Funerals and tots

Yesterday, my sister in law's mother in law had a wake/funeral. (I know, that is a mouthful.) You would have thought it was a funeral the way they had food and drinks. Kids were running around all over the place at various ages. Near the door were the new mommies and daddies with they beautifully dressed babies. I went with my almost two year old son who was tired on the first place, my husband of course and my mother in law. Hubby dropped us off while he parked. We walked in and sure enough my mother in law stopped dead in her tracks and said something to me in Spanish but I couldn't hear with all the people in the room talking but I understood. "Don't take him close to the body. "
  I'm not sure if this is only a Mexican tradition or it is elsewhere. When my husband's uncle passed away I stayed at home while he and my mother and law paid their respects. They say that the soul can enter the baby and live on. Being a Christian, I find this hard to believe as the soul leaves the body as soon as you die. My husband acts like this is an old saying and that he doesn't believe it but my seven month old son didn't go so I think he is saving face.
   Of course being African American/black we are the opposite. We walk past the body and touch it and fall over crying on it and demand the Lord take us instead. New age black people have been known to preserve the body and post it up like it is hanging out among the living. In select parts in Africa such as Egypt, they bury the descendants in the basement and leave them. I went to my first funeral that I can remember at 4. No big deal. But then again, we burn candles because they smell good and want to set a mood. No other purposes. I do love the fact that I am immersed in the culture and that it is something totally new. How about you?