangest of all strange Chinese customs is that of marriage after leath. When a young person of marriageable age dies unmated the fond parents give him or her a mate “in jrd er not to let their, loved one lie all alone in the cemetery.” The details of the marriage are usually arranged by a slant-eyed IScbad:hen for a consideration. When all is •ettled a grave Is dug alongside that of the boy or young man to become a groom. Then the casket of the dead jride is removed from its resting place ind carried to that of the groom with great ceremony and with attendance if all relatives and friends. A band la never missing. The more well-to-do the father-in-law the more bands. At the head of the procession a red flag is carried “in order to show the soul if the young girl the road.”. The relatives await the bride at his grave. There Is a religious ceremony when the second coffin arrives. Congratulations, singing and musical exercises follow. These signify the wedllng. When the bride’s coffin is lowired Into the grave there Is much crying and lamentation.