Funeral Rites and Ancestor Cult. From Odin's Covenant and Necromancy to Vampires and the Funeral 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 off with rich feasts, placed ornaments in their graves, preserved and decorated their skulls.... But what is the true meaning of these rites? And what can they tell us about ourselves - about mankind as a whole? Vladimir Petrukhin's book is a deep and engaging story about hundreds of rituals 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 prohibited among the Greeks? What connects Napoleon with Odin, and the Slavic Kostroma and Yarilo with Near Eastern resurrecting gods? Finally, why is it often customary to laugh at funerals? You will learn about various rituals that helped the dead find their way to the afterlife, and the living to avoid their return in the guise of monsters. Moreover, about why humanity has abandoned attempts at magical overcoming of death, but has not stopped dreaming of immortality. For whom is this book For everyone interested in folklore, myths and their legacy in modernity. For collectors of the series "Myths from A to Z". For those who are interested in culture in its unusual aspects.