„Jedz, laleczko…”, czyli o zaświatowym charakterze niektórych potraw

The article describes the ritual function of the funeral ritual of feeding the ancestors and the foods associated with it, such as bread, cake, fruit, honey, milk, alcohol, and lentils. On the example of Adam Mickiewicz’s Dziady [Forefathers’ Eve], the author shows the sense and meaning of the food of the dead and the act of “feeding” the spirits. On the other hand, the use of fairy tales is intended to extract additional information about the foods (raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, cabbage, meat) and their role in the text.

Az átmenet etikája – Az előregyártott síremlék, mint önkép

The Ethics of Transition – The Prefabricated Tombstone as Identity Portrait. The present paper is part of a broader study. The broader context of the research compares and analyses the English and Transylvanian funeral rituals. My current paper examines a slice of this broader research context, identifying the problem of the funeral ritual, which has traditionally served as a transitional and linear ceremony. As such, the funeral started to transform from being a transitional ritual into a mosaic, personalized rite, by losing its transitional character. In the context of examining the social causes, the study examines how linear transitional elements are eliminated in funerals and, ultimately, how so-called existential holes appear in the funeral rituals. Keywords: self-image, post-socialist identity, tombstone, funeral

Christian burials with vessels in Moscow State: to the status of the issue

The article considers Christian burials with vessels of the late 14th – mid-17th centuries. During this period, burial vessels became an important part of the funeral rite of Muscovy. The volume of material sufficient for statistical processing made it possible to reveal the most characteristic features of the funeral ritual with a vessel in the grave. The following signs were selected for study: areas where such burials occur, persons who were buried this way the locations in which a vessel was placed in the grave. Archaeological evidence has confirmed the emergence of this burial tradition primarily in Moscow and the surrounding area. This burial rite was more common in monasteries and elite necropolises. Vessel was not a required object. They are more often found in male burials than in female ones. The results of the study indicate that in performing the funeral ritual people tried to adhere to a certain single tradition while clear canonical rules were lacking. Thus, it was the priest conducting the ceremony who decided whom with and where to place a vessel in the grave.

Historical and Theological Context of Livs and Latgals Incorporation in the Structures of the Latin Church: Livonian “Union” of the 13 Century?

В центре исследования - раскрытие исторического контекста долгого использования предметов православного культа и сохранение старого погребального ритуала в восточной части Ливонии. Современный уровень источниковедения позволяет лучше понять спрятанные за теологическими формулами средневековой юриспруденции условия включения в немецкую Ливонию как ливов, так и латгалов Толовы и Ерсики. При этом происходящее на уровне простых приходов сопоставимо с практиками в других завоеванных или присоединенных унией православных землях юга Европы, где Римская курия, при условии принесения присяги и подчинении папе, православный ритуал не затрагивала, откладывая все изменения на будущее. Таким образом, исторический фон позволяет рассматривать археологические реалии Восточной Латвии не как отражение устойчивости язычества и двоеверия местного населения, а как свидетельство процесса инкорпорации православных земель в систему западной Римско-католической церкви. The research focuses on the revealing of the long-term use of objects of Orthodox worship and preserving the old funeral ritual in the Eastern part of Livonia historical context. The modern level of source studies allows us to better understand the conditions for the inclusion of both Livs and Latgals of Tolova and Jersika in “German” Livonia, hidden behind theological formulas of Medieval jurisprudence. At the same time, situation at the level of common parishes is comparable to practices in other Orthodox lands conquered or annexed by the union in southern Europe, where the Roman Curia, under the conditions of taking the oath and submitting to the Pope, did not affect the Orthodox ritual, postponing all changes for the future. Thus, the historical background allows us to consider the archaeological realities of Eastern Latvia not as a reflection of stability of paganism and the dual faith of local population, but as evidence of the process of incorporation of Orthodox lands in Western Roman Catholic curch system.

“Red Funeral”. New Funeral Rites in Early Soviet Russia

The article analyzes the emergence of the so-called red funeral ritual in the 1920s in Soviet Russia as an important component of political everyday life. The first part of the article examines the funeral rituals of representatives of the Bolshevik elite. The second part attempts to characterize the transformation of funeral rites among the “common” population. The analysis undertaken clearly shows the undoubted political and public nature of funeral rituals in early Soviet Russia. Initially, Soviet funeral rituals were powerfully influenced by radical utilitarianism and total nihilistic denial of the religious worldview, intensified by the excesses of the World War, Revolution and Civil War. Nevertheless, nihilism and utilitarianism, the highest expression of which was the idea of cremation, were quickly pushed out by a new funeral ritual, the key elements of which were demonstration and “theatrical ritual” with its music, processions, pretentious speeches and fireworks, in many respects borrowed from military funerals. The main role in the emergence of the red funeral ritual was played by the cult of fallen heroes, which in turn was a guarantee of political immortality of the Bolshevik leaders. As a result, the red funeral became an important element of the alternative Bolshevik culture. The concept of Vladimir Buldakov, who characterized revolutionary funeral rituals as “neo-pagan”, is at least controversial. The attempt to make funerals of the Bolshevik elites a model for mass funerals collided with conservative rituals, especially in the countryside. With regard to the 1920s, at best, we can talk about the emergence of a kind of “the effect of dual faith", a specific symbiosis of red and religious funeral rites. Thus, in the 1920s, the process of a new Soviet ritualism development was far from complete, including the Soviet party and state elites, as evidenced by the fluctuations between party asceticism with its utilitarian attitude to ashes and splendid funerals of leaders.

