The funerary tradition is one of the most conservative cultural phenomena of any society. The complex of traditional burial rites and performances contains many archaic elements that reflect the worldview of our ancestors. The shapes and designs of tombstones, as well as the images on them, are important sources for studying the mythological and religious ideas of the country's population. Traditional tombstones in Belarus are characterized by a variety of symbolic images, the origin and semantics of many of which still remain unclear.
This work examines the traditional tombstones of Belarus, which contain images of stars (either separately or as part of compositions). It should be noted that the author does not consider images of five-pointed stars that appeared on gravestones during the Soviet period and reflect the corresponding ideology (although one should not exclude the possibility of partial continuity with traditional images), as well as Jewish six-pointed stars and Muslim stars with a crescent moon. As "stars" can be considered eight-pointed stars, as well as signs consisting of six or eight rays, which emanate from a single center.
The placement of star-shaped images on tombstones naturally suggests the idea of finding their semantics in traditional mythological and cosmological representations that are associated with images of the afterlife and human life. The signs known to the author are found mainly on the gravestones of the 19th century. They can be seen both in Orthodox and Catholic cemeteries, which indirectly indicates that the images of stars reflect ancient cosmological ideas that have remained common for Belarusians of different Christian denominations.
There are several directions in which the semantics of images of stars on tombstones is determined.
1. The star is the soul of man
The image of a star in the traditional culture of Belarusians directly correlated with a person and ideas about his fate and character. Such beliefs are widely represented in Belarusian folklore. The main paradigm, within which a number of traditional material (graphic incarnations of stars, astral symbolism) and spiritual symbols (mythologemes, representations) are formed, is based on belief in the unity of the nature of the star and the human soul. Moreover, the concept of “soul” should be considered in a traditional context, and not in a dogmatic Christian one. In Belarusian traditional representations, the star is identified with the human soul. They believed that each person has his own star: “How many stars in the sky, so many people on earth, each has his own star”, “There are so many zorak in the sky, since there are people on the candlestick: like rodzitstsa chalavek, then anyoly and the bright light in the sky,and as the chalavek die, then the bright eye is falling from the sky, more than aneli tush "," May the skin of the chalavek pile the eye, and God in the sky is the creator of the new curtain, the shtob was hurt and the zorak and the people. " There were also ideas that the stars are the souls of dead people.
The graphic embodiment of the idea of a star, which is lit at the birth of a person, is found on tombstones. For example, at the cemetery in the village of Golshany, Oshmyany district, next to the chapel, you can see the tombstone of Konstantin Zakrevsky (1818–1864), on which the date of birth is marked with a symbol in the form of an eight-horned star, and the date of death is marked with a cross.
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Figure: 2. Gravestone in the village of Golshany, Oshmyany region. Photo by Dmitry Skvorchevskog
The image of the "Star of Bethlehem" and the corresponding representations of Christian mythology also resonate with the traditional beliefs about the lighting of stars during the birth of a person. The difference is that in the Christian tradition, the appearance of a star was a miraculous phenomenon that signified the birth of Christ, and in the pre-Christian tradition, as in the later traditional Belarusian culture, a star lit up in the sky at the birth of each person.
Often on the tombstones there is an image of only one star or star and the name of the deceased. It is obvious that in these cases the star symbolizes a person and corresponds to the views already mentioned above.
Narrower views were also widespread, according to which the star is the soul of a child. According to Timofey Avilin, one of the versions of this belief could have been formed through iconographic images of angels in the form of small children. However, it should be noted that the representation of "stars - children" is also typical for cosmological plots in calendar and ritual songs (carols, in particular): "For syanmi, syanmi there for new, // Shchodry vechar, good evening! // The group of syatlitsa is new ruble. // At that holy day, the chatyrs have akents: // At the first, the antsy - yes, a clear sun, // At the other akents - yes, the month is clear, // At the trets, akents - yes, fractional stars, // At the chatyr, akentsy - yes, a tough gloom. // A clear sun is a jon of yago, // A month is clear - a gaspadar itself, // A fractional stars are a dzetki yago … "; “Oh, have a laska, have a lasku // On a zhotym pyasku. // Holy evening,holy Vasilla! // Pcholki guduts, // Tserkak buduyuts, // Yes zbudavali // Three aknam. // In the first akentsy - // The month is clear, // In the other akentsy - // The soneyka is clear, // In the tretsim akency - // Clear zorachki. // Clear months - // That gaspadarchy, // Clear sleepyhead - // That gaspadynka, // Clear zorachki - // That іх dzetachki ". The image of the “heavenly family” is certainly of pre-Christian origin.
The identification of stars and souls underlies the concept of the connection between stars and the fate of people and based on them fortune-telling and predictions. It also contributed to the formation of ideas about the influence of stars on human character.
2. A star indicates the fate and character of a person
The Lithuanians have preserved information about the female deity Verpea (Werpeja - lit. "Spinner"). According to legend, Verpeya sat high in the sky, weaving threads of fate that descended. At the end of each of them a star was attached: the longer the life, the longer the thread was, and the star was closer to the earth; therefore Lithuanians identified small stars with children, and large stars with adults. If a person died, then the thread of fate was interrupted, and the star fell down. In connection with these beliefs, one can recall the Belarusian folk astronomy "Try sastry" and "Dust" (the Lithuanians have "Trys seselės verpėjos" - "Three spinning sisters"), which designate the three stars of Orion's belt. You can try to explain these names by mythological ideas about the three sisters of the Shares, which determine the fate of each person. The legend about the three Shares was written down by Alexander Serzhputovsky. In the mythologies of other Indo-European peoples, analogs are also known to the Belarusian three sisters of the Shares, who weave the threads of fate and determine the fate of a person: Norns (Urd, Verdandi and Skuld) among the Scandinavians, Moira (Cloto, Lachesis, Atropos) among the Greeks, Parks (Nona, Decima, Morta) among the Romans.
