Posted by Erol Abit on November 27, 1998 at 15:32:57:
In Reply to: Re: Funeral Rug, Prayer Rug posted by Yon Bard on November 27, 1998 at 13:41:14:
: Nonesense! I am a very narrow shouldered person, and I am 18 inches wide at the shoulders. How are 30 inches going to accomodate two persons? And as far as wrapping the dead with it, they must be very short and narrow corpses indeed! As Daniel has shown, this piece would barely suffice to wrap a baby.
: Regards, Yon
I aggree with you in that it is too narrow for a 2-person prayer rug.
And about funeral rugs:
I know this tradition of covering the dead or his coffin by a rug during funeral (just covering the coffin or the dead rather than wrapping). In our tradition, the rug is usually taken back home after burial. The important point here is that the rug can be of any kind, for example a prayer rug, available at home at that time. We call this funeral rug, doesn't matter whether it is left or not on the grave....
I don't know if a rug specially woven for ONLY funerals was being used or not in old times. If yes, that single piece must not have been left on the grave since it must be used again for next funerals. Wendel's rug can be only such a funeral rug if it is a funeral rug. Its shape (penthagonality) looking like a coffin supports this idea.
Regards,
Erol Abit