dona eis, Domine, et lux
perpetua luceat |191| eis," that most beautiful of prayers. The priest
and altar are vested in black, and a catafalque with burning tapers round
it stands in the body of the church. For the popular customs on the Eve
we may quote Dr. Tylor's general description:--

"In Italy the day is given to feasting and drinking in honour of the
dead, while skulls and skeletons in sugar and paste form appropriate
children's toys. In Tyrol, the poor souls released from purgatory
fire for the night may come and smear their burns with the melted fat
of the 'soul light' on the hearth, or cakes are left for them on the
table, and the room is kept warm for their comfort. Even in Paris the
souls of the departed come to partake of the food of the living. In
Brittany the crowd pours into the churchyard at evening, to kneel
barefoot at the grave of dead kinsfolk, to fill the hollow of the
tombstone with holy water, or to pour libations of milk upon it. All
night the church bells clang, and sometimes a solemn procession of
the clergy goes round to bless the graves. In no household that night
is the cloth removed, for the supper must be left for the souls to
come and take their part, nor must the fire be put out, where they
will come to warm themselves. And at last, as the inmates retire to
rest, there is heard at the door a doleful chant--it is the souls,
who, borrowing the voices of the parish poor, have come to ask the
prayers of the living."{7}

To this may be added some further accounts of All Souls' Eve as the one
night in the year when the spirits of the departed are thought to revisit
their old homes.

In the Vosges mountains while the bells are ringing in All Souls' Eve it
is a custom to uncover the beds and open the windows in order that the
poor souls may enter and rest. Prayer is made for the dead until late in
the night, and when the last "De profundis" has been said "the head of
the family gently covers up the beds, sprinkles them with holy water, and
shuts the windows."{8}

The Esthonians on All Souls' Day provide a meal for the dead and invite
them by name. The souls arrive at the first cock-crow and depart at the
second, being lighted out of the house by the head of the family, who
waves a white cloth after them and bids them come again next year.{9}

In Brittany, as we have seen, the dead are thought to return at |192|
this se