Ritual Theory


VanGennep/Turner:
    A much later interpretation than Frazer related to ritual and its functions is that of Victor Turner. Turner's book, The Ritual Process, is not concerned with history of religion or classifying people according to their degree of sophistication. Rather, he simply studies rituals in various cultures to determine their function. Turner was influenced by the work of Van Gennep, who wrote a book called The Rites of Passage, in which he studies the rituals of transition from one life stage to another. We will focus on Turner, who developed VanGennep's ideas. You are only reading the last chapter of Turner's book, but it summarizes his theory well.
    In that chapter, he contrasts yearly and life cycle rituals. His basic premise is: in a life cycle ritual, such as initiation into adulthood or in marriage, a novice is taken from the group to which he belongs (Van Gennep calls this separation). S/He is stripped of all symbols which indicated that stage and is put into a group with a bunch of other people who have been treated the same way. The result is that everyone is equal and represents a kinds of protean mass without any distinction of personality, name, physical distinctions (they often wear the same clothes), etc. They are often humiliated during this period. A good example of this is army initiation during boot camp. This is the period Van Gennep calls transition.
    The people in the group are liminal. That is, they are people in transition, who belong neither to the old category nor to the new one. This is a very dangerous period both physically and psychologically. The novices often have to undergo a great deal of physical stress as well as psychological stress, since they do not have the comfort of their structured system any longer (i.e. boot camp). The result is that these people develop a type of psychic bond to support each other through this difficult and humiliating period. Turner calls this bond communitas. People who have lived together through this experience often form life long friendships or bonds, despite their different social standings or personalities afterwards. A good example of this are soldiers, who share a bond even after they have returned from battle and one is a lawyer and the other is a construction worker.
    Finally, the novices undergo a ritual which inducts them into their new status. Van Gennep calls this incorporation. They are awarded with the symbols of their new status and their individuality is once again recognized. They are out of the liminal period and have entered a new stage of their life. While life cycle rituals help people to enter a new stage, yearly cycle rituals do not. For example, after Easter, one does not receive a new title or symbols of a new position in society. One just goes back to life as normal. Turner states that the function of yearly cycle rituals is to release the stress of everyday life through a reversal in roles and to create a liminal period in which everyone is equal, i.e., experiences communitas. A good example is Mardi Gras. After everyone goes a little crazy, they return to everyday life feeling better able to continue with their normal roles. These rituals are characterized by periods of license and illicit behavior, such as breaking sexual taboos, rules of public decorum and overeating. The paradox is that this break in traditional roles actually reinforces their importance and the structure of a society. The participants laugh at the structure, stand outside of it and then gratefully return to it with their conflicts resolved.
    Types of roles that are broken are sexual roles, hierarchical roles, religious roles, racial roles. For example, men dress as women, children get to boss adults around, employees get to control their bosses, etc.

Mary Douglas’s Ritual Theory: Categories and Anomaly (Category-Breaking)
    In Purity and Danger Douglas examines the idea of what it means to be liminal, to be a boundary crosser, an anomalous being in a culture, to break categories. VanGennep concluded that the dangerous points in life are the periods of transition, but generally society is structured, ordered. Douglas disagreed. She said that actually culture is the islands of form that are surrounded (and often drowned) by a sea of anomaly. Form, according to Douglas, is our categories, systems, conventions, i.e., all of the arbitrary categories we have discussed as part of folklore, like kinship, cleanliness, etc. Form is our attempt to bring order to society and interpersonal relationships. If a person, animal or object breaks our categories, we are afraid of them, since they are examples of anomaly, which we try to avoid. To prove her point, she studied the Abominations of Leviticus from the Bible.
    This portion of the Bible, contained in the Old Testament, deals with dietary (among other) prohibitions of the Jews. As a result, Orthodox Jews cannot eat pork, shellfish, camels, ostriches, bats, birds of prey, certain insects, etc. She says that all of the previous treatments on why these particular animals could not be eaten were wrong.
    Theorists had offered these explanations:
        1) biological reasons--these animals transmitted disease, for example pork, which is a well-known disease carrier if not properly cooked. However, this fact certainly is not true for lobsters or eagles.
        2) moral reasons--if we deny the richest animal flesh (pork and shellfish), it build moral character and restraint. However, bat meat cannot be considered too rich and luxurious.
        3) symbolic reasons--the prohibited animals symbolized qualities which people believed to be bad, i.e., flesh eating birds were rapacious and greedy, and so people would act the same way. However, chickens are also rapacious, greedy and disgusting, but they are allowed.

