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

Encounters with death—and the attempt to “survive” it through burial rites—became one of the origins of human culture. Since ancient times, people burned the bodies of their loved ones, held farewell feasts, left decorations in graves, preserved and adorned skulls. But what, in truth, lies behind these actions? And what can burial rituals tell us about ourselves—about a person as a phenomenon?

Vladimir Petrukhin’s book is a rich and gripping journey through hundreds of rites and beliefs of different peoples connected with death and the world of the dead: from Judeo-Christian stories about the first murder to Scandinavia and Ancient Rus; from dried-out heads of African tribes to Vedic India and the traditions of northern peoples.

Why are the dead carried out of the house feet first? How do Christian ideas of hell echo the image of the pagan Hel? Why were the dead called “the food of the gods,” and what did the smoke from the funeral pyre mean? Why did an Indian ascetic have a skull pierced after death? Why was excessive grief condemned among the Greeks? What connects Napoleon with Odin, and the Slavic Kostroma and Yarilo with Near Eastern dying and rising gods? And finally, why were people often laughed at during funerals?

You’ll learn about rituals meant to help the dead reach the afterlife, and to protect the living from their possible return in a frightening form. And also—why humanity gradually abandoned magical ways to “defeat” death, but still hasn’t stopped dreaming of immortality.

Who is this book for:

For everyone interested in folklore, mythology, and their presence in modern culture.

For those who collect the series “Myths from A to Z.”

For readers curious about unusual, unfamiliar sides of culture.