Funeral Rites and the Cult of Ancestors. From Odin's Covenant and Necromancy to Vampires and the Burial of Yarilo

The experience of overcoming death in funeral rites is the starting point of all human culture. People burned the bodies of their loved ones, sent them on their final journey with lavish feasts, placed decorations in their graves, preserved and adorned their skulls. But what is the true meaning of these rites? And what can they tell us about ourselves — about humanity as a whole? Vladimir Petrukhin's book is a deep and captivating narrative about hundreds of rites and beliefs from around the world related to death and the dead: from Judeo-Christian myths about the first murder to Scandinavia and Ancient Rus, from the dried heads of African tribes to Vedic India and the peoples of the North. Why is it customary to carry the deceased feet first in a coffin? How is the Christian hell connected to the pagan goddess Hel? Why are the dead considered "food for the gods," and where does the smoke of the funeral pyre point? Why is the skull of a deceased ascetic in India additionally pierced? Why was excessive mourning for the dead forbidden among the Greeks? What connects Napoleon with Odin, and Slavonic Kostroma and Yarilo with Near Eastern resurrecting gods? Finally, why is it often customary to laugh at funerals? You will learn about the diverse rituals that helped the dead find their way to the afterlife, and the living — to avoid their return in monstrous forms. And also — why humanity abandoned attempts at magical overcoming of death but did not stop dreaming of immortality. Who is this book for? For all who are interested in folklore, myths, and their heritage in modernity. For collectors of the series "Myths from A to Z." For those who are interested in culture in its unusual aspects.