Douglas disagrees with all of these ideas. We will discuss her conclusions in class and relate it to our discussion of cultural boundaries from previous units.

Ritual, Body and Society--Grid and Group
    Once Douglas studied how categories are defined by a culture, she applied these ideas to rituals and social patterns in Natural Symbols. It was her goal to show that there were four types of societies, each of which views ritual (and categories) in a different way. She also wanted to prove that ritual was not related to primitivism, but to human ideas of category and social organization. To do this, she turned to the ideas of Basil Bernstein on language and his ideas on restricted and elaborated code.
    According to Bernstein, elaborated code in language is indicated by:
lack of assumptions about meaning; explanations are given as appropriate to a situation; language is used to indicate all kinds of theoretical possibilities which have yet to be determined. While restricted code in language is indicated by: unwritten assumptions; nothing need be explained; language conjures up associations with the past, things which have been determined and are immutable. Folklore is a restricted code. We don’t ask, we just do, so that we can’t explain it to outsiders easily.
    Douglas says we can evaluate cultures through their use of restricted or elaborated codes in rituals, which is paralleled by their attitudes toward the human body. For example, in a restricted code society, Lent means one gives up animal products for 40 days. There is no negotiation. In an elaborated code society, penance is not fixed, but rather is negotiated. Thus, if a person loves sweets, s/he gives up chocolate or soda. If a person hates church, s/he promises to go during Lent. Restricted code is group oriented, and status and position in interpersonal relationships are important. Elaborated code is oriented toward the individual, and how one feels is most important in interpersonal relationships.
    Douglas concludes that human attitudes toward grid and group illustrate whether they are an elaborated or restricted code society. Grid is the rules of culture, how we relate to one another. Group is the identification with the whole, the entirety of a society. Thus, a society can be +group, +grid (best example of restricted code in ritual and social organization); +group -grid (tend toward restricted code in ritual and in social organization, but some elaborated features exist); -group, +grid (tend toward elaborated code in ritual and social organization, but some restricted features exist); or   -group, -grid (best example of elaborated code in ritual and social organization).
    As a result, there are four types of societies defined by these two features, A-D. You will have a handout on them.

The Physical Body as a Symbol for the Social Body:
    The human body is a powerful symbol in general. It might be said that we are obsessed with it. In particular, to go back to VanGennep’s ideas on boundary crossing, we are concerned with the things that cross over the body boundary. We have a great horror of crossing the body boundary in inappropriate ways, since, according to Douglas, it represents our social body. In general, we fear things that can invade our bodies, that cross over that boundary and violate body integrity.
    Each of the four societies has established an arbitrary set of rules to control bodily functions such eating, sexual intercourse, excretion, burping, etc. These rules are an indicator of socialization, of belonging to a society. If one does not know the rules, one is a child, an animal or simply a person who has not been properly socialized. The amount of and type of control on the body reflects one’s social organization. Your handout will include a description of the body control features of A-D societies.



Life-Cycle Rituals: Childbirth

Pregnancy:
    Pregnancy was concealed. It was not discussed publicly and from the time a the pregnancy was obvious, about the fifth month on, the pregnant woman was not allowed to go anywhere alone. In addition, she was not allowed to milk any of the livestock.

