Transcript Romanian funeral traditions

Romanian funeral
traditions
Product made for the project:
Intercultural Dialogue as a Means to
Develop Creativity and Innovation
This project has been funded with support from
the European Commission.
This publication reflects the views only of the
author, and the Commission cannot be held
responsible for any use which may be made of
the information contained therein.
 Body and Soul…
 The human body mostly
consists of a head, neck, torso, two
arms and two legs, as well as numerous
internal organ groups such as
respiratory, circulatory and a central
nervous system.
 The soul, in some religions,
spiritual traditions, and philosophies, is
the immaterial or eternal part of a living
being, commonly held to be separable
in existence from the body-the
metaphysical part as distinct from the
physical part. The soul is often
believed to live on after a person’s
death, and some religions posit that
God creates souls.
 Death…
 Death is the termination of the biological functions that
define a living organism. It refers both to a particular event and to the
condition that results thereby. The true nature of the latter has, for
millennia, been a central concern of the world's religious traditions and
of philosophical enquiry. Belief in some kind of afterlife or rebirth is a
central aspect of many religious traditions.
 On the Last Road…
 Expression "on the last
road" relates to the last road that a
man makes after he dies, more
exactly the road between the place
where he lived and the graveyard.
 Orthodox Church are
taught we that death is separation
of soul from the body. Holy
Scriptures (Bible) shows that
when "the man goes to the slot for
ever", the body must "return to
earth as it was, and the soul return
to God who gave it. Rich or poor,
king or slave, wise or illiterate, all
leave this life one day and present
ourselves before God who will
judge us, turn us deserves reward.
 The Funeral…
 A funeral is a ceremony marking a person's death.
Funerary customs comprise the complex of beliefs and practices
used by a culture to remember the dead, from the funeral itself, to
various monuments, prayers, and rituals undertaken in their honour.
These customs vary widely
between
cultures,
and
between religious affiliations
within cultures. In some
cultures the dead are
venerated; this is commonly
called ancestor worship. The
word funeral comes from the
Latin funus, which had a
variety of meanings, including
the corpse and the funerary
rites themselves.
…funeral traditions in MARAMURES:
 "The Cult of the Dead"
or "The Great Passing" is part of
the Passing rituals of Maramures
and other folkloric areas. In the
traditional belief, this "passing" has
three phases: the break up with the
living ones, the preparations for the
transition to the other world and the
integration into the world of the
dead, the re-establishment of the social balance modified by the leave of
the dead one.
 It is an interesting thing that these customs begin from the
very moment the approach of the "hour" is being noticed. Relatives and
friends, from whom he asks for forgiveness on the account of all the bad
things done in the lifetime, are visiting the ailing; they recall memories and
pleasant moments spent together, all these contributing to the
diminishing of the separation from the dear ones. Before the fatal
moment, the priest is sent for, so that the dying may
confess his sins and receive the Eucharist.
The minute ritual is respected in every
detail, for the fear of the soul's unrest. For this, the
candle will burn on the whole extent of the watch in
order to illuminate the soul's way to the heavens (the
"soul's candle"), the prayer for the forgiveness of his
sins, the objects placed in his hand: the money, the
stick, the knot-shaped bread are just a couple of things
of the ritual taken as a whole.
After the funeral and the charity meal, the
teenagers (boys and girls) play and party for the
memory of the deceased, with the participation of
musicians.
On a better look over the ceremony a
certain mixture of Pre-Christian (the watch separation ritual from the living ones) and Christian
ones is to be noticed, proving the antiquity of these
customs and, of course, the power of the tradition
preserved and kept
”The Merry Cemetery” (Romanian: “Cimitirul Vesel”) is a
cemetery in the village of Sapanta, Maramures county, Romania that
is famous for its colorful tombstones with the native paintings that
represent scenes from the life of the buried persons and even poetry
in which those persons are described.
The unusual feature of this cemetery is that it grows apart
from most of the European cultures, that consider death something
solemn. Sometimes this is put in connection with the Dacian culture,
whose philosophy was based on the immortality of the soul and the
belief that somebody's death was a joyful moment, as that person was
getting to a better life.
The cemetery has its origin in some crosses sculpted by
Ioan Patras. In 1935, Patras sculpted the first epitaph and since the
1960s, the whole cemetery was populated with over 800 such
crosses, sculpted from oak wood, and it became an open-air museum
and a tourist attraction.
“Merry Cemetery”
Sapanta
…funeral traditions in TRANSYLVANIA:
 In addition to the focus on ceremonies, the faith of
Romanians encompasses a belief that for each man, there exists a star
and a tree. The falling of the star marks the death of a person. The fir,
the tree of life, is placed at the head on the grave of a deceased
person. The fir is brought from the forest by a group of young men.
They are met at the
entrance of the village by
a group of women. The
women sing a song about
the link of the man with
the tree of life. The song
talks about the grief of
the fir as it becomes
obliged to dry and to rot
near its brother, the
deceased person.
 Another funeral custom
is the dawn song, or the Great
Song. It is sung by a group of
appointed old women at the dawn of
the two days between a death and a
funeral. This song advises the dead
person and describes the journey
that he or she will make into the land
of the dead ancestors. It is a song of
a poetic metaphor of the myth of the
great transition.
 Also expressed is a wish
for the sun to rise later in the day, so
that the family of the deceased has
more time to prepare for the ceremonies. The preparation of the
funeral consists of greeting the relatives, making the funeral objects,
such as the coffin, the vial that will cover the body, the funeral candle
and the carriage with bulls, as well as the preparation of the food to
be served to relatives and friends during the meal after the funeral .
The most important burial songs are the "bocete" known all
over the country. Sung by female relations and close friends of dead,
they are "a melodic overflow of sorrow" at the dead person's bedside, in
the yard, on the road, in the church-yard during the burial and
subsequently on certain dates destined for the commemoration of the
dead. The texts of the dirges, often contain elements with a powerful
social content, which are echoes; character of folklore is obvious at
every step, both in the dirges for the orphan children and regret at
separation from "the love of the world" are but a few of the topics of
these moving songs.
A strict ritual function could be identified in focusing on a
wheat-dish, in Romanian called "coliva" (crushed wheat-grains, boiled in
water, sweetened with sugar or honey and mingled with nuts) offered at
funerals and at funeral repasts After the body is buried and mourners
return to the deceased's home, it is the bereaved family's duty to
provide a feast for all who attended the funeral. Since the service
typically lasts four hours, appetites have peaked. No manner of bad
weather will discourage the crowd.
When a popular community figure dies, rumors sometimes
circulate that providing the funeral feast forced the dead person's
family into ruin.
Most popular Romanian phrases
related to "death"
“What it means to die when you can live till the end
of the world? and what else is "the end of the world" than an
expression, because, who knows at least what is the world
itself?” (Anne Rice)
“The egoist is watching him as the last purpose of
the creation: he would expect that his moment of death to be
the end of the world.” (Nicolae Iorga)
This the end…
…but we’ll meet again
Thank you for proper attention,
George Uleru (IX C)