The last way in Abkhazia. Traditions of the last journey

Different countries differ in their own individual traditions and canons, and funerals are no exception. Let's see how they betray dead earth in countries such as Germany, Georgia, Israel and Brazil.

Funeral ceremony in Germany

In Germany, funerals become a real problem because they are very expensive. The minimum price is 3000 euros, the average funeral will result in 7000 euros . The question concerns not only the holding of the event, but also the receipt of documents that are associated with the deceased. In these cases, the time spent on work can reach up to 2 months. Cemetery space is very expensive.

A prerequisite for the cemetery is the monthly payment of a certain amount of money for the improvement of the site. Even though the people of Germany are not poor people, even the funeral brings them significant expenses.

If relatives cannot pay for the burial, and the deceased did not have savings for this, then the body is cremated. All costs of cremation are also paid by relatives, but it is much cheaper than a regular funeral. If there is no money for the burial ritual, which is more common among migrants, the body is taken to the Czech Republic for cremation, but in general they will not be laid.

brazilian funeral

Here, funeral prices are very democratic - from $ 100 to several thousand. It is possible to agree on a free funeral by the state, and you can also use installments. In most cases, a conventional burial is performed rather than cremation. A place is rented in the cemetery where the deceased will be. It is worth noting that the place in the cemetery is rented for only 3 years. After this period has expired, relatives must pay for the burial place again. In the event that relatives for some reason do not pay a fee for extending the lease of the grave site, then it will be handed over to another family for use, and the remains of the deceased will be transferred to a common burial vault. Very common in Brazil is the reservation of places in the cemetery.

Funeral in Georgia

Georgia is a country in which family ties are greatly honored and valued, therefore, in the event of the death of a relative, his remains are usually placed in family tombs. Municipal cemeteries are used less frequently. Their difference is only in one - a more affordable cost. Although funerals in Georgia take place on Orthodox canons, but in the matter of burial and commemoration, they differ.

The commemoration is lavish and rich, despite the fact that it differs from Orthodox traditions that have existed for more than a dozen centuries. are also popular.

Israeli funeral

The traditions of Israel, regarding the issue of burial, are very different from other states, and the main reason for this is the belief of the Jews. All services related to funerals are performed by one company. It is called "Chevra Kadisha" and operates as a monopoly. Its specialists help the relatives and friends of the deceased to determine what rituals should be performed, what sequence they have. Initially, the work seems not only noble, but also very thoughtful. Residents of Israel talk about very high prices for ritual services, especially since the procedure requires compliance with strict rituals with a large number of prohibitions.

Considering Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, we note that here the funeral is both similar to the traditions of other countries, and radically different from them. The main desire is to conduct a procession in such a way that it would not be ashamed and insulting for seeing off a person on the Last Journey. - a very delicate procedure that requires time, effort, concentration and money.

One of the stages of perpetuating the memory of the deceased is the installation of a monument or a cross on the grave. The specialists of the company "" work with Karelian granite, which can last for decades. The range is constantly updated with different models and materials, due to this, even very selective customers can make a choice.

Sometimes I regret that I do not live in a Muslim country, and local Muslimswrong." Not only are they not circumcised, they are buried on the third day. Also, Abkhazian funerals are very different from Russian ones.

The process looks like this. In the house where the deceased is, the gates are opened and the pilgrimage begins. The whole street is filled with cars and along the road there is an endless stream of people saying goodbye. Women sit at the coffin. Men come in, stand for a couple of minutes and leave. Then, in the yard, they approach male relatives and express their condolences. But even after that they do not leave, but remain in the yard. If they knew the deceased closely, then they can stay like that for all three days, if not, then after standing for about thirty minutes they leave. Women enter and remain standing at the coffin. Again, if they are close relatives, then they spend all three days at the coffin, if not, then after standing for an hour and a half, they leave.

The deceased, covered with a sheet, lies on the bed. There is a table with a photograph at the head, flowers, fruits, a glass on it. If the deceased smoked, then the man will light a cigarette and put it there. At night, someone stays with him to sit next to him.

Neighbors in the courtyard of the house knock together a canopy and collect tables, so that there would be somewhere to put the people at the wake. Neighbors cook beans, pickles, fish and pkhali. Men cook abysta (mamaliga) (For 9, 40 and 52 days, cakes and meat will be added to the hominy. The neighbors will cook again) They wash the dishes, clean the yard, serve it on the table.

How do they know about death?Abkhazia small state and word of mouth works. Also on local television runs a line indicating the name and surname of the deceased. The fact that a person is no longer recognized throughout the country in a couple of hours.

