Bulgarian Funeral Ceremonies, 1876
Panagurishte, on All Souls’ Day, presented a singular spectacle. From very early morning, throughout the day till night, streams of women were wending their way to or from the different…
From: Unknown To: 1876 C.E.
“Funeral Ceremonies” from Under the Balkans by Robert J. More, 1877.
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Panagurishte, on All Souls’ Day, presented a singular spectacle. From very early morning, throughout the day till night, streams of women were wending their way to or from the different cemeteries. Each as she went carried in. her hands a dish of boiled corn, a basket containing cakes of bread, butter, some fruit, a dish of honey, a bottle or some other vessel containing wine, a few wax tapers, a small flask of oil, a bunch of flowers, and some burning charcoal and incense in a small clay censer.
When they had arrived at one of the battered, roofless churches, the dishes of boiled corn brought by each of the women were ranged along the foot of the altar, and a lighted taper being stuck into the corn, the respective owners stood in front of the altar, whilst the priest, who was behind a screen with his back to the women, blessed the offering. As this was done the women individually proceeded to the little cemetery behind the church, carrying with them the rest of the articles they had brought.
When they had arrived at the grave of a relative, each knelt down, and after crossing herself, systematically placed upon the grave the loaf or cake of bread, the honey, the cup of wine, the fruit, and the flowers, lighting at the same time as many tapers as there are occupants of the grave. These tapers were then stuck upright in the earth. A little lamp having been then taken out of the small box-like lanthorn fixed at the head of each grave, some oil from the flask was poured into it, and the lamp lit and replaced. All these preparations having been most carefully and methodically completed, the women commenced the wailing by uttering a mournful, plaintive, continuous cry, at the same time rocking the body to and fro, wringing the hands, and shedding genuine tears.
Over some of the graves were several members of the family, who would all wail together; and the combined effect of some hundreds of little knots of women simultaneously ejaculating a tremulous grief-stricken dirge, was doleful and depressing in the extreme. As each mourner discontinued the wailing, which in some cases lasted half an hour or more, she arose, poured the unconsumed oil and the wine upon and scattered the ashes from the censer oyer the grave, after which she departed, carrying the corn and bread with her for subsequent charitable distribution.
A funeral procession consisted of a yoke of white oxen drawing a waggon with wicker sides, on which the corpse—that of a woman—was placed feet foremost, a large cross, intended for the grave-stone, being near the head. On the front of the waggon rode the priest, carrying in his hands a sacristy made of clay; and behind sat one of the relatives.
It was followed by a small crowd of about twenty or thirty mourners, mostly women, wearing gowns of coarse homespun cloth, coloured aprons, and handkerchiefs on their heads, being the usual costume of the country. Arriving at the ruins of the battered and destroyed church of St. George, the procession stopped, and the mourners crossed themselves, while the priest scattered incense on all sides.
The corpse, which was wrapped in a coloured blanket, the face only being exposed, was carried into the church, placed before the altar, and laid feet eastwards in the blanket, the head being supported by a pillow. The body was clad in gold-braided bridal costume, a handkerchief on the head, shoes and stockings on the feet, and a gold chain around the neck. On the breast was placed a lighted triple-branched wax taper, and bunches of flowers were also laid on the breast and placed in the hand. A small oil lamp was burning near the head. A loaf of bread on a plate, a pan of boded wheat, and a dish of honey were set near the corpse. The mourners' and congregation, to the number of about fifty, mostly women, each held a lighted taper, as did also the two officiating priests and the clerk.
The service was read in a sort of sing-song monotone, by the priests and clerk, each taking alternate passages, the book being passed from one to the other, the mourners meanwhile keeping up a running conversation with each other, there being an apparent absence of devotional feeling throughout the entire ceremony. This is attributable, at least in part, to the fact that the service was read in the ancient Slavonian, a language hardly understood and not spoken by the Bulgarians, a proceeding which tends to create a want of reverence in what is taking place on all religious occasions.
Towards the conclusion of the service a picture of a saint was laid on the body, and the mourners laid hold of the white sheet covering it, drawing it tight by the four corners, while the priest, who had taken the triplet of lighted tapers in his hand, scorched the sheet with it in the form of a large cross, adding some religious symbols and other characters. The male relatives then kissed the picture, and bowed three times to the ground, after which the females did the same.
A procession was then formed, headed by the priests, carrying lighted tapers and sacristies, the clerk with the cross or headstone, and the mourners following. The women then began to wail till the grave was reached, uttering a continuous moaning, wailing cry. The grave was lined with boards, within which the clothed body was placed.
The priest then poured over it the remainder of the oil from the little lamp, pronounced the words “earth to earth,” and completed the ceremony by returning to the church to bless the corn and bread subsequently laid in the grave.
More, Robert Jasper. Under the Balkans: Notes of a Visit to the District of Philippopolis in 1876, Henry S. King & Co., 1877.
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