Originating at the end of the
19th century, when a nation-wide
immigration to the
United States began (as it became popular for those about to leave the country to say
farewell in as
maudlin a manner as possible), the so-called "Irish Wake" is often viewed as disrespectful or profane by outside cultures. The most important thing for these observers to remember is this: Those who gather to
mourn the deceased seek to
celebrate the life, not the death. Although the tone of the wake can vary greatly from case to case (the tragic passing of a
youth versus the timely end of an
elderly woman's suffering), the theme will always be one of simple regret combined with
gaiety.
The wake usually lasted from the
time of death until the
family left with the body for the
funeral service in the nearest
Roman Catholic or
Protestant house of worship. The women of the neighborhood would first prepare the body, in a process known as "
laying out the dead". The
corpse was bathed, dressed in some sort of white garment (only the rich could afford
shrouds), and laid upon some flat surface in the house, usually their bed or the dining room table. After the laying out, the
keening would begin. This
high-pitched wail could conceivably be credited with beginning the legend of the
banshee, but was thought to scare away any
evil spirits and if begun before all the rituals of laying out, would be ineffective. An account written by an unknown
New Yorker, dated 1890 recounts
"At midnight, I heard that wild wail rolling upon the air, and I was reminded of that ancient cry at midnight in the land of Egypt, when Pharaoh rose up in the night, he and all his servants, and all the Egyptians, and there was not a house where there was not one dead. There stood two rows of women, with their left hands around each others waists, and their right beating upon their lips, making, as they shouted, a most horrible noise. Most of the women had never known the deceased until they saw her in her dying agonies, and yet the tears rolled down their cheeks in torrents. I succeeded at last, much to my joy, in breaking up this strange wild scene of frantic woe." The
Catholics chose to place a
rosary in the hands of the body, and it was expected that each mourner would say a
decade or two in memory. The next bit should come as no surprise to anyone who knows
the Celts.
Whiskey and
stouts poured freely as the mourners proceeded, in traditional Irish fashion, to get
maudlin drunk as quickly as possible. Anyone who wishes may make a
toast to the deceased, sharing memories of times together. The toasts can be as short as "
May you be in Heaven an hour before the Devil knows you're dead", or they may stretch on for hours on end.
To end the ceremony, it was considered
proper for someone close to the departed to sing the
wake's lament, a song appropriate for the occasion and the person being celebrated. I have it on good authority that anyone who tries to perpetrate
Danny Boy will be the next recipient of an
Irish Wake.
http://www.users.drew.edu/~kknaack/irish.html and
http://irishculture.about.com/culture/irishculture/library/blwake.htm