Einmal ist keinmal. Peculiar burial practices of prehistoric communities settling the Lublin-Volhynia Upland in the Early Iron Age

The study addresses remains of two peculiar graves unearthed at the site Mikulin 9 in the Dobużek Scarp (Pol. Skarpa Dobużańska) area in Western Volhynia. Unique character of the burials under consideration consists in the peculiarity of funeral ritual performed, scenario of which was basically divided into two acts of burning of the deceased – once on cremation pyres, and then in the eventual places of their interment (grave pits). Both the graves under consideration as well as analogical finds from the western part of the Lublin-Volhynian Upland and its northern foreland can be connected with an impact form the Pontic area and dated back to the Early Scythian Period. Historically, their presence is commonly considered as a result of westward migrations of forest-steppe people form the area of nowadays Ukraine triggered by the appearance of Indo-Iranian Scythian tribes. In the case of the presented burials no less significant from the peculiar eastern burial rite performed seem their localization. When discussing the Dobużek Scarp area as a destiny point of one of such migrations, clearly Pontic character of the escarpment’s physiography should be taken into consideration. The local conditions of the already unsettled loess paha of Dobużek escarpment must have peculiarly attracted pastoral communities arriving from the east. Moreover, the graves were placed in a very exposed point within the preexisting prehistoric landscape, to wit – they were dug into today non-existent but then dominating the area long barrows of the Funnel Beaker Culture. It seems likely that by the act of burying their kinsman into the exposed Eneolithic mounds the incomers tried to create an ancestral tie with the area and thereby justify their presence “here and now”.

The soundscape of a funeral wake

This chapter completes the analysis and interpretation of the Roma funeral ritual. It shows how the wailing of the women and the instrumental tunes performed by the musicians arouse feelings of compassion and empathy (milă) in the participants. Each sonic element of the funeral wake is analyzed separately, relying on textual and musical transcriptions. Drawing on hypotheses coming from both anthropology and the cognitive sciences, it claims that the “icons of crying” (sobs, hiccups, strangled voice, etc.) can be related to the innate process of emotional contagion. Conversely, the enunciative strategies of a lament call for more elaborate empathy processes, because they require a level of understanding of the kinship network described. As for the instrumental music, the chapter suggests that its emotional impact is based on a combination of both the affective qualities attributed to the different genres and the associations that exist between a tune and a person.

CORPSE MUTILATION IN THE ILIAD

The Iliad opens with the image of abandoned corpses, left as prey to the wild beasts. It closes with the hard-won and respectful funeral of Hector, during which his maimed body is finally laid to rest. In-between these passages, death and the fate of dead bodies are often part of the epic's subject matter. The audience is treated to a wide selection of images concerning the fallen and their remains, ranging from those taken gently away from the battlefield to be buried to those who are posthumously mutilated where they lie. Instances of corpse mutilation are rare elsewhere in Greek historical and literary writing, but occur in the Iliad at a regular rate. The gruesomeness of these acts makes for shocking and violent scenes, and represents a radical departure from the normal funeral ritual with lasting repercussions for the relatives of the deceased and the fate of the dead person in the afterlife.

NATURAL AND CLIMATIC CRISIS OF THE 4TH BC AND THE CHANGE OF THE SOUTHERN URAL NOMADS’ POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC STRATEGY

A political and economic strategy is one of the forms of social adaptation to external conditions unconsciously or consciously adopted in the society. There are two main political and economic strategies in all types of societies from states to groups and at different levels of social integration (from households and above): network and corporate ways. But only one of them can dominate under specific historical conditions. The adopted political and economic strategy may be clearly seen in the funeral ritual of the society. The archaeological indicators of the network strategy are one-grave kurgans, monumental burial structures, a magnificent burial rite, a wealth of grave goods, including a large number of precious objects, a significant number of “priestly” burials of various ranks. The indicators of the corporate strategy are the multi-burial mounds, the absence of large burial structures, the simplicity and standardization of burial structures, rituals and grave goods. The main efforts of society are directed at the construction of monumental public buildings, primarily sanctuaries and temples, which symbolized the community as a whole. A dramatic change in the funeral ritual may also reflect a change in political and economic strategy. The transformation of the funeral ritual among the nomads in the Southern Urals, which took place in the Early Sarmatian time, records a change in the political and economic strategy. The transition from the network strategy that dominated from the second half of the 6th — the late 5th centuries BC to the corporate strategy ends in the late 4th — early 3rd centuries BC. This change in the political and economic strategy was due to the sharply increased instability of society during the environmental crisis in the 4th century BC caused by an abrupt aridification.