Paul Koudounaris

Leaving the village, I asked the guide if it was considered unusual to keep mummies in the home. His response was unforgettable. No, he did not find it unusual, because when he was a boy, he and his brothers slept in the same bed as the mummy of their grandfather. He then detailed how each morning the cadaver would be removed from the bed, dressed for the day, and propped up in a corner as if it were standing; later in the evening, it was disrobed and put back to bed. I asked about the motivations for treating his grandfather's mummy as his family had, but felt foolish as I did, because I already knew the answer. Indeed, he turned to me with the nonplussed look one gives people who ask obvious questions. "Because we loved him," he said simply, "and we wanted to preserve for him some part of his daily ritual."

"We do not know what these corpses are. Well, the custodian needs relics of St Patrick, for instance, so this body is named St Patrick"