Delivery:
      Delivery was usually in the bathhouse (in the areas which had them). If a bathhouse was not available, delivery was usually in another outbuilding, such as a barn. Rarely did it occur in the house. Childbirth did happen fairly frequently in the fields, when women were working and could not get to the farmstead in time.
    All of the married women in the household were present at the delivery. In the case of a first birth, the pregnant woman's mother might come for the birth or the new mother might go to her parents' home, but this was rare. A midwife presided over the delivery. The midwife was traditionally a post menopausal married woman whose newborn children had not died. She was often widowed and was of irreproachable character, since her behavior had a strong influence the child's health and own character. The midwife was a professional healer, which is why she was often a widow, since she earned a living from her skills.
    Men were generally not involved in the process, unless the birth was particularly difficult. Then the midwife might ask the father to say certain prayers to ensure the mother's and child's safety. In rare cases, there was also a couvade, a ritual in which the father mimics childbirth while his wife is giving birth. The one role men did have was to cut the umbilical cord. The male head of the household, who was not necessarily the father, did this. If the child was a boy, he used a ceremonial ax, which was given to the boy when he reached maturity. If it was a girl, he used a spindle. In some cases, he also paid the midwife. If he did, he did not touch her, but washed his hands in a basin after cutting the cord, and as he did so, he dropped coins into the water, which the midwife gathered up. In other cases, the family paid her in food, other goods and money at the christening.
    Note that the afterbirth could not simply be thrown away. It was part of the child and also connected to the spirit world. Thus, it was buried under the house and served to protect the child from evil. In other cases, it was placed in a casket and kept before the icon dedicated to the Virgin Mary, the patron saint of female fertility. In some cases, it was used in potions to help women conceive. If a child was born with a caul, i.e., the placenta over the head, it was also saved. The caul was dried and was often fed to the child on their 10th birthday. If this was not done, the child might become a vampire after death.Post Childbirth:
     The new mother and child generally stayed in the bathhouse for 3-7 days. During that period the midwife stayed on to help the family.When the mother returned to the house, she was isolated from the community for 40 days and was prohibited from intercourse during this period. In some cases, this prohibition lasted as little as 8 days, but was supposed to be for 40. The church had to approve a reduction in this prohibition.A new mother could also not attend church during these 40 days, until she was blessed by a priest. No one was allowed to eat with her, and she generally did not leave the home, doing work only within the house. The prohibition on eating was problematic, since the child had to be nursed and could note at in her presence. Often a wet nurse was used because of this prohibition.A priest was also called in to bless the place where the birth occurred,so that it could once again be used for normal activities.

Christening:
     Traditionally, the christening occurred on the 40th day afterbirth. During this period, the child was not named or discussed publicly.There was a proverb that said that korova bez vymeni myaso, a rebenok bez imeni chertenok, a cow without an udder was meat; a child without a name was a little devil. If the child was ill and not expected to live, in some cases a priest would be called in for a baptism, but (male) priests could not enter a place where the birth was taking place. In that case, the child and/or mother had to be carried out, so that he could baptize them. If the child did die before it was baptized, it was not buried in consecrated ground.
    In some areas, baptisms traditionally occurred 8 days after birth. An alternate method was that the child was named 8 days after birth, but the baptism officially occurred only when the mother could accompany the child on the 40th day. If the baptism did occur earlier than 40 days, for whatever reason, the mother could not be present, since she was banned from the church until she was blessed by a priest on the 40th day. She handed the child over to the midwife or godmother and left before they entered the church for the ceremony.
    The baptism itself is similar to a western one. However, the baby first 'kissed' the icons of Christ and the Virgin Mary, and then the priest carried the child around the church three times. If the child was a boy, he was also carried around the altar. Then s/he was baptized.
    After the christening, there was a big party at the home of the parents,held by the male head of the household. Everyone in the village was invited.Generally an animal was sacrificed for the feast. They made a cake with lots of eggs and sugar, called a babka, and various other ceremonial breads. The child received gifts from those attending and had to be blessed by the midwife at this party, to ensure that s/he would grow up to be a productive member of society and have an upstanding character. She was,in fact, like a second mother or grandmother to him. As a result, there were incest taboos on midwives as well as holidays, on which mothers and children whose birth she attended brought her food and gifts.Treatment of the child:
     All Russian children were (and are to some extent) swaddled.Swaddling involved wrapping the child from neck to feet, so that it could not move. They were generally rocked in a cradle by younger girls while the mother was working outside the home They were also given a type of pacifier covered in cloth and filled with flour and water to assuage hunger when the mother could not be there to feed it. Child mortality rates were fairly high in Russia throughout the period we are studying, which we will discuss in class.
    Children underwent an important ritual at the age of three, when their hair was shaved off. This was an indicator that the child had moved to a new stage--from infant to child. Recall that about age 5 children started doing some work in the household and that at about age 10 they are required to do even more work, so that when they are mature at about age 15, they will be able to assume all of the duties required of (wo)men in Russian society.

