Concepts and rituals of Orthodox originas and their dynamics in funeral and memorial rites of the Ludians

• Main Author: Sergey A. Minvaleev
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: National Research Mordova State University; MRSU 2019-09-01
• Series: Финно-угорский мир
• Subjects: Karelians; Ludians; funeral and memorial rites; orthodoxy; folk christianity; pagan-christian syncretism
• Online Access: http://csfu.mrsu.ru/en/archives/2831

Introduction. The article reveals funeral and memorial rituals of the Ludian Karelians at the end of the 19th – beginning of the 20th centuries, which have Christian origins and exposes their further transformations. Materials and Methods. This research is based on an integrated approach to the humanities. The most valuable group of sources for the research is unpublished expeditionary materials, stored in the archives of the Republic of Karelia and Finland. Results and Discussion. The funeral and memorial tradition depends on Orthodox funeral complex of rites. Almost every aspect of the funeral, which has Orthodox semantics, find its own interpretation in mind of the Karelians, such as candles at a casket necessary to light a way for a deceased in the next world; the sacrament of penance obligatory for the living not to carry any sins of the dead; the requiem mass to grant peace to the departed soul and etc. A priest participated in all steps of funeral ceremony: from a confession to common wakes. In the Soviet era a priest’s role in burial practices of Karelian countryside begun to subside by elderly women who could read in Church Slavonic. Ludian burial practices contain some echoes of burial orgies (also known as “funny funerals”) and ancestor worship. Conclusion. Despite of atheistic propaganda and intense fighting of the Soviet State against religion, Christian funeral ceremonies continued to be observed by Ludian Karelians and preserved the features of the Pagan-Christian syncretism.