Memorial Rites Research Articles

Поминальная традиция южных коми

The paper, based on materials collected during field research in the Luza region of the Komi Republic, considers local features of the memorial rituals of the Letka Komi. The memorial cycle includes individual commemorations on the third, ninth, twentieth, fortieth days, half a year and anniversary, name day, the birthday of the deceased, and the day of death. Modern tradition also includes visits to the cemetery by family members of the deceased the next day and on the first Saturday after the burial. Special calendar memorial days include Maslenitsa (meat-free) Saturday Maslenich Suböt, Radonitsa Radulnich, Trinity Saturday Ströcha Suböt, Pokrovskaya Pökröv Suböt, and Dmitrievskaya Mithrey Suböt, parental Saturdays; the day of remembrance of the dead soldiers on May 9. The memorial rituals of the Letka Komi, despite the simplification of a number of ritual actions and the change in the composition of the participants in the memorial services, include such specific features as the custom of kylzysöm ‘listening’, commemoration of ancestors under a growing tree, covering a gravestone with a towel kodrasyan chyshköd ‘memorial towel’ during a memorial meal; ideas about special periods of time kyk suböt kost ‘between two memorial Saturdays’, between Radunitsa and Trinity Saturday, Pokrovskaya and Dmitrievskaya Saturdays, and the associated complex of household and ritual prohibitions.

Rituals of Colonial Memory: Crafting Imperial Nostalgia in Republican Italy

The latest historiographical trends are revealing how the end of colonialism has influenced the political and social configuration of former metropolitan centres. In particular, the return of former colonial settlers has raised a series of issues that have resonated in European political debates and societies. In Italy, these processes were shaped by a peculiar decolonization process, coinciding with the equally tortuous transition from fascism to the Republic. Drawing on recent historiography on the return of colonial settlers, and expanding the chronological span and methodological scope of previous works through original archival sources, my intervention aims to reconstruct how imperial nostalgia became a political resource exploited by both repatriate associations and conservative political factions. Although similar to contemporaneous cases, in Italy colonial commemorative practices had peculiarities linked to the role of Catholicism and to the fact that far right and even neo-fascist movements exploited the demands of repatriates for their own political benefit. This article thus broadens the historiographical understanding concerning the decline of Italy's empire and deepens the analysis of its lasting impacts on the politics and society of Republican Italy.

Ritual functions of clothing in the memorial rites of the Chuvashs

Ritual functions of clothing in the memorial rites of the Chuvashs

Remembering the dead, reconciling the living:

Rituals advancing reconciliation often do so by recalling a shared history or proposing a shared future. Racial reconciliation in the United States and recovery from the clergy sexual abuse crisis must reckon with how the past can be justly remembered. The George Floyd Global Memorial in Minneapolis, Minnesota, occupies a space of remembrance, raising up a representative victim of police violence as a symbolic ancestor. The All Saints’ and All Souls’ Day monastic liturgies at St John’s Abbey in Collegeville, Minnesota, remember the dead and a future that transcends contemporary divisions. This article will explore how gestures toward an eschatological future in both of these memorial rites frame the memory of the past and mediate the relationship between the living and the dead amid a fragile movement towards reconciliation.

Christian Elements and Their Folk Adaptations in the Funeral and Memorial Rites of the Ludian Karelians

Abstract The article* focuses on an analysis of the funeral and memorial rituals of the Ludian Karelians in the context of folk religion. For many years, rites of Orthodox origin were either viewed unilaterally or ignored altogether in ethnographic literature, with the reconstruction of ‘pagan’ elements being highlighted, which in turn gave rise to the theory of dual faith. According to the results of my research, the funeral and memorial traditions of the Ludians (from the late 19th to the late 20th century) are based on an Orthodox funeral system in which many aspects derived from a Christian basis found new interpretation. For example, the requirement to light candles was explained as lighting the way to the afterlife, the importance of making confession was so that the dying person’s sins would not attach to the living, and funeral services were to help the soul of the deceased ‘settle’, etc. The principal exponents of the funeral rituals, who ensured the successful transition of the soul to the next world, were representatives of the people: women who washed the body of the deceased, and lamenters, but the church priesthood nonetheless played a significant role in conducting the rituals. The priest’s participation is apparent at all stages of the funeral ritual, from confession to commemoration. Following the abolition of the institution of the church during the Soviet period, the functions of the priest were assumed by elderly women who knew the prayers and church burial traditions.

