As a rule, the tribe bury the dead, though the Hindu custom of
cremation is coming into fashion among the well-to-do. Before the
interment they carry the corpse seven times round the grave, and it is
buried with the feet pointing to the north. They observe mourning for
ten days and abstain from animal food and liquor during that period. A
curious custom is reported from the Bilaspur District, where it is
said that children cut a small piece of flesh from the finger of a
dead parent and swallow it, considering this as a requital for the
labour of the mother in having carried the child for nine months in her
womb. So in return they carry a piece of her flesh in their bodies. But
the correct explanation as given by Sir J. G. Frazer is that they do
it to prevent themselves from being haunted by the ghosts of their
parents. "Thus Orestes, [480] after he had gone mad from murdering
his mother, recovered his wits by biting off one of his own fingers;
since his victim was his own mother it might be supposed that the
tasting of his own blood was the same as hers; and the furies of his
murdered mother, which had appeared black to him before, appeared
white as soon as he had mutilated himself in this way. The Indians
of Guiana believe that an avenger of blood who has slain his man
must go mad unless he tastes the blood of his victim, the notion
apparently being that the ghost drives him crazy. A similar custom
was observed by the Maoris in battle. When a warrior had slain his
foe in combat, he tasted his blood, believing that this preserved him
from the avenging spirit (atua) of his victim; for they imagined that
'the moment a slayer had tasted the blood of the slain, the dead man
became a part of his being and placed him under the protection of the
atua or guardian-spirit of the deceased.' Some of the North American
Indians also drank the blood of their enemies in battle. Strange as
it may seem, this truly savage superstition exists apparently in
Italy to this day. There is a widespread opinion in Calabria that
if a murderer is to escape he must suck his victim's blood from the
reeking blade of the dagger with which he did the deed."