Marriage

Pre-Wedding Period--Courtship and Engagement:
    Russians were encouraged to marry outside of their immediate village,so there were parties in the main village, the selo, where the market and church were for all those of marriageable age in the area. Both winter and summer they would come to these parties from the small villages or mirs surrounding the large one. There were three types of parties: posidelka, sitting parties, which were held in the winter, where they played games,cards, sang and danced and told stories indoors; xorovod, circledance parties, where they danced and sang outdoors in the summer; or gulyanye, summer walking parties, where they walked in the fields, sang, danced and played games. They might be chaperoned, but often tried to escape their watchers.
The goal of the parties was to find an acceptable mate. Acceptable,for girls, were strong, dexterous, sweet talking boys who played the accordion.They should have a proud bearing, brave look and be tall with curly hair.Acceptable, for boys, were tall, plump girls with red cheeks. They had to be willing workers, not drink to excess, have good, rich looking clothes,be moral, i.e., virgins (although the expectations in this area varied),and have a family with property and money. It was said that the four most important things in a bride, in descending order were: strength, the ability to work, richness of the dowry and then morality. For a groom, they were:his family, their money and home, sobriety and morals. As is clear, girls were judged by much higher standards than boys. One peasant interviewed said that it was better if a groom was not poor, ugly, physically deformed or a drunk, but that girls had to be pretty, healthy, industrious and have money. Generally, by the late 19th century, girls married at about the age of 15-18, while boys married at about the age of 17-20. This was not always the case, however. In the earlier decades of the 19th century and in the centuries before, it was often the case that girls of 15-20 married boys of 8-13.
    The marriage process was started by the groom's family, who wanted someone to help with the household. While the groom could suggest a potential bride he had met at one of these village parties, there was no guarantee that his parents would accept her as his bride. They made sure that she met the above qualifications before they even considered her. Attraction between the couple was secondary to the economic considerations.
    The first step, once a bride was approved, was to send a matchmaker to the bride's family. The matchmaker was often a widowed relative of the groom or his godmother. She did not announce which family sent her or whether purpose was directly. However, a matchmaker wore a special hat, which made it clear why she was there. She often made several visits before she actually said which family she represented. In the meantime, the bride's family was investigating her contacts to possible families. When she discussed marriage, she would do it obliquely, by saying things such as 'you have the goods, we have the buyer. Let's come to an agreement' or 'you have a hen, we have a rooster. Let's get them together'. When it was finally clear who she represented, the bride's family had to formally agree to the match for her to return.
    If they agreed, the second stage of the pre-wedding period began. The first step was for members of the two families to set a date for the osmotr and the smotrina. The osmotr was the inspection of the groom's householdgoods and property (for which they often borrowed livestock and other property to look richer). The smotrina was the inspection of the bride's family property, but mainly of the bride's handiwork and of the bride herself and her general demeanor by the women of the groom's household. During the smotrina, the women would inspect the bride's embroidery and weaving,etc. and criticize it publicly. She had to serve them a meal, which she cooked, and if she did not behave in an appropriate, i.e., subservient way, then no agreement would be reached. If the women approve the bride,then the two fathers met to negotiate to the bride price and the dowry.
    The bride price included some sort of luxury goods for the bride's parents,such as a fur coat or leather boots, as well as some money and other goods for her family. It also included the groom's gifts to the bride. The dowry included clothing, blankets, tablecloths, bed linens, fabrics and a chest to carry it all in. All this material should be produced by the bride herself,who had been building up a dowry from age 5. She also might bring some farm implements and possibly furniture, including a bed, and icons. A separate negotiation was held for the bride's gifts, which she gave to each member of his family or to the groom each time she saw them. Note that the groom's gifts were simply part of the bride price, but that her gifts were separate from the dowry. These gifts, all made by her hand, included kerchiefs,belts, shirts, the groom's wedding clothes, towels, etc. They also negotiated about the reception after the wedding and the date of the wedding. Weddings were nearly always held in the fall. The groom's family held the reception at their home, and they paid for it. The only responsibility of the bride's family was berry wine for the feast.
    The negotiations were concluded with the assembled company. drinking to seal the deal and the hand fasting of the couple, i.e., joining their hands to indicate that they were engaged. If the agreement was broken at this point, the other side could demand compensation in court. The meal after the negotiations was the last major expense of the bride's family.
    The engagement was kept secret until the groom and his family gathered all the goods required for the bride price. During this period, the bride continued working on her dowry and gifts.
    Once the groom's family was ready, the engagement was announced, and the bride was secluded. As with a new mother, she could not eat with her family, was limited to work inside the home and mainly concentrated on finishing dowry preparations. She was helped in this process by unmarried female friends, who functioned as a type of bridesmaid. During this period,the bride was essentially in mourning. The wedding process for her was the low point of her life. She was considered to be at the height of happiness before marriage and lost status by marrying. The groom, in contrast, did not undergo any of these rituals and gained status by marrying. In general,except for the ceremony itself, he played a small role in the process.He did come to visit the bride during her seclusion and each time, her friends tried to keep him away. He had to bribe them with gifts of candy and money to get close to the bride.