GHQ 일본 점령하 야스쿠니신사의 변화

This study aims to examine rituals performed in relation to peaceful commemoration, with a focus on Yasukuni Shrine’s pursuit of pacifism centered on the appeasement of the spirits during the occupation by the General Headquarters (GHQ). The GHQ issued the Shinto Directive and the Religious Corporations Ordinance immediately after the occupation of Japan. This meant Yasukuni Shrine was no longer supported by the state and was reduced to a mere religious corporation, necessitating self-reliant measures. Departing from its militaristic image, Yasukuni Shrine chose to advocate for peaceful commemoration. Considering its economic position under GHQ’s occupation policy, the shrine needed to transform itself into a universally acceptable pacifist shrine in order to attract bereaved families and the general public as worshippers. The peaceful memorial rituals include the Eitai Kagura Festival, which allowed bereaved families to apply to conduct an individualized memorial ritual for fallen soldiers at Yasukuni Shrine, departing from the collective nature of previous deity-centric ceremonies during wartime. In addition, various other festive occasions (“matsuri”) were held for the first time, including the Mitama Matsuri, which is an ancestor worship memorial festival. Yasukuni Shrine’s pursuit of a public-oriented and peaceful approach to commemoration was essentially initiated as a result of pressure or coercion from the GHQ. However, the various new rituals (“matsuri”) initiated at the shrine during the GHQ’s occupation can be seen as part of its efforts to transform itself.

Funeral and memorial rites of the Svetlovodsk burial ground of the Scythians in Central Ukraine

Funeral and memorial rites of the Svetlovodsk burial ground of the Scythians in Central Ukraine

Religious syncretism in the funeral and memorial rites of the Crimean Tatars in modern times

The author touches upon the funeral and memorial customs and rituals of the Crimean Tatars, in particular their content and transformation. The main purpose of the study is to examine the mutual influence of religions and identify elements of ancient pre-Islamic beliefs in the funeral culture of the Crimean Tatars during the late XVIII-early XX centuries. Based on this, the author of the work had two main tasks: 1. To highlight and characterize the main customs and rituals that formed the funeral and memorial complex during the specified period; 2. to highlight the rituals that are conditioned by religious prescriptions and rituals formed as a result of the mutual influence of ancient Turkic views with Islamic religious norms. In general, based on the fact that customs and traditions imply an inherited set of behavior, studying the ritual component will allow us to assess the stability of the development of the spiritual culture of the Crimean Tatars. An analysis of ethnographic descriptions, diaries and records of travelers published in the XIX - early XX century was carried out on this topic. The 20th century allows us to reconstruct the funeral rite and identify elements not related to religious dogmas. The novelty of the research lies in the fact that the conducted rituals are considered through the prism of Islamic doctrine, which allowed us to partially determine the degree of religious syncretism in the culture of the Crimean Tatars and identify specific elements associated with ancient pre-Islamic views. As part of the study, it can be concluded that Muslim religious norms were generally observed. Among them: the order for the speedy burial of the body, the correct corpse laying and the vestments of the deceased. At the same time, there are separate descriptions of the funeral rite, where some variability in the performance of rituals is presented, in particular, improper sitting of the corpse and the presence of inventory, which is explained by religious competence and the preservation of echoes of ancient pre-Islamic cults. The echoes of ancient cults are mainly traced in memorial rites, through a ritual meal. Cooking, especially the food that the deceased loved, refers us to the veneration of the cult of ancestors, which was represented among the Turkic-speaking tribes before the adoption of Islam. At the same time, since the meals were accompanied by the recitation of prayers for the deceased, they were firmly associated with religious norms among the inhabitants.

