Karšatis ir laidotuvės
LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Senatvė; Mirtis; Laidotuvės; Karšatis; Marinimas; Šermenys; Vėlės; Papročiai; Tradicijos; Bendruomenės; Šiaurės Lietuva; Etnografija; Tyrimai; Old age; Death; Burial; Funeral rites; Souls; Customs; Traditions; Communities; Northern Lithuania; Ethnography; Research.
ENIn northern Lithuania in the end of the 19th and the 20th centuries taking care of people in their old age was considered to be a natural state of man - one of the components of the anthropological calendar when man's age and strength is ending. The authority of old people because of their physical disability weakens in their family and community. They become more dependent on other persons. In the beginning of the 20th century the local community was responsible for taking care of its members in their old age, attending dying persons, and their burial. Neighbours helped to prepare for the funeral, waked for some days, prayed and sang at the dead person, brought food, dug a hole, attended the funeral and after the funeral had funeral dinner during which they prayed for the dead person. In the 20th century the family and the state became responsible for taking care of people in their old age and their burial, and in the second half of the 20th century the old people became responsible for these things themselves. They tried in advance not only to buy the shroud and coffin, but also the grave and tombstone for their place of eternal rest. Up to the middle of the 20th century the majority of inhabitants in northern Lithuania were Christians and very pious. In their emotional attitude the man's body and soul up till now are considered traditionally to be a value. The death obliges the living to take care of the person and give him all possible services dictated by fashion of that time, traditions and ideology.The death remained a consolidating factor while burying a member of the community, however, the modern life offered more paid services: washing and dressing of the dead, ready made coffins, and other funeral home services that broke the settled in the 19th century manner of attending a dying person, his dressing and coffin making. In the first half of the 20th century the division of the villages into individual farms and greater occupation of their inhabitants, and in the second half of the 20th greater migration of population and the help of medical workers during the last hours of the dying person changed the traditional communal relations with the dying person and the deceased, and they became more modern, official, and funeral customs became more decorative. The majority of inhabitants in northern Lithuania remained Christians believing in the immortality of the soul. Because of that they did their best to provide the dying person and the deceased one with all established by their faith religious attributes. There also remained the traditional funeral with prayers and songs, and also the funeral dinner. [From the publication]