 Wedding Eve:
     On the night before the wedding, the bride's friends went to his house to get the soap used in the bride's ritual washing before the ceremony. They were treated to a meal and then returned to the bride's home for the devichnik. The devichnik was a party during which the bride would sing laments about being married to her parents.She accused them of treachery and having sold her to cruel, cold people.Her married sisters or friends would sing laments as well, warning herto cry now because she would be so exhausted after she began working in her new household and was beaten for laziness, she would not have time to cry. Her unmarried friends sang positive songs about the marriage state and about the groom. Sometimes, they also sang a song criticizing the groom,while the bride had to sing a positive song about him.
The bride wore a wreath of flowers called the 'red beauty'. The wreath symbolized her girlhood, unmarried state and virginity. While she was lamenting,she walked around the room asking people to take it off. No one did, until she asked her younger brother, who took it and passed it from person to person. When it reached the bride again, she put it on and lamented that it no longer fit.
    At the end of the devichnik, the groom and his family arrived,led by the best man. They brought the groom's gifts to the bride's family and the bride price. The best man was the master of ceremonies during the wedding. He was an older man, often the groom's godfather, who led the groom through the process. He performed most of the ritual acts for the groom, who sat passively throughout most of the wedding. The couple received a blessing from their parents, and the devichnik ended.

