In a typical village cemetery 20 kilometers from Viciebsk two pensioners created a small "museum" of ancient funeral rites Krivichy. It shows the tradition in which at different times of our ancestors designated burial: Domowina, mound, gravestones pillars, stone crosses. However, about this unique reconstruction only know the locals, historians and ethnographers.
TUT.BY went to the cemetery in the village Ševina to talk about the initiative of Viciebsk local historians Vladimir Ivanov and Peter Morozov public.
From left to right: the anthropomorphic stone cross and a tombstone in the center of which is depicted "kolakryzh" (cross in a circle)
In Ševina (it is quite far away from the famous "resort" village Large Lotcy) we went with Vladimir Ivanov. Peter Morozov, unfortunately, is no longer alive.
Vladimir Ivanov worked for many years in the Ministry of Internal Affairs and customs, and when he retired, seriously engaged in studying the history of his native land. He had the idea to make a reconstruction of the ancient funeral rites. It was in 2012. But before that, he made a lot of local history tours:
- Interested ancient burial boulders, crosses and symbols on them, epitaphs. I went through the old cemetery in the eastern regions of the Viciebsk region, a lot of reading on this topic. As a result, the information collected about 70 artifacts. And about the cemetery near the village Ševina told me Viciebsk artist Svetlana Barankovskaya. She says: "There are ancient crosses lying right next to the road." I came back to look, and the truth - on the roadside, in the dump, lie about 10 crosses.
Vladimir Ivanov
Landscaping the graves of their relatives, the people dragged away the stone crosses. Then he showered them rubbish, wiped them from the paint brush ... Vladimir decided that the memory of long-dead ancestors should not be restless, trampled. Came the idea to elevate artifacts special platform at the edge of the cemetery.
Retired appealed to the chairman of the Lotcy village council Viktor Burdzej. He showed him a sketch of the reconstruction. The representative of the local authorities ordered to cooperate fully with regional specialist builders, who landscaped the road along the cemetery. They leveled by bulldozer site, brought 4 cars of sand, in agreement with foresters cut down a few trees.
Soon reconstruction joined Peter Morozov. "He's such a go-ahead man was perfectly mastered carpentry. He was seriously ill, but still helped me. Sometimes, working sitting, overcoming the pain", - says Vladimir Ivanov.
At the cemetery lie unattended old stone crosses. Some of them are rooted in the ground, some so huge that Vladimir Ivanov need helpers to take them to the "museum" funeral rites
This cross is in the bushes behind the fence of the cemetery. He, too heavy, and as long as there is no way to move it to a landscaped area
In all the work it took more than six months. Vladimir and Peter made a fence, hewed pillars of the gate, some of the objects coated with varnish - the money donated to him a man who once came to ask those things which are two of the pensioner working with such enthusiasm.
"Then I burned the tablets with explanatory inscriptions, Barrow, set crosses, planted grass. And now, after a couple of years, it looks as if there was a marketplace for a long time. I keep order here, take the sickle and mow. Look after the reconstruction and the chairman of the village ", - says Vladimir Ivanov.
Reconstruction of the funeral rites of their ancestors in the cemetery in the village Ševina of Viciebsk district
In the center of the site - a mound, surrounded by small stones. "On it went somewhere Machine sand. Now he is an ass, and was immediately higher. The ancestors of the dead were buried in the mound, and he was surrounded by boulders. It was the sacred boundary of the worlds - the living and the dead. Now this boundary are metal and other fences, which put near the graves," - explains the regional specialist.
To the left of the mound - Domowina, something like a cabin on a column: "Before the corpse was burned, his ashes were placed in a pot, which put in the coffin. So there were still pagans, but the tradition has reached the twentieth century. Such objects are met in Karelia, Chuvashia, Udmurtia".
Near presented graves reconstruction later time: gravestones poles (one of them burned rune, which stands for "Slavic body") and the hill, surrounded by stone, with a pointed boulder (he put at the head or feet).
Domowina
Mound
Pillars and gravestones anthropomorphic cross, which was split into two parts
But with special pride Vladimir archaic features four granite cross:
- They are all different types. That cross-idol, he looks like a human figure, so it is called anthropomorphic. It was split. I myself moved here a smaller part, but a great help to drag the young guys. I walked past the cemetery company, about ten people. I said, "Maltz, podsobit!". They responded to the request. Then I made two, and sealed them with cement mortar.
And next - a gravestone, which depicts "kolakryzh", ie the cross in a circle. "Under him they buried a woman, as an oblique cross. And if he is direct, it is meant that the tomb of men. Often funeral boulders knocked symbol of the world tree and cross the Mara. Mara Goddess from pagan Slavs in charge of the underworld and was accompanied to the souls of the dead "- says Vladimir.
The next cross, according to Ivanov, - one of the oldest in the Viciebsk region. He inscribed the epitaph, and more likely we can say that it is made in the XVII century!
"Look, it's okay to read," - says local historian and slowly leads finger across the letters on the tombstone, so that we, too, could make them out.
Cross with the epitaph "Ot nas on posh. v raj v av. 1617"
On the cross is written: "Ot nas on posh. v raj v av. 1617" ("From us, he went to heaven in August 1617"). It reads the epitaph really quite clear.
Three crosses, according to local lore, weigh at least 100 kg each. And one - the smallest - about 40 kg. Ivanov brought it here on your hands and metaphorically describes as "childish". But this, of course, does not mean that he was standing on a child's grave.
- I think this reconstruction, which is made on the basis of local materials, and which traces how over the centuries changed funerary tradition in Belarus no longer meet, - said Vladimir Ivanov.
The smallest cross, a local historian calls it "childish"
- Cemeteries - a culture reserves, they learn to appreciate not only the memory of our ancestors, and our history, - said local historian. - After many boulders and marked crosses and symbols, making them the most valuable monuments of epigraphy and ethnography, the oldest above-ground artifacts. Therefore, they need to learn and protection. Today, the fate of most of them is unenviable: a lot of unique objects blown up by the Soviet authorities in the fight against religion, road construction, irrigation, plowing fields, etc. Many archaic crosses, as in the situation at the cemetery in Ševina smashed and buried while digging fresh graves, pushed back behind the fence, covered garbage, so to find them is not easy.
According to the interlocutor, the old boulders and crosses measure need, take pictures, make in the files, put on the account in the local administration, to develop them local history tours, arrange well the surrounding area. And the most important and unique objects should recognize the monuments of nature or history and culture.
Burial of the Soviet period in the cemetery of Ševina. Many monuments in this rural country churchyard, according to local lore - have also history
By the way, Lotcy around - lots of attractions. Ševina Village is located on the shores of the lake, which is very fond of campers: come here in the summer to sunbathe and swim, many residents of Viciebsk. Nearby are the sanatorium "Lotcy" and "Railroader", they, in turn, are popular among Russians. The road that runs along the cemetery with the reconstruction of the burial rites, leading to the village of Luke, where the preserved pre-Revolutionary manor nobleman Ostreiko. And in the Vialikija Lotcy - estate botanist Vladimir Adamov. And next - "Miracle Tree", an ancient settlement Bald Mountain and the forest, where people supposedly lost in time. All of these sites could attract tourists - if someone was interested in it.
Tatiana Matveeva, tut.by
Photo: Igor Matveev
