Funeral traditions and rituals are an integral part of the culture of any nation. Times are changing, and nowadays many rituals surprise, seem wild, ridiculous, exotic. But initially they were closely associated with religious and magical beliefs.
Where does kutia come from?
Before the adoption of Christianity in Russia, the Western and Eastern Slavs preferred to burn the bodies of the dead. Cremation had not only hygienic significance, it, as the belief said, contributed to the speedy ascension of the soul to heaven. But the southern Slavs buried their dead, as a rule, in the ground, pouring a mound over the grave. If a person was rich and noble during his lifetime, then his beloved animals and things, weapons, utensils accompanied him to another world … They were laid next to the owner.
In some regions where Slavic tribes lived, the bodies were lowered into the river or burned in a boat launched on water.
After Russia was baptized in the X century, our ancestors buried the dead for a long time, combining Christian and pagan rituals. So, together with a cross, a protective amulet was hung on the deceased's neck.
In the villages, a deceased peasant was placed on a bench with his head in a red corner, where icons hung. The body was covered with a white canvas (shroud), hands were folded over the chest. A white handkerchief was placed in the right hand. All this was done so that the deceased would appear before the Lord in a proper form. They were buried on the third day, when the soul had to finally part with the body. This custom has survived to this day, as well as the one that instructs everyone present at the funeral to throw a handful of earth on the coffin lowered into the grave. The earth is a symbol of purification, in ancient times it was believed that it accepts all the filth that a person accumulated during his life.
The funeral was once called funeral. It was a special ritual designed to facilitate the transition of the deceased to another world. Special dishes were prepared for the funeral. One of the memorial dishes was and remains kutia, which is rice with raisins. She is supposed to treat all those present. Russian funerals are not complete without pancakes - pagan symbols of the sun.
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So that the deceased does not return …
The funeral customs of other ancient peoples living in Russia are also curious. So, the Far Eastern Ainu tribes originally buried their dead near the huts, and only later they began to allocate special places for this. Interestingly, two types of burial were used - underground and above ground. In the first case, the body was wrapped in a mat and lowered into the grave, over which a tombstone was installed. In the second, the corpse was placed in a tomb in the shape of a house.
When the Ainu died, his body was taken out of the hut through a hole specially cut for this in the wall. And then they carried him to the burial place by intricate paths so that he … would not find his way back. The Ains believed that the dead were returning.
The bodies of the deceased leaders were embalmed and a funeral was held no earlier than a year later. Like many pagan peoples, the Ainu supplied the dead with household utensils, weapons, and other items that the deceased used during their lifetime. But before burial, all these things were necessarily broken. It was believed that in this way the Ainu liberated the souls of things from the material shell.
The Chukchi, who also believed in spirits, burned bodies at the stake or carried them to the tundra. Before burial, they were dressed in special clothes, usually made from the skins of white animals. It is curious that the elderly and seriously ill often preferred death at the hands of someone from their loved ones. It was believed that such a death would provide a better posthumous fate.
Coffin over the cliff
Many exotic funeral traditions have survived to this day. For example, in some areas of China, it is customary to hang coffins with the deceased over a cliff. This is usually done when children or upper-class people die. It is believed that it will be easier for the soul to go to the transcendental world.
The people of Tibet arrange the so-called "heavenly burial". The body of the deceased is dismembered into parts and taken to the mountains, leaving to be devoured by the vultures. These birds of prey are considered the female incarnations of the Buddha - Daki-ni. Vultures seem to take the souls of the dead to heaven, and they wait there for their reincarnation, and the mortal remains become the prey of birds. This is how Buddha Shakyamuni once fed a hawk with his flesh to save a dove. And yet, say, a lama is not subject to "heavenly burial," since his body is as sacred as his soul.
In the Indonesian Toraya tribe, the dead are mummified, wrapped in cloth, placed in a tomb or kept directly in the house. Several years can elapse between physical death and burial. All this time, preparations are underway for the final ritual. In this case, the deceased is considered asleep. His soul is just getting ready to go to the land of spirits. When local shamans consider that she is ripe for this, the body is thrown up several times and then laid with its feet to the south. Only then is the official death of this person announced. Representatives of the Toraya nationality bury their former compatriots in open caves, where stone statues - tau-tau - guard their peace.
Striptease at the commemoration
Like everything in this world, funeral culture changes over time, new traditions arise. This concerns, in particular, the inscriptions on the monuments. It is customary for Europeans to place epitaphs for the dead. In Bulgaria, for example, on the tombstones you can see almost a detailed biography of the deceased, and the Japanese place special QR codes on the tombstones. Using a mobile phone, you can scan information about who is buried here, find out the dates of life and death of this person, read the epitaph dedicated to him and even see his photograph.
In another Asian state - Taiwan - for over 30 years there has been a tradition of sending people on their last journey with songs and dances. No church memorial services and gloomy funeral music, as is customary in Europe! All the action takes place in the fresh air to the fiery pop rhythms. Thus, the deceased is honored.
But that's not all. At the request of the family of the deceased or at his dying request, strippers are invited to the funeral. Half-naked dancers arrive at the ceremony in a neon-lit truck, the so-called Electric Flower Car, and erotic dances are arranged right in the back, thus replacing the traditional mourners. For a fee, funny girls can be invited to the commemoration and even asked them to dance completely naked. True, the Taiwanese authorities do not like this, and they are thinking about how to prohibit such desecration of funeral rites.
Die to learn to live
Perhaps no one thinks about death as much as the people of Asia. The South Korean organization Coffin Academy (Coffin Academy) even conducts seminars where everyone can rehearse their own demise after spending some time … in a coffin. The procedure is very popular with the locals. Clients are offered to lie down in the house for ten minutes in a vestment specially prepared for this occasion. According to the director of the organization Zhong Zhong, this has a powerful psychotherapeutic effect that allows a person to achieve peace of mind and change their outlook on life. Employees of the organization say that people come to Coffin Academy "to die to learn to live": the world around them looks completely different from the grave.
The authors of such a shocking project hope that in this way they will reduce the number of suicides, which in this South Asian country has recently become catastrophically high.
Magazine: Secrets of the 20th century №29. Author: Margarita Troitsyna