The Wedding Day:
     On the day of the wedding, the bride was washed (using the groom's soap) and dressed by the groom's married female relatives. If they discovered any deformity, they could require that the wedding be canceled. She could not eat before the ceremony. She wore a dress with a great deal of red embroidery. She also wore her wedding jewelry, given to her by her mother,which was passed on to her daughters and was basically the only personal property she had. Pins were placed in the dress to drive away evil spirits.Note that the groom washed and dressed himself and did not get treated in any special way on the day of the wedding. He wore the clothes the bride had made for him, also heavily embroidered.
    The wedding began when the best man sent a preliminary group of groom's relatives to the home of the bride to gather the dowry and make sure that she was ready and suitable for marriage, i.e., not deformed. When they returned with the dowry, the main procession left for the bride's house.The bride's younger male relatives would try to impede their progress as much as possible, by setting small fires in the road or putting logs across the path. In order for these impediments to be removed, the best man had to pay bribes to the young men. Finally, when the procession arrived at the house, there path was blocked again at the gate by the bridesmaids.The best man had to answer a series of riddles and pay for the bride's
braid, the seat next to her and parts of the home before they were allowed to enter the house.
    Once inside the house, there was a joking kind of ritual for which three women were covered in veils and dressed in wedding clothing, and the groom had to pick out his bride or be forced to marry one of the other women. Usually, the other women were either very young or very old, but in some cases, an older unmarried sister of the bride would be included, to try to force him to take the older sister.
    The final act at the bride's house is her final farewell to her home and family. She laments again, saying good-bye to the stove and the home. She kissed the hearth and her family good-bye and then, with her face veiled, was carried out of the house, either through the back door, a window or through a hole in the wall. She was placed on the sleigh with the groom, and as the procession set off, her mother swept away the tracks of the horse. Generally her relatives did not go to the church, but arrived later at the reception. While the couple was proceeding to the church, the people made as much noise as possible, again to ward off evil spirits.

The Ceremony:
    The Orthodox wedding ceremony is structured much like a western Christian one, with vows, etc. However, there are a few significant differences.
    1) the couple wear gold crowns and are called by the names tsar and tsarina, which were normally taboo;
     2) their hands are tied together with a sacred cloth, to symbolized their unity;
     3) they walk around the altar three times, led by the priest and accompanied by the best man;
     4) they receive rings (gold for the man, silver for the woman);
     5) they drink wine out of a double cup, again symbolizing their unity and support of each other;
     6) hops were thrown after the ceremony.

The Reception:
    After the ceremony, they went to the groom's home for the feast. As in the case of the baptism, as many people as possible were invited to the reception. The groom's father welcomed them and carried the bride across the threshold. The couple were seated on a sheepskin or fur. They ate off of the same plate and fed each other. The feast included rich meats, a huge wedding cake and lots of alcohol. The wedding cake was particularly magical. It was made from flour from seven different fields and seven married women had to participate in the baking. It was yeast raised, and before they baked it, the male head of the household stuck his elbow in the top. They received gifts from the guests and bowed to thank them. There was lots of singing and dancing. The reception itself could last as long as three days.

The reception included lots of minor ritual acts:
     1) the bride's single braid was rebraided into two. Her female relatives took one side, the groom's female relatives the other side. Whoever finished the braid first would indicate which person would dominate in the marriage. Her hair was covered with a married woman's headdress.
     2) a boy was placed on the bride's lap, so that she would have lots of sons;
     3) she had to take off the groom's shoes to indicate her submission;
     4) the guests would yell out gor’ko, meaning bitter, so that the couple would kiss and make everything sladko, sweet;
     5) the bride was forced to carry water from the well or sweep the floor, while the guests were watching. Her new mother-in-law would dump the water out or put more dirt on the floor, saying that she had not done it correctly and force her to do the task again.

    The wedding was consummated in the barn, on the bed the bride brought. The bed was covered by a cloth representing fertility, which the bride had made. While the couple were in the barn, older women would walk around banging pots and pans together, and men would shoot off rifles to distract evil spirits with the noise. When the wedding had been consummated, the best man announced it to the group and proof of the bride's virginity was shown to the assembled guests, i.e., either the sheet or the bride's nightgown were brought out. Note that if the man could not consummate the marriage, it was blamed on evil spirits and another male might take his place. The groom's married female relatives once again bathed the bride, to indicate her acceptance and formal transition into the new family.

The Post-Wedding Period:
    On the morning after the wedding, the groom visited his mother-in-law, who made him an omelet. If the bride was a virgin, he would eat the omelet and put some coins on the plate to indicate his acceptance. If she was not, he would spit on the omelet. It may mean that he would reject the bride or that he could demand some or all of the bride price back.

