Tue comparison of the sacred ceremonies of different nations is an important part of that science of religion which forms the special study of w large namber of scientific mon at the present day. The offerings to the dead and the cult of ancestors are portions of the worship of a largo mass of the human family, and it is interesting to seo how these survive and force themselves into systems which we might at first have supposed to be unfriendly to such intrusions. But it is as impossible apparently to expel nature with a fork as to eradicate the underlying opinion that we can do something to induce the dead to look upon na "with regards not quite estranged," and to connect ourselves with them. A striking instance of this is perceptible in the ritual observed at. the great,. Tarkish" and Egyptian festival of the ''Eed el Kurbée" or the festival of the sacri fice known is the Béyréma. Thia feast commemorated the arrested sicrifide the son of Abraham. The Jewish scriptures-make the saved soul Isao; the Mahomedans niake him Ishmiél, At the Beyrém every Tark or Arab who can afford it kills a sheep and eats it or gives it to the poor. Itis a season of festivity and rejoicing. For several days previous to the holiday numerous flocks of shoop and uy buffaloes.are driven into the cities and sold for sacrifice, Priyets are performed in the mosqueé; the bast robes are put on,. f frioudship and ceremony are performed, and much the same social ritual is transacted as on the New Year time which we. all. know 60.woll. here.in China, Bat this is not all. The sacri-fico and the comimenioratioa of the great sacrificial tite on Mount Moriah are accompanied by another sories of rites belonging to a different religious sentiment and having thei origin in very different feelings. Th Boyrdih isa great day in the cemeteries, Thither the people berake themselves sheaves of palia- Drnnoliseand piaes th in crowds, They take with thi
the graves of their relations, custom prevails amongst all. classes, from the highest to the lowest. The palm-branches are seen; for iniataiée, int Caito off the pauper graves, that cover 60 thickly the arid, fawn-coloured sand,
chamber where the present, viderogal and in the richly gilded and painted fatally are interred. The politi-braxiohes are placed ai the grave of the fellah and on the superb mausolea of the gallant Ibrabim and the murdered Besides this ceremony. of the palm.
of Tooséoon snd of Said. beanohes, the Arab recites or employs of the Koran, and in addition person to recite for him large portions takes with him plenty of food and distributes it to the lame, blind and halt, so numerous in all Hasiora cities; who flock to the cometer ive the dole, Many of the He vances practised are like those performed a Hallowe'en, and indeed these custom: fecur in all lands and are fantid a carious surviving relics of ancestral worship. in the Hebrides, in Ceylon, in China, in Jopav, and in Egypt. This is one of the most remarkable phenomena which the student of the most interesting of all sciences oan discover. In China we know that the worship of ancestors is the cult which takes the most promifient place i mind of the people. The, idea unless something be dotie by the living the deceased are ina state of mit the one belief that Coifaciani Taouist and Buddhist hold in common.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.