Relations between the living and the dead in Estonian folk religion
1997; Estonian Literary Museum Scholarly Press; Volume: 04; Linguagem: Inglês
10.7592/fejf1997.04.relation
ISSN1406-0957
Autores Tópico(s)Grief, Bereavement, and Mental Health
ResumoThe relations between the living and the dead could be divided into the normal (i.e.accepted by the tradition) and the abnormal ones (i.e.condemned by the tradition).The first group of them included the customs associated with the ancestral cult expressed in the observance of the so-called souls' time.Estonians kept the time of visiting soul's in autumn, depending on the region during the period from Michaelmas to Christmas.To be more exact: either round Michaelmas (September 29), before Martinmas (November 10), between Martinmas and St. Catherine's Day (November 25) or before Christmas (Loorits 1957: l84-204; Hiiemäe 1995: 124-129).The dead ancestors were anticipated to visit their former farmstead during souls' time.Thus, in the threshing-room there was laid the table for the souls or they were taken some food in a bowl to the loft or some farmstead building.It was done on one or several evenings.The proper treatment of the ancestors was believed to have a good influence on the destiny of the living.There is even a proverb, "Whose souls are hungry, theirs fields are poorly" (Tarvastu parish) (EV 1980(EV : no.1282).This does not indicate, however, to an application for the active support from the part of the deseased but rather it tries to avoid any possible damage.The people of the South-East Estonia, the Setus, who unlike the Estonian Lutheran majority, are Orthodox, thought the dead soul to wander about its homestead during the six weeks after the person's death.They also were and are still practicing the commemoration feasts on the graves of the dead on certain fixed dates (six weeks, half a year, a year, three years) after the death of the person as well as on some calendar holidays.
Referência(s)