Abstract
The aim of this study was to explore cultural factors affecting burial rituals in Poland. Thirty-four university
students collected data from their relatives and created written narratives about deaths in their families or community.
Ten additional interviews were conducted with community members, a priest, and medical personnel as part of theoretical
sampling and verification of emerging theories. The qualitative material was administered with NVivo and analysed using
the Grounded Theory techniques to produce a complex description of folk beliefs, superstitions, as well as symbolic and
psychological meaning ascribed to traditional customs. Some of the practices were found susceptible to extinction due to
industrialisation, globalisation, and cultural development