CENOTAPH GRAVES OF THE CHUVASH PEOPLE AND RELATED RITES AND BELIEFS

Abstract

The cult of ancestors is an important and integral part of cultures of many peoples, including the Chuvash. Following this cult, the relatives of the deceased people held complex funeral and memorial rites. In addition, honoring the dead, they erected tombstones and structures in cemeteries. They were erected not only to the deceased relatives, but also to those who, due to various circumstances, died and were buried in a foreign land. In science, such structures and monuments have been given the name «cenotaphs», i.e. empty graves. The tradition of installing commemorative signs imitating the burial is common among many peoples and has been known since ancient times. The research is devoted to the study of cenotaphs of the Chuvash and related rites and beliefs. The paper analyses the data of the ethnographic literature on the subject, as well as field materials that the author obtained during the expeditions of 2014, 2021 on the territory of the Almetyevsk district of the Republic of Tatarstan and the Chelno-Vershinsky district of the Samara region. Cenotaphs in their appearance are not different from ordinary burials. They have the same traditional tombstone structures as all the others. Nevertheless, cenotaphs have the common feature – the absence of the body of the deceased. However, such burials cannot be considered completely empty because, for the symbolic replacement of the deceased, the Chuvash buried the earth brought from the place of his burial. However, according to the author, in the past, the Chuvash people could use his clothes or other personal items to replace the body of the deceased. This is indicated by some magic actions and techniques that have been preserved by the peoples neighboring the Chuvash, for example, the Mari and Udmurts. In addition, attention is focused on the unconditional location of cenotaphs away from the cemetery or on its outskirts, which was also due to the ancient religious beliefs of the Chuvash people.