On the day of the funeral, there are even more people than on the days of farewell. I have never seen a priest bury a dead person. Before the burial, the elder family makes a speech about the deceased, telling how good he was. The burial itself takes place in the courtyard of the ancestral home (a rarity when Abkhazians are buried in a public cemetery)

After the funeral, all those present sit down at the table for a common meal. When there are many people, they imprison in batches. After the meal, everyone disperses, except for the neighbors, whose task is to clean everything up.

Why did I start this conversation. This month is rich in funerals for me. First the neighbor died. He is Georgian and all this action was not three days, but five. died today cousin husband. A week ago was the anniversary of the death of her older sister, and today she left herself. As everyone says from longing. Until 1941 there was big family: three sisters and three brothers. When the brothers went to war, the sisters swore that if the brothers did not return, they would take a celibate dinner. So they lived together long life. The last one, the youngest of the sisters, passed away at the age of 85. In principle, for Abkhazia, the age is young. May the earth rest in peace for her.

In the morning it became known that the wife guessed right. Our neighbor has died. The barely perceptible irony with which I am trying to spice up this sad story is quite appropriate in this case. The neighbor was 104 years old. And death overtook him, as it turned out, when, according to tradition, he brought cool red wine from the cellar for dinner. The old man's life was quite a success - he breathed his last breath after knocking over a couple of glasses. In a word, not death, but a dream.

But the conversation is not about that now. It so happened that saying goodbye to a neighbor whom I saw only a couple of times was my first experience of attending a Georgian funeral. Here it is customary to go to funeral services. This is a kind of club where all more or less familiar people gather and discuss their life. Well, they periodically remember the dead man with a kind word - after all, it was thanks to him that they saw each other again. What's up, one famous actor told me that he even refused to move to his son in America just because on the other side of the ocean it is not customary to gather at funeral services and gossip about life. So everything is more than serious.

Going to memorial services is a kind of duty of every true Georgian. Even if your former classmate's great-uncle died, you should go and pay your respects. In theory, quite a worthy tradition.

In such big city, like Tbilisi, a funeral is already quite a modern procedure. One of the few traditions that is honored here is not to cross the threshold of your own home or office immediately after the memorial service. So on Tuesdays and Thursdays and Saturdays, namely these days it is customary to bury in Georgia, for cafes and shops comes real holiday. For the attendance of such institutions is increasing at times.

In villages and villages with the implementation of traditions and will take things a little differently. I'm visiting relatives in the mountains. And here farewell customs are worthy of the pen of a great writer. Well, since this is not yet observed nearby, I will try to tell about everything myself.

So, our 104-year-old neighbor who died suddenly. The great-great-grandson of grandfather Avtandil, as the deceased was called, decided not to reinvent the wheel and invited a brigade of mourners to a memorial service. Although, rather, a valiant team of women dressed in black dresses and wrapped in black shawls could be called a troupe. For with such faith in assumed circumstances, only great artists can create.

The text of the funeral lament did not differ in particular variety. The phrases “To whom did you leave us” are heard, probably, at all goodbyes in the world. But the self-forgetfulness with which the invitees did this is worthy of every admiration.

This time the elder mourner was especially dispersed. In order to show how she was killed by the loss of a person so dear to her, she not only screamed the loudest, but also scratched her face. It all ended with the mourners being thrown out the door. Having accepted with humility the departure of his great-grandfather, the 60-year-old great-grandson fell from the sobs of the women hired by him into such deep depression that he nearly took his own life.

The fact that the day after the funeral he had to deal with the foreman of the mourners, who appeared with a demand for an increased fee and showed as evidence her cheeks scratched into the blood, this is a subject for another story.

By the way, the mourners, on the contrary, made the most favorable impression on those who came to the memorial service. “This is how the great-grandson took care of the great-grandfather,” said neighbors, distant acquaintances and neighbors of distant acquaintances who filled the courtyard of the house. At the same time, a thoughtful expression dawned on the faces of many: either they remembered something about the deceased, or they wondered if their descendants would organize the presence of such conscientious mourners at their own funeral.

Taking care of your last earthly day is also in the traditions of Georgians. This is especially true of the Mingrelians. A man standing next to me at the memorial service yesterday, whom I saw for the first time in my life, told me about how one day he almost ran away from the funeral of a distant acquaintance of his close friend. Being on the verge of death, the prudent vice-deceased decided to record a greeting on a tape recorder for those who would come to his memorial service. As a result, everyone entering the courtyard of his house was greeted by the words of the one who left this mortal world: “How glad I am that you have come. Thanks, have a seat."

Those who were not afraid to continue their journey towards the house, where, in theory, the coffin should have been, faced another test. The widow and children, remembering how the head of the family liked to lie under a tree, passing a glass in another way, decided on his last day on earth to arrange their dear man in a familiar position under a familiar tree with a familiar jug ​​of wine. That is how he met those who came to tell him the last “forgive me”.

