The Varna Cemetery

The accidental discovery of the Varna Cemetery (otherwise known as the Varna Necropolis) on the Black Sea coast of modern day Bulgaria has shed light onto the lives of the people in the vicinity and the burial customs they practiced.

When it was discovered in 1972, a mass of gold and other metals were uncovered, dating back to the 5^th and 4^th millennium BCE, and this was one of the many reasons why archaeologists flocked to the area to study the area. The majority of the gold discovered was in the form of gold beads, but other forms were discovered. One of the more famous items found was the penis sheath. Other items found included hammered sheet pectorals, and “the gold appliqués (often zoomorphic in form) with perforated edges for sewing onto the clothing of the deceased” (Scarre, p.403). According to scholars, many of the discoveries were decorations; some worn around the wrists or upper arms, pushed through holes in the lips or ears or sewn onto their clothing.

The fact that many of these items were highly prized decorative objects is particularly interesting. It has led to the theory that they were specially made for the purpose of burial and not for use while the person was alive. It indicates the method of how societies in this time were able to show the differences in social status.

It has been suggested by scholars that due to the richness of its treasures, especially the considerable quantity of gold jewellery, that these were the tombs of rulers. However, it should be stressed that there is no evidence at this time to back up this hypothesis.

Not all the graves contained a rich amount of grave goods. Indeed, while the majority have up to 10 items placed in the graves, there were 23 graves that contained none at all. Most interestingly, was the discovery of no skeletons in some of the graves, even though these were handsomely furnished with objects. These have been classed as ‘cenotaphs’ – a memorial to those whose body could not be found or buried in another location.

The Varna Cemetery offers us great insight to the growing complexity of communities in southeast Europe during the 5^th millennium BCE. While certain questions cannot be answered at this present time, the continual study of the Varna Cemetery will continue to provide unknown aspects of the Black Sea societies in the future.

Bibliography:

Scarre, Chris (2005) The Human past – Holocene Europe, Thames & Hudson, London.

Funeral Rites among the Lama Priests of the Monguor

In all cultures across the world, death and the traditions bound up in death are important aspects of one’s culture. Among the Monguor (also known as the Tu), one of the 56 officially recognised ethnic groups in China, there are certain funerary rites that must be adhered to in order to safeguard the community. In addition to this, deaths are categorised into different groups; those who have died a natural death, an unnatural death or the death of a lama.

A lama is a Tibetan or Mongolian priest of Lamaism (Tibetan Buddhism) and the death of one of these priests is of great concern among the Monguor. Death and the spirits are considered with great seriousness as if the proper rites are not performed correctly, then the spirit can raise havoc among the community.

If a lama is advanced in years or is clearly seriously ill, a coffin is built for him in advance. The coffin is constructed sloping at the top and is painted red with a sun and moon symbols. The box is built on a small scale, usually only big enough “accommodate the corpse, which is set in the box in a squatting position just prior to being carried to the cremation ground”.

As the lama dies, his clan and immediate family are invited to join in the ‘death watch’. As soon as the lama dies, his ajiu (important male maternal relative) is informed. The rest of his family and village are then told. On the first day of his death there are endless burning of symbolic paper money and flat pieces of fried bread (which are only used during the Spring Festival, the Day of Pure Brightness, and the anniversary of the death of the deceased, and are never eaten).

The body is then prepared. The body is generally tied in a squatting position, dressed in his finest clothes. His face is white-washed and covered in yellow silk. The head is crowned with a five-directional hat and then the body is placed in the centre of the north room facing the door. A table or chest is placed in front of him where offerings of fruit, money, large sugar crystals, a bowl of rice in which crossed chopsticks are inserted, bread, joss sticks, oil lamps, etc, are placed upon. The body will stay here until the third day of his death.

On the third day, the ajiu arrives to visit the deceased with a group of people. Several old women will walk behind him, singing loud laments. As soon as the ajiu arrives, family members rush out of the home and kneel outside on the ground, and, as the ajiu draws near, they kowtow, holding incense sticks. It is the older family members, and those who are closely related to the lama, that will kowtow and the entire family will wail before the ajiu enters the home.

After this, the body is then placed in his coffin. The windows are closed in order to prevent the curious looking in. As this happens, a retinue for wailing women set off for the cremation site, singling laments about the deceased. The woman going in front carries a wicker basket containing crumpled funeral bread and bits of "sacred paper" burned for the deceased. As she walks to the site, she will gradually throw out the contents of the basket. The women have effectively, “opened a road for the deceased to follow”.

