Away from the cities, where pride or custom holds sway, a death is
little more than a signal for a crowd to assemble at the home of
the deceased for a drunken spree. In case of death the interest and
sympathy manifested by friends and neighbors depends upon the amount
of money forthcoming for the purchase of chicha. Should there be
liberal provisions for this important feature of the funeral service
a large attendance is assured. Should the death be that of a baby it
is generally understood that there is to be a grand feast. The dead
infant, robed in white and bedecked with flowers, is placed in a
sitting position upon an improvised altar, where, surrounded with
burning candles it remains for twenty-four hours. During this time
there is much drinking and singing by those who assemble to mourn the
death of the child. Usually on the day following the death, the body is
wrapped in a cloth and placed in a candle or soap box, which serves as
a coffin, and carried to the cemetery. The procession is accompanied by
women who sing, and add to their vocal efforts the music of guitars.
The crowd often stops en route to the cemetery to drink and indulge
in demonstrations. Women never accompany the funeral procession of an
adult.
There are never any preparations in advance for a burial, and the
interment is made in the crudest possible manner. The pall-bearers
carry with them a crowbar and shovel, and the corpse waits while the
grave is being prepared after arrival at the cemetery. Graves are dug
anywhere those preparing them may choose, not infrequently in the
same place where other burials have been made, and if human bones are
encountered in the excavation they are thrown aside as so many stones.
After the corpse is laid to rest, perhaps to the great disturbance of
another previously buried in the same spot, the crowd departs to some
place where more liquor can be secured, and where the final celebration
of the event takes place.
Should a poor man die, leaving no money with which to provide the
customary drinks at his funeral, and having no friends who will perform
that very necessary service for him, the manner of his burial is
something like that accorded to animals. The method of conveying the
bodies of these unfortunates to their last resting place, in many
instances is not unlike that of taking a sack of potatoes to market.
The corpse is tied upon the back of a mule, and with head nodding,
hands and feet waving in the air, as if in mute protest against the
custom of administering the last rites of the poor, they are conveyed
to the cemetery by someone to whom the disagreeable duty is delegated.
A hole large enough to receive the body is dug in some obscure corner
of the cemetery, and without a coffin, without ceremony or service of
any kind, the unfortunate is committed to earth, which receives him
back to its bosom, as it does all those who inhabit it for a brief
period.
Without plan, ornament, or official keepers, the cemeteries of
rural Chile present an unattractive prospect, and a scene of dreary
desolation. Usually they are nothing more than enclosed plots of
ground, neglected and overrun with weeds and brambles, without markings
to indicate the location of individual graves. There is little
reverence for those who journey to those dreary spots for the last time.
In the many sharp contrasts presented in the lives of the different
classes in Chile, none are more striking than that shown in the
disposition of the dead, and in the ceremonies attendant upon
funerals. In the cities, where the rich and cultured bury their dead,
the cemeteries are beautifully kept, and adorned with flowers and
shrubbery, and magnificent tombs and monuments mark the last resting
places of wealth and respectability. Elaborate, solemn and impressive
services are held at the home of the deceased, or in church, the body
is borne to the grave in a funeral car, while extra coaches and
hearses are employed in carrying the floral offerings and decorations
provided by the family and friends.
The civil register law conferred great benefits upon the poor, in the
matter of births and deaths. Previous to that there was no record of
births, except in the church records, made by the priests when they
found it agreeable and convenient. Then, as now, a large per cent.
of the children born were illegitimate, and if the parents did not
want the birth inscribed in the record, it was conveniently omitted.
Then there was no law to compel those in charge of the cemeteries to
issue burial permits, and usually the priests demanded a fee before
permission was given to bury the Catholic dead in the consecrated
grounds, while non-Catholics were denied the right of burial in the
cemeteries on any terms.
Fortunately the civil law makes the registration of births, deaths and
burials free and compulsory. In every municipal district there is a
civil registrar, whose business it is to keep these records, and to
issue burial permits. Private burials are prohibited by law.