    The bride was isolated for 40 days and did no work outside of the house during that time. Usually at the end of this period, she underwent another ritual bath and officially began all of her duties.

Unusual Weddings

Elopement:
    Elopement was a possibility for couples who were in love, but whose parents did not approve of the match. Generally, the couple eloped and were married. Then they asked a priest to intercede with the parents, to get them accepted into the family. Since the bride had already lost her virginity, and could not be married to another man, this was often agreeable to the families. A second reason for elopement was that a family could not afford the expenses related to a wedding, and they 'organized' an elopement to avoid them. This was the not the most desirable way to arrange a wedding, since group participation was important to future happiness, but it was done.

Remarriage:
     Widows did normally not remarry, especially if they had young children, who brought wealth to the household in the yearly land allotments. Widowers almost always remarried, regardless of their age or their children's ages. However, the degree of ritual involved in the wedding related to the bride's marital status. A full wedding was always held for a widower marrying a woman who had never been married. If a bachelor or a widower married a widow, the wedding ritual was minimal.

Adoption by Marriage:
    If a family had only daughters, who could not own land or other property, they needed to bring a male into the household to inherit. In this case, the man joined the woman's family. Men who did this were often younger sons of poorer families, who could not support their sons on their land. The bride and her transition into marriage were still the focus of the wedding ritual. However, the groom did have to perform one additional act as part of this wedding. He crawled through the legs of the bride's mother to simulate birth and was even fed baby food as though he were a child.

Funeral

Men's Funerals:
    In the pre-Christian period Russians, like most northern peoples, cremated their dead. The idea of leaving the body around was a fearsome idea, which was retained in the Christian period, but burial became the standard.

Illness versus Unexpected Death:
    If someone was terminally ill, the Russians believed that they should help the person die. If a person suffered too long in this life, their soul would not be at peace and would become unquiet after death. It was believed that if a person took too long to die, an evil spirit was blocking the soul from leaving via the mouth. There were several methods used to hasten death:

    1) if the head of the household were dying, the konek or horse head carved onto the main beam of the house was broken off. Note that this is probably a remnant of sacrificing a warrior's horse with him to accompany or precede the soul into the land of the dead;
     2) the patient was laid on straw or a sheep skin to make death 'softer', so that s/he would die easier. The straw represented mother earth and death and rebirth of the land, as the soul would be reborn. The sheep was a chthonic animal and also a sacrifice, which could serve as an intermediary between the spirit world and this world;
     3) a candle was placed in the patient's hand to light the way to the land of the dead;
     4) the patient was laid on the ground, which enabled to soul to have a more direct passage to the underworld. Since the dead reside in the soil, the soul could be absorbed by mother earth.

    The ideal death was not full of suffering or drawn out at the appropriate age, i.e., well after middle age. However, sudden and violent death, especially at a young age, was as fearsome, if not more so, than a prolonged illness. People who had suffered violent deaths, who were sorcerers or who born with a caul would potentially become unquiet dead, i.e., vampires or ghouls. Those that were drowned became rusalki. Various steps were taken to make sure that a dead body did not rise again:
     1) the head was cut off and placed face downward in the coffin;
     2) knotted ropes were tied around the body;
     3) garlic was placed in the coffin and in the mouth of the deceased;
     4) the coffin was filled with sand or dirt.

