Weronika Domagała

„Traditions, rituals and customs associated

with funeral”

Superstition - unfounded belief in the existence of a connection between the events. They are associated with stereotypes of tradition and culture.

Tradition - passed down from generation to generation cultural content (such as customs, ideas, beliefs, ways of thinking and behavior)

Superstition and tradition

The first is the tradition of near-death rituals. If death occurs at home, and it is predictable (for example, is the result of long-term disease) we speak about near-death rituals.

When a person is dying, a priest is called to come home from the nearest church. The priest administers the Anoiting of the Sick-, the Sacrament of Penance, and the Holy Communion. If possible, in the room where the sick person is lying, there should be a table covered with a white cloth, and the ritual objects like holy water, the cross, the two lighted candles and cotton wool to wipe the oil should be present.

Near-death rituals

When the Sacrament of Penance is being administered, the family, friends and neighbours gather in the next room and pray.             A large candle lighted at the deathbed is put into hands of dying person – the reason of this is to light the way to heaven for his soul. This candle is lit for the second time after the body is put into the coffing, and taken into the cemetery. It should be lit to the very end of the funeral ceremony.             The attention is also put the fact that the death is not to be disturbed -you should not touch the dying person, cry over him, because otherwise the death will last for a very long time.

After the death, if it is necessary we should close the eyes of the deceased. Sometimes, the eyelids open, then the coins are put on them to prevent them from opening again. According to popular local superstition, you cannot look into the eyes of the dead, as it means a quick death of a viewer. Coins which have used in the ceremony are put into the coffin - like anything else which dead person had a direct contact with, or what has been prepared for him.

             The next step is the cleaning and dressing of the body which is usually done the dead person’s children - daughter prepares her mother for the funeral, the father is prepared by his son. The outfit of the deceased person depends on his/her marital status. Woman are burried in head kerchiefs, caps are put on men’s heads. Unmarried girls are dressed in a wedding gown and veil, unmarried boys in wedding suit. Unmarried women have two handkerchiefs on the head - white and black, tied on top. However, an unmarried man's clothing has another special feature – a white handkerchief is put into small jacket’s pocket.

Dress the deceased

The number of objects that are connected to a tradition are put into the coffin. Those are primarily a rosary and a picture of the patron of the deceased. A prayer book, little money, favourite trinkets of the deceased (comb, mirror) are placed in the coffin, too. Deceased that were smokers are often given a cigarette-cases. It also happens that the items associated with the daily activities of the deceased (awl and a hank of wool, books, etc) are also put into the coffin. However, the flowers should not be put into the coffin, unless the funeral is a holiday of deceased person (for example, nameday) and the bouquet is a gift from the family.

Coffin

The singer is often present during the funeral rite. This is a person who leads the prayers at home of the deceased person, and at the funeral rite itself. He uses its own, unique collection of books with songs chosen especially for this occasion. Singers were mostly elderly people, mostly women and these priceless books were often passed from mother to daugther. Nearly every major village had its own singer, and if not – she was invited to the funeral from the neighboring village. In this case, in addition to the customary invitation to the small mourning party, it was necessary to pay the singer.

Singer

The prayers and singing around the dead body intersplaced with moments of silence and recalling the memories of the deceased. There are superstitions connected with the wake. First, the dead can not be left at home alone, the light must be constant on in the room where the coffin with the body is kept. Unfortunately, the meaning and significance of these superstitions are not known, even by the oldest inhabitants of the villages. They just know that this is the way it needs to be done, and they continue to practice these rites. The tradition also states that we should put a black masking

material on the mirrors, or turn them around so they face the wall. We should also remove all the potential reflecting surfaces such as water ( puddles of water, or any other fluid) which can cause that the dead will see his face in the reflection. If the deceased will be reflected in the mirror - the death will not leave the place for a long time

Traditions

Until coming back from the funeral we should stop all the clocks on the hour of the death of the deceased so to show that time has no meaning in this house, so the death can no longer take anyone away.             Living tradition, even for today, is rubbing the moles with the deceased person’s index finger as it was believed that after this "treatment" all moles will disappear.

             At the time when the coffin is in the house, and all the family members, neighbours and friends are gathering around the body we need to pay special attention to the bouquets and wreaths laid beside the coffin. If any of the flowers is clear of branches, it must be inserted back into the bunch and necessarily taken to the cemetery. These flowers symbolize the removal of the death and makes it impossible to return to the family.

Pregnant women should attend the wake. However, if a woman belongs to the immediate family, or just want to participate in the prayers, she must be careful to not to look in the face of the deceased. According to tradition, it is dangerous for a child who may be born with the face similar to the deceased person.             It is also important to determine the date of the funeral itself. It is believed that the body should not be at home on Sunday, as it is a sign that another funeral in the family will occur soon.

The last important tradition associated with the funeral in the country is certainly a mourning party after the funeral. This refers to a meal for immediate family, neighbors and friends of the deceased, held after the ceremony at the cemetery, usually in the house of the deceased. In the past, it was more like meeting for prayers, now is becoming more informal in character. Very important element of this event is the alcohol – although in small amounts no one can’t able to drink it.             If the event takes place at home where the deceased lived it must be remembered that until the next day we can not clean the table. The leftovers will be the last meal for the deceased.

The mourning party after the funeral

Although there is no formal obligation to dress in black and abandon the social life in rural areas, these restrictions are quite strictly kept. Grief usually lasts for one year, and it includes the immediate family of the deceased, parents, children, siblings, but for the grandchildren this period last for six weeks. Beautiful, but sad at the same time, an unwritten custom says parents cannot wear black clothes when they childern died. The villagers believe that the deceased child bears the jar in heaven with tears of his beloved ones.

Mourning

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