Latvia

The Last Family Ritual Ceremony:

Funeral Customs and Rituals

Name: Istrate Ovidiu

Negrut
Alexandru


In Latvian traditional culture
death is a logical and natural end of
life considered to be a part of a rite
of nature as well as a transition
from this world to another world.
The world is eternal in comparison
to the short life of the people, the
length of which does not depend on
them, but is determined by Laima Latvian deity of fate. Paradoxically
not even Laima is almighty: as tell
the folk songs she used to cry
determining a hard life to
somebody.

 The dead body is usually prepared for the

funeral dressed in the best clothes and
jewelry, adding also some necessary
basic accessories. The folk songs usually
tell of the funerary clothes in white color
- shirts, sheets, plaids etc. After taking
care of the dead, the body is placed into
a coffin. In archaeological sites of kuri the tribe living in the Western part of
Latvia - the monolithic wooden coffins
made from gross logs of pine or fir-tree
have been found. Later on the coffins
were made of wooden planks and were
called in folk songs a piece of six
planks or next lifes house. Even in
the 20th century in the countryside of
Latvia the people used to keep a coffin in
house (in granary attic or similar place).

 The folk songs often depict

another funeral ritual - the wake
of the dead. The wake included
the gathering of the relatives,
the banquet and singing all
night. During the wake the
candles are lit up. Most of the
funeral songs are started by one
person and repeated by the
other people line by line. There
are also written testimonies on
funeral circle dances and ritual
dances danced during the wake
and after the burial.

 The funeral ceremony consists of

selection and decoration of
horses, the marking of the path
with fir needles and the meal
before leaving to the cemetery.
The dead should be attended as
luxuriously as possible closing
and locking the gate afterwards
to prevent his return. In everyday
life the world of the alive and the
world of the dead are strictly
sequestered. The approximation
of these two worlds happens only
in fall, during the quite shadow
period when all the spirits of
dead are invited to visit their
former houses.