Preparations for the Funeral:
    If a person was not suspected of vampirism, the deceased was treated much differently. When a person died, all of the mirrors in the house were covered, and all the water was thrown out, since water and mirrors could catch the soul. It could not then make the journey to the land of the dead.
    The married women in the household washed the body and wrapped it in a shroud, leaving only the head and the hands uncovered. They placed it in a coffin, built by the man's male relatives. The body remained in the house for three days laying on the table under the icon corner, with the feet facing the door to help the soul leave. During this period, the women of the household made sure that the body was undisturbed and that the lamp at the head of the coffin remained lit. They placed a cross, candle, ceremonial ax, pipe, tobacco and money and food in the coffin with the deceased. The candle lit his way to the land of the dead; the cross ensured protection from evil; the food sustained him during the journey; the money bought his passage. The land of the dead was just like this world, so the man needed his ax and pipe and some money. If there was any indication of decay during this period, it meant that the soul was impure and precautions against vampirism were taken before burial.
    During the vigil, the married female relatives of the deceased lamented. They would sing in order of their closeness to him: mother, wife, sisters, daughters, daughters-in-law. In many cases, the family would hire a professional lamenter (who also were used at weddings). She guided the ritual and led the singing. She was generally a widow, who was experienced with the ritual songs required to ensure that the soul went to the land of the dead. If these songs were not sung or sung properly, the soul might get trapped in this world and not make the journey successfully. If so, the man would become a vampire.
    The laments included: a description of how the man died; a rebuke for abandoning the family; an attack on the deceased for being a lousy son, father, husband, worker, etc.; a description of the journey to the land of the dead; a laudatory section praising the qualities of the man as a son, father, husband, worker, etc. Note that this is similar to the structure of the wedding lament, in which the daughter attacks her family and her husband's family and then finally ends with praise for her husband.

Burial:
    Note that during the entire vigil, men did not touch the body. They did, however, carry the coffin out of the house with the oldest son of the deceased was at the head. Note that like the bride, the coffin was carried out the back door, a window or through a hole in the wall. It was most important that the coffin did not touch the house on the way out, or the soul might stay there. Once again, all of the water was thrown out to make sure that the soul went with the body. As the funeral procession left, the widow swept the tracks away, so that the body would not return.
    The women continued lamenting as the body was transported to the church. The body was carried into the church and all of the relatives of the deceased kissed him farewell. Note that men could touch the body in the church, because it was a holy place. After the service, the body was placed in the grave, and all the relatives threw dirt on it. A cross was drawn in the dirt with a shovel and then the relatives left.

The Wake:
    After the burial, a wake was held at the man's home. As with the other two life cycle rituals, the entire village was invited to this feast. If was especially important that everyone participate, so that the spirit of the dead would not cling to them. The feast included meat and the babka (described above in christening ritual). A place was set for the deceased, and the bathhouse was heated, so that the soul could steam itself. Now that the body was gone, there was no risk that the soul might be trapped in the water. After the wake, the house and the people who attended underwent a ritual bath, similar to those after the wedding and birth rituals.

The Post-Burial Period:
    The widow of the deceased wore black. For 40 days, she was isolated, did not work outside the house or eat with her family. However, she did emerge for the commemorations of the dead. These commemorations took place on the 9th day, 20th day, 40th day, 6 months, 9 months and 1 year after death and on the year anniversary every year thereafter. The relatives of the deceased went to the graves, leave food and lament there. Then they would have another wake at their house. The most important of these commemorations were those on the 40th day, 9 months and 1 year.
    The 40th day was particularly important, since it took forty days to reach the land of the dead. On that day, the soul attempted finally to rejoin with the body. If it succeeded, it would become one of the unquiet dead and rise from the grave to prey on its family. The soul, during this 40 day period, is still on this earth, in the form of a bird or butterfly, which symbolize souls. Thus, the laments and other activities on this day ensure that the soul leaves and goes to its proper place. as you know, it was the women's responsibility to tend the graves in yearly cycle holidays. Thus, they are tending the graves of their husband's relatives.

Women's Funerals:
    A woman's funeral depended on her marital status. Married women had nearly no funeral ritual to speak of. They were not extensively lamented and their wakes were much more modest than those of men. While the proper treatment of the corpse was important, the funeral overall and the  commemorations after it were much less elaborate than for men.
    Unmarried women did have a fairly elaborate funeral ritual. However, instead of a funeral, they had a wedding. The corpse was dressed as a bride; a wedding ring was placed on her finger; the laments sung were wedding laments; and in some cases, a man was chosen to actually play her husband for a type of marriage ceremony.