The Cemetery as a Place Where the Living Meet the Dead: Prescriptions for Relations between the Two Worlds in the Traditional Culture of Central Russia

Abstract

This article deals with the rules of behavior in the cemetery. These rules presumed certain communications between the world of the living and the world of the dead. A number of examples prove that correct behavior by the living provides safety and protection from the harm which otherwise could be inflicted by the dead. Correct behavior restores the boundary between the worlds destroyed by the fact of death. Violation of the “correct” behavior at the cemetery, on the contrary, leads to the breaking of this boundary, i.e., to the intervention of the dead into the world of the living. The paper notes that a person can come into contact with the dead and obtain from them whatever assistance might be necessary, if he complies with certain rules.