Arvals

ARVALS. ARVCLS or ARTHELS (0. None Arfr, inheritance, and ol, A.S. Ale, a banquet), primarily the funeral dinner, and later, especially in the north of England, a thin, light, iweet cake, spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg, served to the poor at Mich feasts. The funeral meal was called the Arvel-dinner The custom seems to have been to hold on such occasions an informal inquest, when the corpse was publicly exposed, to exculpate the heir and those entitled to the property of the dead from all accusations of foul play.