Духовные стихи в рукописных поминальных тетрадях (традиция русско-коми-пермяцкого пограничья)

Folk religious poetry is quite often included in the sphere of funeral and memorial rites. Singers of spiritual verses often write them down in special “memorial” notebooks, which they use during performances. There is a controversial issue that has not yet been resolved. Do written collections existing in different territories display such a noticeable originality that would allow us to assert the presence of special local or regional manuscript traditions? In this article, the author characterizes memorial notebooks that arose in the Middle Urals, in the zone of active Russian-KomiPermyak contacts, where Russian-Yurlinians and Kochev KomiPermyaks live. A collection of 29 manuscripts serves as our material, of which 5 are analyzed in detail. The specificity of memorial notebooks is manifested in a typical set of spiritual poems, accompanying genres, choice of titles, acceptable forms of writing (with or without division into poetic lines), etc. Most of these handwritten notebooks include not only spiritual verses, but also prayers, essentially becoming “vernacular prayer books”. Typical poem titles include a mention of genre; indicate a place in the ritual; name the main characters; repeat the first line or its keyword. In Komi-Permyak notebooks, more often than in Russian ones, the traditional set of poems is expanded by including new verses. The “horizontal” organization of the text here becomes one of two conventional ways of writing spiritual verses. Elements of the written form acquire additional content, they become conventional and are reproduced within the community.

Memorial monuments of early and medieval nomads of the archaeological complex Kokentau

The article presents the results of field research and interpretation of materials from memorial complexes of ancient and medieval nomads of Kokentau archaeological microregion. The monument is located in the Zhana Semey district of the Abai region. The authors are conducting work in this archaeological microregion to identify, systematize, study, and introduce memorial sites into scientific circulation. The proposed article is one of the first attempts to introduce into scientific circulation memorial sites of the early Saka and ancient Turkic periods. The first evidence of the utilization of sacred space in the Kokentau mountain range begins in the Neolithic period. Ancient people began to erect burial-memorial structures to perpetuate the memory of their deceased compatriots, where various memorial rituals were conducted. The main component of the memorial tradition is the burial mound, but also included are fences, megalithic structures, and stone sculptures. The authors of the article, based on the materials of the Kokentau mountain range, demonstrate how changes in society's religious worldview influenced the architectural layout of memorial sites and rituals. The chronological framework of the "eight-stone" structures was determined based on comparative and radiocarbon analysis. Comparative analysis methods with similar objects from the Semirechye and Sayan-Altai regions were used to determine the time of construction of the ancient Turkic fence.

Language and culture of the Greeks of North Ossetia – Alania (based on materials from the ethnolinguistic expedition to the Greeks of Vladikavkaz)

This paper presents an overview of the results of the ethnolinguistic expedition (held in winter 2024) to the Greeks of Vladikavkaz, North Ossetia-Alania. The history of the Greek community in North Ossetia begins in the 19th century, when Greek builders from Trebizond moved to the Caucasus. Subsequently, Greeks also resettled from other regions, such as Krasnodar Krai, Kazakhstan, Georgia. The majority of the Greek population of Vladikavkaz speaks the Pontic dialect of Greek language. The main goal of the expedition was to study the Pontic vocabulary related to funeral and memorial rituals. Of particular interest are the memorial rituals of the Greeks of Vladikavkaz, which are distinguished by a regulated procedure. For example, there is a special order for pronouncing three toasts at the wakes. The informants emphasize the brevity of Greek funeral feasts, a certain set of dishes and the way of decorating the traditional ritual dish kokia (the decoration varies depending on the day of the wake). There is also a custom of visiting the family of the deceased to express condolences until 40 days after death. In Pontic dialect the tradition is simply called το χατίρ, which means ‘respect’.

