Communication between the Living and the Dead in Modern and Ancient Greece, a Comparison

Abstract

Festivals dedicated to ancient heroes and heroines and modern saints, and private burials mirror each other, and after being lamented and buried, memorial rituals must be performed at the tomb, combined with the offering of material gifts, in order to obtain reciprocal benefits. After a certain period, the bones are exhumed. Depending on the colour of the bones—their unusual size and sweet smell also being important evidence of sanctity—as well as on the dead person’s status or power while alive, the deceased person may be a mediator in the literal sense of the word, through this second burial in the ossuary (where the bones are placed after the exhumation), or in a mausoleum or church. Both in earlier times and now, the living are dependent on the mediator’s successful communication with even stronger powers in the subterranean world, to assure the continuity of their own lives through the fruits of the earth. Based on the results of first-hand fieldwork carried out by the author since the 1980s to the present in conjunction with ancient Greek sources, the article will examine rituals dedicated to deceased persons in which pilgrimages and offerings of food and other gifts—such as ex-voto offerings—at tombs are central for the preservation of the community, including peoples’ health.