up the Batavians as their forebears, the French - the Gauls, the Portuguese - the Lusitanians, the Scots - the Caledonians, the Swiss - the Helvetii, the Romanians - the Dacians, etc. Culture and fashion Sarmatian belief and customs became an important part of szlachta culture, penetrating all aspects of life. Sarmatism enshrined equality among all szlachta, and celebrated their life style and traditions, including horseback riding, provincial village life, peace and relative pacifism. It popularised Ottoman-styled clothing and attire for men, such as the żupan, kontusz, sukmana, pas kontuszowy, delia, and szabla. Thereby, it served to integrate the multiethnic nobility by creating an almost nationalist sense of unity and pride in the szlachta's political Golden Freedoms. It also differentiated the Polish szlachta from nobility in Western Europe. Funeral ceremonies in Sarmatist Poland were very elaborate, with some distinctive features compared to other parts of Europe. They were carefully planned events, full of ceremony and splendour. Elaborate preparations were made in the period between a nobleman's death and his funeral, which employed a large number of craftsmen, architects, decorators, servants and cooks. Sometimes many months passed before all the preparations were completed. Before the burial, the coffin with the corpse was placed in a church amid the elaborate architecture of the castrum doloris ("castle of mourning"). Heraldic shields, which were placed on the sides of the coffin, and a tin sheet with an epitaph served a supplementary role and provided information about the deceased person. Religious celebrations were usually preceded by a procession which ended in the church. It was led by a horseman who played the role of the deceased nobleman and wore his armour. This horseman would enter the church and fall off his horse with a tremendous bang and clank, showing in this way the triumph of death over earthly might and knightly valour. Some funeral ceremonies lasted for as long as four days, ending with a wake which had little to do with the seriousness of the situation, and could easily turn into sheer revelry. Occasionally an army of clergy took part in the burial (in the 18th century, 10 bishops, 60 canons and 1705 priests took part in the funeral of one Polish nobleman). Some Polish nobles felt that their supposed Sarmatian ancestors were a Turkic people and accordingly viewed their Turkish and Tatar enemies as peers, albeit ones who were unredeemed because they were