It Falls Out That One Man's Son And Another
Man's Daughter Die.
Whilst the coffins are in the house (and they used to
keep them two or three years, or longer) the parents agree to marry them;
they send the usual presents, as if the pair were alive, with much
ceremony and music.
After this they put the two coffins together, hold the
wedding dinner in their presence, and, lastly, lay them together in one
tomb. The parents, from this time forth, are looked on not merely as
friends but as relatives - just as they would have been had their children
been married when in life." (Navarrete, quoted by Marsden.) Kidd
likewise, speaking of the Chinese custom of worshipping at the tombs of
progenitors, says: "So strongly does veneration for this tribute after
death prevail that parents, in order to secure the memorial of the
sepulchre for a daughter who has died during her betrothal, give her in
marriage after her decease to her intended husband, who receives with
nuptial ceremonies at his own house a paper effigy made by her parents,
and after he has burnt it, erects a tablet to her memory - an honour which
usage forbids to be rendered to the memory of unmarried persons. The law
seeks without effect to abolish this absurd custom." (China, etc., pp.
179-180.)
[Professor J. J. M. de Groot (Religious System of China) gives several
instances of marriages after death; the following example (II. 804-805)
will illustrate the custom:
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