In another village, they decided not to show such avant-garde. But they also did not want to go down to the funeral in the old fashioned way. That is why they illuminated the deathbed with multi-colored light bulbs, which made the coffin more like Christmas tree. But the main thing is that the deceased was satisfied. The relatives were sure of this.

In general, the funeral traditions of Georgia sometimes resemble the customs ancient egypt. When Uncle Georgy, the brother of my friend's grandmother, died, they put paper and a pen in his coffin so that he could finally finish his memoirs at his leisure.

And Aunt Mziya, a neighbor of my publisher, told a completely fantastic story. In her village, two men died just one week apart. When the turn came to bury the second deceased, his widow was approached by the widow of the one who had been interred a week earlier.

“I forgot to put my favorite shoes in the coffin of my husband, and he loved to walk in them so much. May I pass them on through your husband?” The woman entered the position of a fellow villager and took the transfer. At kelechs (this is a commemoration in our opinion), two widows sat side by side and discussed in an undertone how the meeting of their husbands would go.

The next morning, widow number one again came to the house of a neighbor whose widowhood was seven days less. “We urgently need to open the grave of your husband! I donated the wrong shoes for my Achiko!”
But this time the women failed to reach a consensus. “Firstly, I will never disturb the remains of my husband. And secondly, he is very honest with me and probably already managed to hand over the shoes to yours!

But the strictest traditions are honored in Svaneti, the mountainous region of Georgia. The vendetta, which used to slaughter entire families, was finished there. But they still try not to give reasons for it. When a relative of the Svans dies, they open a list in which they include everyone who did not come to say goodbye.

What a blessing that now you can fly to Svaneti by plane. By Grandma ex-husband My wife's friend's nephew died. Tomorrow we're going to the funeral...

Funeral customs are an important part of the culture of every nation. They differ: in some countries they strive for luxurious and solemn funerals, in others, on the contrary, for modest ones, in the circle of their closest ones. Some peoples bury the dead in the ground, others set fire to them or float the bodies down the river. What do we know about the traditions and rituals of other countries?

Funeral in Germany

In Germany, the most pressing problem of funerals is the cynicism of ritual offices and the very high prices for organizing burials, even for Europe.

A normal funeral costs from 7 thousand euros, the most budget ones - at least 3 thousand. The Germans complain not only about the price, but also about the bureaucracy associated with paperwork. Because of this, 1.5-2 months can pass from the moment of death to the burial ceremony. Places in the cemetery are also expensive - from 2500 euros. Plus, you have to pay an annual maintenance fee.

The Germans are far from poor people, but such expenses are quite a serious burden for the average family.

Therefore, now many residents of Germany, especially at a respectable age, open funeral accounts during their lifetime, so that in which case financial issues do not bother relatives. If the deceased did not have a funeral bill, and it is difficult for relatives to pay all the expenses, cremation is carried out instead of burial. It is cheaper than burial in the ground, although not by much. The poor, mostly emigrants, turn to special services to save money. These services take the bodies to be cremated in the Czech Republic, which is cheaper.

How are they buried in Brazil?

Here, unlike in Germany, relatives have a choice. You can organize a funeral for $ 100, and for several thousand.

You can do it for free - at the expense of the state, or you can agree on an installment plan. Cremation is not prohibited, but the main percentage of burials is in the ground. Although there are some nuances here. The cemetery space is leased for only three years.

Then the lease must be extended, otherwise the remains will be buried in a common tomb, and the grave will be handed over to another family. main feature funeral in Brazil - devotion to one's family. Brazilians try to bury the dead the way they lived - a big family.

Therefore, the "reservation" of places in the cemetery is quite a common phenomenon.

Funeral traditions Georgia

Another country with pronounced family traditions- Georgia.

Georgians, in whose possessions there is land and big house, bury the remains of their relatives in family tombs. But there are also municipal cemeteries, with plots that are paid, but quite accessible to the population.

Since the official religion of Georgia is Orthodoxy, they are buried here according to Orthodox customs. Therefore, it is not customary to cremate the remains. Feature funerals in Georgia are lavish, lavish commemorations.

A modest meal is considered unworthy of the memory of the deceased, and a bad rumor can go about a family that “saved” on funeral treats.

Burial and commemoration in Israel

Burials in Israel differ markedly from burial traditions in other countries. But the point is not in the state itself, but in the beliefs of the Jews.

The entire organization of the funeral is taken over by the monopoly ritual bureau - Chevra Kadisha.

Death is a natural, albeit extremely sad event. And death, alas, can not be avoided by anyone. And just as Death is diverse in its manifestations, so the funeral processes are extremely different from each other in different corners our planet...

Funeral in Germany

In Germany, the most pressing problem of funerals is the cynicism of ritual offices and the very high prices for organizing burials, even for Europe.