The coffin is then brought to the site. The ajiu walks in front of the coffin and the rest of the family and community behind them. Once they reach the site, a screen of several blankets are placed around the oven before the corpse is placed seated upon it in privacy. “The coffin sedan is smashed to pieces and the pieces placed in the oven bottom, above a basin of liquefied butter and cypress needles”.

On one side, a group of lamas will assemble. Usually they number seven but any up to twenty will arrive. “After the lamas assemble and begin chanting, a lama hands the oldest xiaozi a long tree-branch, the end of which has been tied with cotton, dipped in butter, and set ablaze. The xiaozi accepts the torch, kowtows to the dead lama, then kneels and lights the fuel inside the cremation oven through the four small openings at the bottom”.

At this point the women leave and only the men remain. After an hour the rest of the villagers will leave as well so that only a few xiaozi (male relatives) and lamas remain. After the lamas have finished their chanting, they too depart.

The fire then burns out and after three days the oven is opened, and the bones are removed using red chopsticks, wrapped in yellow gold paper, and placed in a small container. This container may then be buried locally or sent to Kumbum (Taer Temple). The mourning period of the nephew of a lama lasts for 100 days. In this time they should not cut any facial hair or brush their hair. In addition to this, they are should not wash their faces until after the coffin is taken out.

The funerals and traditions surrounding the deaths of lamas among the Monguor are fascinating; it has been pondered by scholars as to the reasons why they are cremated and never buried in their ancestral burial grounds. It has been suggested that this is because they die childless and if they were buried in ancestral ground it could bring bad luck to the community – which future generations may not reproduce.

Bibliography:

Stuart, Kevin & Hu, Jun (1992) Death and Funerals among the Minhe Tu (Monguor), Asian Folklore Studies, Nanzan Institute for Religion and Culture.

Funeral Rites among the Lama Priests of the Monguor

In all cultures across the world, death and the traditions bound up in death are important aspects of one’s culture. Among the Monguor (also known as the Tu), one of the 56 officially recognised ethnic groups in China, there are certain funerary rites that must be adhered to in order to safeguard the community. In addition to this, deaths are categorised into different groups; those who have died a natural death, an unnatural death or the death of a lama.

A lama is a Tibetan or Mongolian priest of Lamaism (Tibetan Buddhism) and the death of one of these priests is of great concern among the Monguor. Death and the spirits are considered with great seriousness as if the proper rites are not performed correctly, then the spirit can raise havoc among the community.

If a lama is advanced in years or is clearly seriously ill, a coffin is built for him in advance. The coffin is constructed sloping at the top and is painted red with a sun and moon symbols. The box is built on a small scale, usually only big enough “accommodate the corpse, which is set in the box in a squatting position just prior to being carried to the cremation ground”.

As the lama dies, his clan and immediate family are invited to join in the ‘death watch’. As soon as the lama dies, his ajiu (important male maternal relative) is informed. The rest of his family and village are then told. On the first day of his death there are endless burning of symbolic paper money and flat pieces of fried bread (which are only used during the Spring Festival, the Day of Pure Brightness, and the anniversary of the death of the deceased, and are never eaten).

The body is then prepared. The body is generally tied in a squatting position, dressed in his finest clothes. His face is white-washed and covered in yellow silk. The head is crowned with a five-directional hat and then the body is placed in the centre of the north room facing the door. A table or chest is placed in front of him where offerings of fruit, money, large sugar crystals, a bowl of rice in which crossed chopsticks are inserted, bread, joss sticks, oil lamps, etc, are placed upon. The body will stay here until the third day of his death.

On the third day, the ajiu arrives to visit the deceased with a group of people. Several old women will walk behind him, singing loud laments. As soon as the ajiu arrives, family members rush out of the home and kneel outside on the ground, and, as the ajiu draws near, they kowtow, holding incense sticks. It is the older family members, and those who are closely related to the lama, that will kowtow and the entire family will wail before the ajiu enters the home.

After this, the body is then placed in his coffin. The windows are closed in order to prevent the curious looking in. As this happens, a retinue for wailing women set off for the cremation site, singling laments about the deceased. The woman going in front carries a wicker basket containing crumpled funeral bread and bits of "sacred paper" burned for the deceased. As she walks to the site, she will gradually throw out the contents of the basket. The women have effectively, “opened a road for the deceased to follow”.

The coffin is then brought to the site. The ajiu walks in front of the coffin and the rest of the family and community behind them. Once they reach the site, a screen of several blankets are placed around the oven before the corpse is placed seated upon it in privacy. “The coffin sedan is smashed to pieces and the pieces placed in the oven bottom, above a basin of liquefied butter and cypress needles”.

