Traditional rites of burial and commemorate of unbaptized infants in historical and ethnographic Volhynia

Abstract

The aim of the study is to analyse the traditional customs, rites and beliefs of the burial and commemoration of unbaptized infants on the territory of historical and ethnographic Volhynia; to compare the traditions of the Volhynians with the traditions of the Ukrainians of the other ethnographic regions; to find out the state of preservation of the tradition, the process of its change during the end of the 19^th – 20^th centuries.  

The methodological framework of the study combines the methods of ethnographic fieldwork (interviews by specially developed questionnaire, observation), special scientific (retrospective, comparative) and general scientific (analysis and synthesis, induction and deduction) research methods.

The scientific novelty. For the first time, this study describes the rites of burial and commemoration of unbaptized infants on the territory of historical and ethnographic Volhynia. New, as yet unpublished, field ethnographic materials, in particular, collected by us in hitherto unexplored territories, have been introduced into scientific circulation.

Conclusions. The burial of unbaptized infants (both stillborn and those who died immediately after birth) was significantly different from the usual funeral. The bodies of unbaptized infants were buried in the graves of relatives (grandfather, grandmother) or in separate designated place of the cemetery (in a corner, near the fence). In the past (before the beginning of the 20^th century), unbaptized infants were buried under a tree (near a house in a garden or in a forest), at a crossroads, on the edge of fields. The burial of infants was reduced to an imitation of the main baptismal rites: sprinkling the body with holy water and giving a name. Volhynians believed that children who were not baptized would become dangerous demons. In order to prevent posthumous wanderings and harmful «actions» of unbaptized infants, they were allowed to be baptized even after burial: passers‑by threw cloth («baptismal clothing») or a hastily arranged cross at the pace where their souls appeared. Unbaptized infants were forbidden to be commemorated together with other dead people, they were allowed to be commemorated only once a year: on the Saturday before the Holy Trinity or on the Monday of the first week after the Trinity holiday (on the so‑called «Rozyry» («Brykuli»)).