midday
From the cradle to the grave the Zu-Vendi follows the sun in every sense of the saying . As an infant he is solemnly held up in its light and dedicated to ` the symbol of good , the expression of power , and the hope of Eternity ' , the ceremony answering to our baptism . Whilst still a tiny child , his parents point out the glorious orb as the presence of a visible and beneficent god , and he worships it at its up-rising and down-setting . Then when still quite small , he goes , holding fast to the pendent end of his mother 's ` kaf ' -LRB- toga -RRB- , up to the temple of the Sun of the nearest city , and there , when at midday the bright beams strike down upon the golden central altar and beat back the fire that burns thereon , he hears the white-robed priests raise their solemn chant of praise and sees the people fall down to adore , and then , amidst the blowing of the golden trumpets , watches the sacrifice thrown into the fiery furnace beneath the altar . Here he comes again to be declared ` a man ' by the priests , and consecrated to war and to good works ; here before the solemn altar he leads his bride ; and here too , if differences shall unhappily arise , he divorces her . And so on , down life 's long pathway till the last mile is travelled , and he comes again armed indeed , and with dignity , but no longer a man . Here they bear him dead and lay his bier upon the falling brazen doors before the eastern altar , and when the last ray from the setting sun falls upon his white face the bolts are drawn and he vanishes into the raging furnace beneath and is ended .