Signs at the funeral - the experience of millennia

The funeral is a sad but inevitable reality. Death has always been incomprehensible, frightening its inevitability, the inability to predict what is there, beyond its threshold? Perhaps this is why the funeral rite is perhaps more than all the others, surrounded by a halo of signs, rules, superstitions. People tried to distance themselves from the deceased, save lives for other family members. This childishly simple faith, the desire to eliminate the frightening unknown has remained to this day. Signs, superstitions have turned into almost mandatory rules of the ritual.

The first requirement is to close the mirrors wherever there is a deceased person. It is believed that the soul can go into the mirror, stay there. She will frighten relatives, will not be able to leave this world.

According to another version, if the deceased is reflected in the mirror, he will "double", take away one of his friends or relatives.

Burial signs suggest closing your eyes to the deceased. Earlier it was done with the help of copper pyataks, today they use large coins. The open eyes of the deceased, our ancestors believed, looked for those who would die next.

When escorting the deceased, it is necessary to put several coins, a handkerchief, a comb. This set, as was thought before, will help to overcome a long way to paradise, pay off for the road, appear before the Most High in a decent form.

But you can not put photos of the living in a coffin. Otherwise they too will be buried.

The deceased person was necessarily washed to purify the body. The soul is purified by itself, for this, a glass with water must be placed on the windowsill. He will be a font for the soul.

Signs at the funeral forbid washing the body of the deceased pregnant women or close relatives. Take out the coffin, too, should not blood relatives. Otherwise, the deceased will decide that his death is welcome. It's better if it's just friends or acquaintances. Their hand, as a sign of gratitude from the deceased, is tied with a new towel, sometimes with a handkerchief.

Where they say goodbye to the deceased, it is not recommended to wash or sweep the floor. It was believed that so the living will die, "sweep away" for the deceased. It must be done right after the housekeeper is taken out of the house. The table where the house was standing, turn over, and throw away the bed, the deceased.

Signs at the funeral are advised how to deal with things, the property of the deceased. Up to forty days they are not recommended to touch, and after the soul passes, all things must be quickly distributed to the needy, carried to the cathedral, the church.

Almost all the signs at the funeral are aimed at protecting the surrounding people from spoiling, which can be inflicted by evil people, using funeral props.

Before laying the deceased person in a coffin, he is tied up with arms and legs. It is quite understandable from the modern point of view ritual was considered a way that does not allow the dead to rise, walk on the ground, frighten the living. Before closing the lid of the coffin, and then lowering it into the grave, the feet and arms are untied.

These ropes can be spoiled for death, so witches or black witch doctors always try to steal ropes. In order for this not to happen, they put a special observer. Usually this is an elderly woman who is well acquainted with rituals.

Signs and superstitions at the funeral prescribe how to behave during the rite. You can not step on the towels where the coffin is placed, bring any objects or flowers from the cemetery. When returning home, it is recommended to rinse your hands.

You can not cross the road before the deceased: you will die very soon.

To remember the deceased is necessary on the day of the funeral, on the ninth and fortieth days, on the anniversary.

Signs at the funeral took centuries. They contained an intuitive experience of sound grain. People, not knowing or not knowing how to find an explanation for the laws of nature, instinctively felt how to behave in a difficult situation, developed a line of behavior fixed in signs and rituals.