RU | EN
Submenu

Iagafova E., Petrov I. Symbolism and Functions of Things in the Funeral and Memorial Rites of Unbaptised Chuvash People*

Ekaterina Iagafova
Samara State University of Social Sciences and Education
Samara, Russian Federation
ORCID: 0000-0002-2784-8090
E-mail: yagafova@yandex.ru 

 

Igor Petrov
R. G. Kuzeev Institute for Ethnological Studies of the Ufa Federal Research Center of the RAS
Ufa, Russian Federation
ORCID: 0000-0001-8664-3004
E-mail: ipetrov62@yandex.ru

 

 Download  |  Go to Issue #2. 2025

 

ABSTRACT. The article is devoted to semantics, symbolism and ritual functions of things in modern funeral and memorial rites of unbaptised Chuvash people. It considers the modern interpretation of the functional features and symbolism of ritual objects, the transformation of the object code of unbaptised Chuvash ritual under the influence of Orthodoxy and globalisation processes. The material complex of modern funeral and memorial rites of unbaptised Chuvashs in its basic characteristics (a set of objects, their functionality, forms, material, properties) corresponds to the traditional one and includes such objects as a coffin, a grave monument and other elements of grave design, a towel and personal belongings of the deceased, candles, metal objects, utensils, money, etc. They attribute individual features, gender and ethno-confessional belonging of the deceased. The study has shown that symbolic-functional manifestations of things in the context of modern funeral and memorial rituals are conditioned by traditional Chuvash ideas about death and the afterlife, ritual bodily uncleanness of the deceased, the attitude to preserving communication with the deceased, their position in relation to the living, etc. The above ideologemes associated with the traditional ‘cultural code’ of the Chuvash remain in the actual semantic field of religious practices of unbaptised Chuvash in the early 21st century. The transformation of rituals caused by changes in the life of the ethno-confessional community over the last century has affected, along with functionality, the ‘iconicity’ of the objects used, reduced the semiotic status of things, led to their partial loss in rituals, but in general did not destroy the structure of the semiotic model, which retains the archaic language of culture at its core.

 

KEYWORDS: things, signification, funeral and memorial rites, symbolism, Chuvash, cultural language

 

FOR CITATION: Iagafova E., Petrov I. Symbolism and Functions of Things in the Funeral and Memorial Rites of Unbaptised Chuvash People. Kunstkamera. 2025. 2 (28): 176–192. (In Russian). DOI: 10.31250/2618-8619-2025-2(28)-176-192

 

* The research of I. G. Petrov was carried out within the framework of the State Assignment of Institute for Ethnological Studies of the Ufa Federal Research Center of the RAS no. 1024031800139-2-6.5.1.

 

DOI 10.31250/2618-8619-2025-2(28)-176-192
UDC 393.05

 

REFERENCES

  • Bayburin A. K. [Semiotic aspects of the way things function]. Etnograficheskoe izuchenie znakovykh sredstv kul’tury [Ethnographic study of cultural signs]. Leningrad: Nauka Publ., 1989, pp. 63–88. (In Russian).
  • Vinogradova L. N. [The kind of water that... (Traits that define the magical properties of water)]. Priznakovoe prostranstvo kul’tury [The sign space of a culture]. Moscow: Indrik Publ., 2002, pp. 32–60. (In Russian).
  • Vinogradova L. N., Tolstaya S. M. [Symbolic language of things: broom (besom) in Slavic rites and beliefs]. Simvolicheskiy yazyk traditsionnoy kul’tury. Balkanskie chteniya — II. [The symbolic language of traditional culture. Balkan Readings — II.]. Moscow: Institut slavyanovedeniya i balkanistiki RAN Publ., 1993, pp. 3–36. (In Russian).
  • Gennep van A. Obryady perekhoda. Sistematicheskoe izuchenie obryadov [Rites of passage. Systematic study of rites of passage]. Moscow: Izdatel’skaya firma “Vostochnaya literatura” RAN Publ., 1999, 198 p. (In Russian).
  • Denisov P. V. Religioznye verovaniya chuvash: istoriko-etnograficheskie ocherki [Religious beliefs of the Chuvash: historical and ethnographic essays]. Cheboksary: Chuvashskoe knizhnoe izdatel’stvo Publ., 1959, 408 p. (In Russian).
  • Eremina V. I. Ritual i fol’klor [Ritual and folklore]. Leningrad: Nauka Publ., 1991, 206 p. (In Russian).
  • Kon’kova O. I. [Man and woman in life after death (Archaeological and ethnographic notes on funeral rites in the Finno-speaking population of North-West Russia)]. Zhenshchina i veshchestvennyy mir kul’tury u narodov Rossii i Yevropy [Woman and the material world of culture among the peoples of Russia and Europe]. St. Petersburg: Peterburgskoe vostokovedenie Publ., 1999, pp. 23–28. (Collection of MAE; vol. 47). (In Russian).
  • Myl’nikov A. S. [Cultural language and the question of studying the ethnic specificity of means of sign communication]. Etnograficheskoe izuchenie znakovykh sredstv kul’tury [Ethnographic study of cultural signs]. Leningrad: Nauka Publ., 1989, pp. 7–37. (In Russian).
  • Mesarosh D. Pamiatniki staroy chuvashskoy very [Monuments of old Chuvash faith]. Cheboksary: ChGIGN Publ., 2000, 360 p. (In Russian).
  • Neklyudov S. Yu. [Material objects and their properties in the folklore picture of the world]. Priznakovoe prostranstvo kul’tury [The sign space of a culture]. Moscow: Indrik Publ., 2002, pp. 21–31. (Library of the Institute of Slavic Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences; vol. 15). (In Russian).
  • Salmin A. K. Sistema religii chuvashey [The system of religion of the Chuvash people]. St. Petersburg: Nauka Publ., 2007, 654 p. (In Russian).
  • Tolstaya S. M. [The category of a sign in the symbolic language of culture (instead of a preface)]. Priznakovoe prostranstvo kul’tury [The sign space of a culture]. Moscow: Indrik Publ., 2002, pp. 7–20. (In Russian).
  • Toporkov A. L. [Symbolism and ritual functions of material culture objects]. Etnograficheskoe izuchenie znakovykh sredstv kul’tury [Ethnographic study of cultural signs]. Leningrad: Nauka Publ., 1989, pp. 89–101. (In Russian).
  • Trofimov A. A. Chuvashskaya narodnaya kul’tovaya skul’ptura [Chuvash folk cult sculpture]. Cheboksary: Chuvashskoe knizhnoe izdatel’stvo Publ., 1993, 238 p. (In Russian).
  • Terner V. Simvol i ritual [A symbol and a ritual]. Moscow: Nauka Publ., 1983, 277 p. (In Russian).
  • Yagafova E. A. Chuvashskoe “yazychestvo” v 18 — nachale 21 veka [Chuvash “paganism” in the 18th — early 21st centuries]. Samara: Izdatel’stvo SGPU Publ., 2007, 128 p. (In Russian).
  • Yagafova E. A., Petrov I. G. Religioznye praktiki chuvashey: traditsii i ikh transformatsiya [Chuvash religious practices: traditions and their transformation]. Samara: SGSPU Publ., 2023, 352 p. (In Russian).