Death and Grieving: The Culture of Loss

It makes no difference, so I've been told
Where the body lies when life grows cold
But grant, I pray, one wish to me
O bury me not on the lone prairie

I've often wished to be laid when I die
By the little church on the green hillside
By my father's grave, there let mine be
O bury me not on the lone prairie

This mournful request in a cowboy ballad exemplifies a concern seen in many cultures around the world, the desire for one’s physical remains to be buried close to home, while demonstrating how graves define home. Different cultures across the world have their customs as to how to deal with the physical remains, but in Russia, for example, a rich burial tradition developed over centuries combining both pagan and Christian elements. Of particular importance is the visiting of graveyards, the homes of the dead. The Soviet Union did much to liquidate the religious faiths of its citizens, nevertheless, certain rituals persisted, notably those rituals and practices relating to death and graveyards. I will be examining the rituals of death in Russia and Estonia and will be taking you on a visual tour of some graveyards. I will examine a rich culture expressed in graveyards and examine how the rituals of death root the living and define home. By the end, you may be asking not to be buried in the lone prairie, but the forest and steppe of Russia.

Dr. Michel Bouchard is a professor of anthropology at UNBC and has conducted extensive fieldwork in Estonia and Russia for over a decade.