On one side, a group of lamas will assemble. Usually they number seven but any up to twenty will arrive. “After the lamas assemble and begin chanting, a lama hands the oldest xiaozi a long tree-branch, the end of which has been tied with cotton, dipped in butter, and set ablaze. The xiaozi accepts the torch, kowtows to the dead lama, then kneels and lights the fuel inside the cremation oven through the four small open-ings at the bottom”.

At this point the women leave and only the men remain. After an hour the rest of the villagers will leave as well so that only a few xiaozi (male relatives) and lamas remain. After the lamas have finished their chanting, they too depart.

The fire then burns out and after three days the oven is opened, and the bones are removed using red chopsticks, wrapped in yellow gold paper, and placed in a small con-tainer. This container may then be buried locally or sent to Kumbum (Taer Temple). The mourning period of the nephew of a lama lasts for 100 days. In this time they should not cut any facial hair or brush their hair. In addition to this, they are should not wash their faces until after the coffin is taken out.

The funerals and traditions surrounding the deaths of lamas among the Monguor are fascinating; it has been pondered by scholars as to the reasons why they are cremated and never buried in their ancestral burial grounds. It has been suggested that this is because they die childless and if they were buried in ancestral ground it could bring bad luck to the community – that future generations may not reproduce.

Bibliography:

Stuart, Kevin & Hu, Jun (1992) Death and Funerals among the Minhe Tu (Monguor), Asian Folklore Studies, Nanzan Institute for Religion and Culture.

Death and Afterlife in Pre-Islamic Arabic Poetry

Pre-Islamic poetry makes for a beautiful read – they are hauntingly beautiful verses full of life, death and everything in between. With early Arabic poetry, you will find works that are full of references to religious concepts which are often mysterious, necessitating an understanding of the poetry's social and religious background as well as substantial guesswork for reasonable explanations.

“To escape this vicious circle, other sources, especially Islamic writings, are useful but differences in time, place, and world view must be considered. Early Muslims concerned with codifying and propagating their faith showed little interest in the pagan Arab religions, and they may have perceived, consciously or not, that an examination of such matters could depreciate the wonder of Muhammad's call and dampen its dramatic effect-a situation similar to the question of the literacy of the Prophet. Nevertheless, a number of Muslim writers such as Ibn al-Kalbi, al- Mas'udi, and ash-Shahrastani gathered substantial information about the pagan Arabs which is invaluable to discovering and decoding poetic allusions to the owl and other archaic and pre-Islamic beliefs and customs”.

Owls are frequent visitors in early Arabic poetry, an important aspect of the society they were used in, especially in regards to poetry about life and death. The owl seems to have been important to early Arab religions but scholars are still uncertain as to what this relationship was. The owl was unquestionably an awe-inspiring creature amongst the Arabs, and it was thought to be one of the followers of the djinn, supernatural and as a rule malicious beings. If an owl landed on a person’s house, it signified that death was near, and poets from this time incorporated them into their poetry.

In early Arabic poetry, death was an important theme. “In sharp contrast to the living who "wandered," the deceased was a muqim (a "sedentary"), and this word in its transitive usage, "that which causes to stay," became an epithet of the grave."1 Descriptions of the tribe's departure from the grave, the home of the deceased, strengthened the idea of sedentary life and death's oppressiveness. This hasty abandonment of the grave by the companions or the clan in order to resume their wanderings became a motif of early Arabic poetry, and it is suggestive of ancient Arab attitudes towards the deceased. The dead were not believed to take part in the activities of the community; life was precarious and often short, and the dead were no longer of consequence, though perhaps remembered”.

In poetry, the owl was formed from the bones of the person who died or carried the deceased’s soul within their bodies. In this sense then, the owl signified the troubled and tormented existence for one who had been disgraced by his friends and relative.

The owl was an important aspect to the pre-Islamic people’s beliefs; when Islam became the dominant religion, the faith had little need of the pagan gods that had been worshipped for thousands of years beforehand. Instead, the owl, and many other symbols of death and the after-life, was remembered through poetry and other forms of art. In pre-Islamic art then, the owl was a classic motif which can lead us into the archaic world, the “unconscious life which surrounds consciousness” and forms the substrata for conceptualization.

Bibliography:

Homerin, T. Emil (1985) Echoes of a Thirsty Owl: Death and Afterlife in Pre-Islamic Arabic Poetry, Journal of Near Eastern Studies, The University of Chicago Press.