Cultural Aspects of Technological Grave Visits: A Sociological Assessment

Abstract
 Grave visits have been a deep-rooted religious ritual in many religions and societies throughout history. This ritual is performed with the purpose of visiting the graves of the deceased and is considered an expression of spiritual connection among people. However, with the advancement of technology and the rise of digital communication platforms, this tradition is undergoing a transformation. In today's world, particularly with the increasing popularity of social media platforms, grave visits are taking on a new dimension in the virtual realm. This study aims to examine how the social media profiles of individuals who have passed away, profiles that were used during their lifetime, are visited and interacted with by others after their demise. Furthermore, the research seeks to understand the reasons behind the visibility of the phenomenon of death, which has been pushed into the background in modern societies but is becoming more prominent in what is often termed postmodern societies. This research was conducted using the phenomenological perspective within the framework of qualitative research methods. Within the scope of the study, social media users who visit the social media profiles of deceased individuals on an internet-based social media platform, such as Instagram, and engage in commenting activities were examined. These users offer a significant perspective on how the practice of remembrance and memorialization has become digitalized and evolved. In modern societies, death is often acknowledged as a reality that is either ignored or actively suppressed. However, in postmodern societies, death and memorial rituals are becoming more visible in the digital world. Visiting social media profiles after someone's passing is considered a way to remember them and express a sense of connection. This study contributes to our understanding of how digitalization and technological advancements are impacting societal and cultural practices. It also provides valuable insights into the role of death in postmodern societies. Consequently, it highlights the need for further research into how traditional rituals, like grave visits, have evolved and changed in the digital realm.

해외 사례와 비교한 한국무용의 정치적 트라우마 재현과 극복 가능성

Little specific research, in Korea, has been conducted on whether dance can overcome it by recreating the trauma caused by war or national violence. This study examines the possibility of active political participation in Korean dance by reproducing the trauma caused by national violence and applying the theory of dance and overseas cases that conveyed the message of overcoming to Korean dance creations performed at the 40th anniversary of the May 18 Democratic Movement. To this end, domestic research trends on dance, trauma, and political context are examined, and concepts related to choreography and dance are defined to find contact points with overseas cases. In addition, overseas dance cases and theories that reproduce the trauma caused by national violence are introduced, and this is applied to works performed at the 40th anniversary of the May 18 Democratic Movement. As a result of a comprehensive study of Roland Barthes' ecriture thought, which means falsehood in reality, Roland Bleiker's aesthetic politics on the premise of imperfections in the reproduction effect, and Bill T Jones's choreographer statement, which emphasized the humble choreography creation spirit, it was found that securing uncertainty and plurality in choreography creation can maximize the possibility of trauma reproduction. As a result, most of them are still limited to memorial rituals such as Ssitgimgut and Salpurichum, and it is necessary to sufficiently increase the possibility of overcoming trauma through the efforts of the audience such as victims.

Современные практики поминок и траура в похоронных обрядах аварцев Гумбета: исламский и неисламский компоненты

The article is devoted to the analysis of Islamic component in the elements of funeral and memorial rituals with one of the sub-ethnic groups of the Avar – Gumbet Avars. Based on the field ethno-graphic material collected in the villages of Gumbetovsky district of Dagestan applying the methods of historical (historical-genetic, comparative-historical, historical-typological, retrospective) and eth-nological studies (survey, individual and collective interviewing of respondents, par-ticipant observa-tion), commemoration and mourning rituals are studied as forms of expressing grief. As the field material showed, the funeral and memorial rites of Gumbet Avars demonstrate their ideas of the posthumous reincarnation of the soul, the other world, the connection between the living and the dead, honoring the souls of the dead, caring for them. An analysis of the commemoration and mourning rites has demonstrated both their common features and local diversity, the stability of tra-ditional beliefs and a growing influence of Islam since the early 1990s of the 20th century. In differ-ent villages of Gumbetovsky district, commemorations are held on various days fixed by tradition, as well as on the anniversary day after the death of a person. Ta'ziya, dhikr and sadaqa (alms-giving) make their Islamic component. The remaining funeral rites are manifestations of so-called “domestic Islam”. The reflexes of mourning are growing beards by men for a certain period, while women wear dark-colored clothes for a year. Widows observed the iddah period and usually did not marry after it. Observance of the iddah period can be considered an Islamic component in mourning customs, while the rest belong to traditional rituals. This confirms the syncretic nature of the funeral and memorial rites of Gumbet Avars with the dominant Islamic religious canons and relics of traditional beliefs. Despite the strengthening of the positions of Islam, traditional beliefs remain and this is one of the paradoxes of the zone of local civilizations, such as Dagestan and the North Caucasus.

