not shave. Some years ago in Bucharest, a boy scout was drowned and was to be buried with full scout honours. His father, a poor old peasant, came up to us for the occasion, and we did our best to make him presentable. We coaxed him into a collar and a black tie, but not even the presence of the Crown Prince at the funeral would induce the father to do anything contrary to the peasant habit of remaining unshaven.
A custom that I have never seen, connected w4th the dead, is described by T. Stratilesco as rare (page 295). Just before the funeral, a black sheep was brought into the yard; “at the rising of the stars the priest was called in; in his presence a hole was dug in the yard; the sheep, with burning wax candles stuck to its horns, was placed beside it, looking westward, and whilst the popa was saying a prayer, the animal was killed, the blood being made to run into that hole, called ‘ară.’ The meat of the sheep was used for the preparation of the funeral dinner; the priest got the head and skin of the animal.” The very common expression, “A da pielea popii,” “To give the skin to the priest,” takes its origin from this custom, and is a way of saying “to die.”
As a rule, after three days the body is taken to the church beside the cemetery, and is carried out of the house as one would expect, feet foremost. Among the Roumanians, as well as in England, to leave the house feet foremost, “cu piciorele inainte,” means to leave it dead.
In Bessarabia, as they start from the house after the first prayers, the popa and the dascal, the popa’s assistant, each receive a colac, a small roll of unfermented bread, and a plate of food is brought that the popa may bless it. In other parts the colaci would be given after the burial.
If the distance to the graveyard is short, the body may be taken on a litter, if longer, on an ox-cart. In some parts of Moldavia and Bessarabia the body is put on a sledge drawn by oxen, even although it is summer time;