A normal funeral costs from 7 thousand euros, the most budget ones - at least 3 thousand. The Germans complain not only about the price, but also about the bureaucracy associated with paperwork. Because of this, 1.5-2 months can pass from the moment of death to the burial ceremony. Places in the cemetery are also expensive - from 2500 euros. Plus, you have to pay an annual maintenance fee.

The Germans are far from poor people, but such expenses are quite a serious burden for the average family.

Therefore, now many residents of Germany, especially at a respectable age, open funeral accounts during their lifetime, so that in which case financial issues do not bother relatives. If the deceased did not have a funeral bill, and it is difficult for relatives to pay all the expenses, cremation is carried out instead of burial. It is cheaper than burial in the ground, although not by much. The poor, mostly emigrants, turn to special services in order to save money. They take the bodies to be cremated in the Czech Republic, it's cheaper that way.

How are they buried in Brazil?

Here, unlike in Germany, relatives have a choice. You can organize a funeral for $ 100, and for several thousand.

It is possible and free of charge - at the expense of the state, it is possible to agree on an installment plan. Cremation is not prohibited, but the main percentage of burials is in the ground. Although there are some nuances here: the place in the cemetery is leased for only three years.

Then the lease must be extended, otherwise the remains will be buried in a common tomb, and the grave will be handed over to another family. The main feature of the funeral in Brazil is devotion to one's family. Brazilians try to bury the dead the way they lived - a big family.

Therefore, the “reservation” of places in the cemetery is quite common.

Funeral traditions of Georgia

Georgia is another country with pronounced family traditions.

Georgians, in whose possessions there is land and a large house, bury the remains of their relatives in family tombs. But there are also municipal cemeteries with paid, but quite accessible plots for the population.

Since the official religion of Georgia is Orthodoxy, they are buried here according to Orthodox customs. Therefore, it is not customary to cremate the remains. A characteristic feature of the funeral in this country is the magnificent lavish commemoration.

A modest meal is considered unworthy of the memory of the deceased, and a bad rumor can go about a family that “saved” on funeral treats.

Burial and commemoration in Israel

Burials in Israel differ markedly from burial traditions in other countries. But the point is not in the state itself, but in the beliefs of the Jews.

The entire organization of the funeral is taken over by the monopoly ritual bureau - Chevra Kadisha.

They prepare the deceased for burial, help relatives, suggest what rituals should be performed and in what sequence.

Although outwardly the activity of Chevra Kadisha seems quite noble, the people of Israel themselves often complain about the high prices. A feature of the funeral in Israel is the observance of unusual rituals (for example, tearing clothes) and very strict mourning with many prohibitions.

Tibetan funeral

In Tibet the dead are consigned to the air; Soils are so deep there that it is almost impossible to dig a grave. According to Tibetan Buddhist traditions, the deceased goes through three stages (Bardo): during the first stage, the monks recite special verses: according to legend, only they can reach the consciousness of the deceased. At the second stage, the deceased is shown a bright light. The deceased will be ready to move on to the third stage of the Bardo if the light does not frighten him. Then the search for new parents and getting a new body begins.

The body of the deceased is kept at home for three days, so that during this time the soul leaves it. Then they betray the sky, namely: they take it to a special rock for rituals, where the body is fed to the griffins. It is believed that the faster it is eaten, the faster the soul will be reborn.

Chinese funeral weddings

When Chinese men die, so that the deceased would not be bored, relatives look for the same deceased brides for them. Having learned that a woman of a suitable age has died in the district, the relatives of the "groom" negotiate with the family of the deceased, and if they agree, they redeem the body. Then they are buried in the same grave, conducting a kind of wedding ritual.

Indian funeral

In this country, most often the body is burned at the stake, and for the wealthy deceased, several fragrant sandalwood logs are placed in the fire. At the beginning of the ritual, the body is carried on a stretcher to the sacred Ganges, where they are all dipped into the water together.

They take off their clothes from the deceased and put them in a fire, placing his head to the south. The closest relative in the male line walks around the body 3-7 times, holding a torch in his hands, with which a fire is ignited. After that, the youngest leave first, then in seniority. On the third day after the cremation, the relatives choose the remains of the bones from the fire. Following the ceremony, the ashes and remains of the bones are lowered into the waters of the Ganges River. In order to cleanse themselves after the funeral, men shave their hair.

Funerals in some African countries

In some tribes, the body is buried in the earth, and the skull is stored in special vessels on its surface. Others leave the dead in their own homes, others are buried in caves or sewn into animal skins and hung on trees.

Many nationalities continue to believe (or want to believe) that life after death continues, and do (according to their concepts) everything possible to ensure that the soul quickly finds a new body or enters the kingdom of God.