Memorial Complex of the Second Half of the 7th–8th Centuries at the Hillfort Near the Village of Gora Uslan

The author discusses the structure which is stone mound. Inside it the remains of a campfire were found containing a complex of finds. The object was found on the hillfort near the village of Gora Uslan, located on the left bank of the Upa River, within the boundaries of the city of Tula. Due to the absence of human remains, this complex does not belong to burial sites, but is associated with memorial rites. On the basis of analogies, the complex of finds can be dated to the second half of the 7th–8th century. The buckle from the campfire has analogies in the mordovian burial grounds. The find of a miniature handmade jug is connected with the steppe antiquities. The handmade vessel found at the foothill of the mound is close to “Sakhnovka” type materials. Similar objects on the territory of the Oka-Don watershed and adjacent regions are not known. Structurally and functionally the most similar constructions are known in nomadic antiquities of the Samara Volga region of the 7th–8th centuries. The cultural syncretism of the published complex demonstrates of complicated the ethno-cultural situation in the region during the second half of the 7th –8th centuries.

Exploring the Values of Education through Post-Death Traditions in Indonesia

This research explores the values ​​of character education in post-death traditions in Indonesia. Post-death traditions play an important role in Indonesian culture and often reflect deep social values, ethics, and beliefs. This research involves an in-depth analysis of post-death traditions, including funeral ceremonies, memorial rituals, and related practices. The research method used in this research is library research and analysis of documents related to post-death traditions. It is hoped that the results of this research will provide a deeper understanding of the role of education in post-mortem traditions and how these values ​​can be integrated into the context of formal education in Indonesia. The findings of this research can provide new insights into how education and culture are interrelated, as well as how local traditions can contribute to the sustainable development of education in Indonesia. The character education values ​​ in the post-death ceremony tradition include religious, familial, and educational values. Educational values ​​include Religiosity, communicativeness, collaboration (cooperation), responsibility, and social concern.

Censing in the funeral and memorial rites (vernacular religiosity of the Russian-Komi-Permyak borderland)

Church censing ritual — fumigation with incense or its substitutes — is widespread in folk culture. It plays a particularly important role in funeral and memorial rites, where the fumigation is usually carried out in order to ritually purify people, space and objects that have been in contact with the deceased. However, the significance of this ritual is not equal in different local ethnical traditions: in some communities, it is simply recommended, while in others it is of a prime importance. The accessibility of this ritual action for people also varies. In some traditions, only religious specialists (the priest and his assistants) can perform this ritual, in other traditions, anyone can do it. The article is concerned with vernacular forms of censing. The culture of Yurlians — Russians living in a different ethnic (Komi-Permyak) environment, and the culture of the northern (Kochevsky) Komi-Permyaks neighboring them, are among the traditions with a developed mythological semantics of censing. The main research data are materials collected during the fieldwork carried out in 2013–2017 and 2022 in the Northern Prikamye, in the Rus-sian-Komi-Permyak borderland. The study is based on the structural and functional analysis of the rituals. It has been revealed that the locations of censing in the structure of traditional funeral and memorial rites partially coin-cides with church prescriptions, however, vernacular fumigation with incense is of more intense character; around it, a kind of “mythology of censing” develops, and dialectal ritual terminology is formed. Сensing fulfills not only typi-cal cleansing and apotropaic functions, but it also acts as a way of mediation between the living and the dead — it “wakes up” the souls, invites them to a ritual meal, guarantees the availability of food, etc. Special folklore formulas addressed to beings-intermediaries between the living and the dead (angels, wind, etc.) provide the realization of this function. Individualized versions may arise from the ritual, which adapts to the new life realities.

Legal regulation of the funeral process in Russia during the 18th–19th centuries epidemics

The fundamental foundations of human culture should include funeral and memorial rites, which reflect the life cycle of an ethnic group. In emergency situations, there are changes in the habitual image of people and the concentration of public attention on the ritual sphere. Epidemics that differ in the scale of mortality can be considered to be such situations. The article examines the influence of epidemics on the funeral process in Russia on the basis of the analysis of the 18th–19th centuries normative legal acts. According to the author, at the first stages of the development of epidemic diseases, people tried to adhere to the traditional rules of burial of the deceased. However, with the increase in the number of deceased, the state imposed restrictions that also applied to the funeral process. The paper considers the stages of the funeral process and its features during the 18th–19th centuries epidemics – simplification of the preparation and transportation of the body to the burial site, changing the term, time and place of burial, formal performance of ritual practices. Special attention is paid to the reaction of the population to the prohibitions imposed by the authorities. The article formulates the main conclusion that after large-scale epidemics, there had been a transformation of the funeral process, which the 18th–19th centuries Russian legislation reflected.