In popular beliefs, the properties of the stars visible in the night sky make it possible to determine the fate, character and social status of each person: "Retail, great and holy zorak pakazvaye at the retail of Hramad people"; "Kali chalavek are kind, small grashits, then Iago is clear-sighted, and kali are greshny, then Iago Iago is sharp, chutz blishchyts, and then saўsim is not a lead, it seems like a lady, INTO is shelma z-pad tsymnae zorkі."
In Vitebsk, near the church of St. Barbara, there are gravestones from the former near-bed cemetery, one of which ((H) atalla Wozniak, 1882) shows a five-pointed star at the top surrounded by rays, as if from a strong radiance. Such images correspond to the idea that the strong brilliance of the star shows that the person had a righteous life, a good character and did positive deeds.
Figure: 3. Tombstone in Vitebsk near the church of St. Barbara. Photo by Dmitry Skvorchevsky
3. A star in the cosmological plot
In addition to the star representing a person, some of the star-like depictions in the compositions seem to reflect other beliefs. There is reason to believe that these images reflect cosmological plots. The signs on the gravestones from the village of Stayki, Logoisk district, the village of Sviridovka, Krupskiy district, and the village of Babtsy, Dokshitskiy district, will be considered as examples.
Figure: 4. Signs on the gravestones: a) the village of Sviridovka, Krupskiy district; b-c) the village of Stayki, Logoisk district. Drawing by Dmitry Kirienko
Stones from the village of Stayki, Logoisk district, are now in the Museum of Boulders in Minsk. The greatest attention is drawn to one slab on which the composition is carved: from above in the center - a sign in the form of a pole with a hemisphere, consisting of three parts, on the sides of it - two small signs (the so-called "umbrella"), under the central figure - a star-shaped symbol. The "umbrella" sign, according to the hypothesis of Andrey Prokhorov, symbolizes the World Pillar associated with the Pole Star, which held the heavenly mountain of Baltic mythology, and also signified the movement of the soul of the deceased to the upper heavenly world. Initially, the sign had a pagan origin, and after that it could be related to the image of the cross on Calvary and the idea of ascension. Such saints or tombstones with the image of the heavenly sphere became an element that connected different worlds,strengthening and simultaneously embodying cosmic integrity. Researchers generally agree with this interpretation of the semantics of the umbrella.
The plot on Staikovsky boulder is still waiting to be deciphered. It is worth noting that the excavations around the stones in Stayki did not reveal any burials, but there is a possibility that the boulders will move from their original place. These stones were located on an area of 20 × 4 m and were placed without any order. Nevertheless, the shape of the stones indicates that they were supposed to stand upright, and the different plots on the stones indirectly indicate the likelihood of their initial placement in a certain order and the formation of a single composition by them. If we rely on the general semantics of the sign, then the images in Staiki also reflect cosmological images and ideas about the heavenly world. The central figure, formed from three parts, can be a symbolic image of the Universe, the World Tree (the World Pillar unites the underworld, the world of people, the sky). A star-shaped figure here can represent either a star or the sun. In the latter case, taking into account the placement of the sign at the bottom of the composition, one should understand the sun, which hides “under the ground” at night.
On the gravestone in the village of Sviridovka, Krupskiy district, we also see an "umbrella", which is part of a star-shaped figure. At the same time, it is unclear whether the "umbrella" grows from a star, or a star from it. The sign has a single foundation. If the "umbrella" reflects the vertical model of the world, then the star-shaped figure can be considered as a horizontal projection - it indicates the cardinal points. It is noteworthy that on another boulder from the village of Stayki, Logoisk district, we see an axis with a hemisphere, which passes through a circle, inside which there are six spokes, in which there is a similarity with the symbols from Sviridovka and another Staikovsky boulder. In this case, the signs symbolically reflect ideas about the sky and the world of people, which are united by the World Pillar.
If this opinion is confirmed, then the sign only graphically resembles a star, and its semantics and purpose will be different.
Figure: 5. Tombstone in the village of Babtsy, Dokshitsy region. Photo by Konstantin Mikhalevich
At the cemetery in the village of Babtsy, Dokshitsky district, you can see an equally interesting image, which in general terms reveals similarities with those already discussed. The tombstone bears a sign in the form of an axis, the center of which is marked by a figure of eight rays, and at the top of the axis is also a star-shaped image. The center and top shapes are inside an irregular circle. You can try to decipher the entire composition in line with cosmological concepts. The axis and the star-shaped figure in the center (similar to the images in Sviridovka and Stayki) is a symbolic image of the World Pillar and our world in horizontal projection; the outline around the top of the composition is the upper world, the heavenly dome; the star at the top is the North Star, denoting the top of the sky, through which the World Pillar passes. In this regard, it is worth remembering the popular name of the Polar Star, which is fixed in the Grodno region - "Verhachka", from "top". It is possible that this performance was graphically reflected on the stone in the village of Babtsy.
The presence of several similar images on tombstones from different regions of Belarus testifies to the non-coincidence of the phenomenon. We can talk about the existence of general cosmological ideas, which are reflected in the signs on the tombstones.
Dmitry Skvorchevsky