Reflection of animistic ideas in the Mordovian funeral and memorial rite

Abstract

In the article, the author made an attempt to identify the most archaic features of the Mordovian funeral and memorial rites. The relevance of this study is determined by the importance of preserving the cultural heritage of the peoples of Russia, the interest in their national traditions and their origins. The research is based on both archival and published historical sources, as well as on the works of scientists who have considered various aspects of the Mordovian funeral rites. The use of comparative typological and structural-semantic methods made it possible to identify not only archaic elements of funeral and memorial rites, but also to determine their symbolism. In the funeral and memorial rites of the Mordovians, the real living conditions of the Mordovian people were reflected. Living in a forest area, before the appearance of ground burials at the beginning of the first millennium AD, the Mordvins buried the dead in trees, which may have led to their animistic views on trees as receptacles of souls and spirits. Such ideas are a universal phenomenon for the peoples of the forest zone. With the change in the method of burial, the symbolism of the tree continues to play an important role in the funeral and memorial rite. In the course of the study, it was revealed that echoes of such archaic survivor traits as the belief about the incarnation of the souls of the dead in trees can be found in the Mordovian funeral rite up to the present time. Similar phenomena are typical for other peoples of the Volga region the Mari, the Chuvash. In the funeral rites, as a later phenomenon, they were preserved in the funeral rites of the 40th day until the beginning of the XX century, but by the end of the XX century their meaning is lost