Three Elite Burials of the Northern Zhou Period from Guyuan in Ningxia, China

The materials of elite burial complexes of the Northern Zhou period (557–581) discovered in the 1980–1990s in the vicinity of Guyuan City in the Ningxia-Hui Autonomous Region of China are analyzed in this article. Due to the epitaphs engraved on stone slabs found inside the tombs, the names of the buried individuals and the exact dates of the complexes are known: the tombs belong to high-ranking officials of Northern Zhou: Yuwen Meng (565), Li Xian (569) and Tian Hong (574). The complexes under consideration demonstrate a high degree of unification of the funeral rite, which is manifested in the similarity of tomb structures, decor and accompanying grave goods. The features of architectural structures and grave goods of these burials continue the traditions of the previous periods of the Sixteen Barbarian States and the Northern Wei. With a general similarity to the synchronous complexes of the Northern Qi (550– 577), the materials of these tombs allow to distinguish specific features of the Northern Zhou funerary practice: the absence of porcelain items, the use of ritual nephrites, and the secular nature of mural paintings. Against the background of the prevailing influence of the Chinese-Han funerary tradition, there are signs of the influence of the steppe (probably Xianbei) funeral and memorial rituals. Prestigious items imported from Iran, Central Asia, Byzantium testify to the significant role of contacts along the Silk Road in the economical and cultural development of Northern Zhou. Despite the available data from written and epigraphic sources, the problem of identifying the ethnicity of the buried has not yet been resolved. However, the version of their non-Chinese origin seems to be the most probable.

POSTHUMOUS WEDDING IN TRADITIONAL IDEAS AND RITUAL PRACTICE OF THE CHUVASHS IN SOUTHERN URAL

The article considers the funeral and memorial customs and rites of the Chuvashs living in the Southern Urals, mainly the Ttans-Ik and Trans-Belaya basins of the Republic of Bashkortostan. The choice of the study range is due to the fact that the funeral and memorial customs and rites of the Chuvash of this region have not been studied sufficiently in historical and ethnological terms, and the available studies are generalized or fragmentary in nature. The purpose of the study is to show the phenomenon of the so-called posthumous wedding and its local variants, which have been preserved and exist in the ritual practice of this ethno-territorial group. Materials and methods. The study was conducted using general scientific methods of analysis, synthesis, analogy, systematization and fundamental principles of historical research: historicism, objectivity, consistency and specificity. Historical-comparative, descriptive methods, the method of system-semantic analysis, as well as such methods of field research as interviews and observation were also used. The article is based on historical and ethnological studies on ethnography, religion and funeral and memorial rituals of the Chuvash, the peoples of Russia and the Volga-Ural region, archival documents of the Scientific Archive of the Chuvash State Institute of Humanities, as well as field materials collected by the author in 2014, 2021, 2022 in the Republic of Bashkortostan and the Republic of Tatarstan. Results of the study. The ideas of the Chuvash about the institution of marriage were analyzed from the point of view of its relevance for unmarried and unmarried dead, verbal, actional and ritual actions pursuing the motivation for marriage by representatives of the specified category of the deceased were considered, the essence and content of the posthumous wedding in the ritual practice of the Trans-Ural Chuvashs were reflected, including local forms of its manifestation. Findings. It was revealed that posthumous weddings were symbolic in nature and were held formally. With the participation of the parents and relatives of the deceased, they arranged both with a preliminary visit and without visiting the cemetery. The time for the wedding was determined by the parents of the deceased themselves or adjusted it to the summer or autumn general commemoration of the deceased. At posthumous weddings, such elements of the traditional Chuvash wedding were observed as the performance of long and dance wedding songs with dances, parental blessing, a joint meal at the table, and the distribution of gifts to the participants of the rite.