Are they buried in a wedding dress? The funeral of an unmarried girl: how to organize it correctly

Girls who died before they could marry are placed in a coffin in their wedding attire. This is a custom that came to us from the ancient Slavs. Otherwise, according to beliefs, their souls are doomed to eternal wandering. It was believed that then they are dangerous for the living. Therefore, they saw off the girls in a wedding dress.

There was another explanation: the dead girl becomes the bride of Christ. Therefore, it should look appropriate.

The ancient wedding ceremony and its connection with the funeral is described in the “Slavic Encyclopedia” by V.V. Artemov. So, it was believed that before the wedding, the girl, as it were, dies and is reborn into a married lady. Historians do not exclude that the roots of the funeral ceremony for unmarried girls in a wedding dress may be connected with this.

In addition to the dress, they also chose shoes, and sometimes jewelry. The hair was not collected. Often a wreath was put on the head (nowadays it is often replaced with a veil). But the rite was not limited to the outfit.

The groom has come

The “groom” was also at the funeral. As a rule, it was one of the young people who came to say goodbye to the deceased. The "groom" put on his wedding attire and followed the coffin. On his head was a wreath, which was then thrown into the grave.

In some villages, a stone or a fruit tree acted as a “betrothed”.

If a girl was buried and such a ceremony was performed, fun music played instead of funeral songs. Those present also danced and ate the “wedding” loaf, which was specially prepared for this. Sometimes it was placed on the lid of the coffin and eaten in the cemetery.

Girlfriends

In some villages in Russia there was a tradition to completely imitate the wedding ceremony. So, there was a matchmaker. She always had a candle and a sword in her hands.

Black ribbons were tied around the heads of the friends of the deceased. The deceased herself was put on a ring of gilded wax.

According to the historian A.A. Nosov, such a rite, first of all, was associated with an understanding of the essence of death in Russia. Thus, death at a young age was perceived as a transition to another entity, where the course of life would also continue. And she will marry in the next world.

The procedure for holding Orthodox funerals over the centuries has acquired a large number of traditions that are strongly recommended to be observed. Some of them raise questions. For example, why is a young girl buried in a wedding dress? Where did the tradition of dressing unmarried people in white dresses come from?

A beautiful white dress evokes bright associations, because it is in this outfit that the bride appears. However, from time immemorial, a tradition has arisen to dress up in wedding dresses not only girls who are to become wives, but also those who will never be able to marry.

In ancient times, it was believed that if a girl leaves the earthly world without knowing marriage, then her soul is doomed to wander forever, torn between the world of the living and the Kingdom of Heaven.

People believed in the ability of such souls to cause serious harm to relatives left to live. They were equated with the souls of the unbaptized and suicides. And to avoid this, the funeral of a young girl was like a wedding.

"Dead Wedding"

1. In order to bring the similarity of the funeral to the wedding as close as possible, they chose a guy who was to play the role of the groom. He was supposed to be dressed in a solemn attire and in the funeral procession take a place next to the coffin of a young girl.
2. If it was not possible to find a guy willing to play such a role, then they used an ordinary stone or a stump of a fruit tree, on which a man's hat was put on.
3. The girl was dressed in a white dress and complemented the outfit with light boots. Wreaths were specially woven by her peers or girlfriends. One of them was worn on the head of the deceased (in the modern interpretation, a veil or veil is used), and the second was worn on the groom. After the coffin was lowered into the grave, it was either thrown over the top of the coffin or hung on a cross.
4. Sometimes such funerals were accompanied by cheerful music. People were ordered to dance. Relatives baked a loaf, pieces of which were treated to everyone who came to the funeral.

Other explanations

In addition to the belief about a restless soul, there were several other reasons as a reason for the tension of an unmarried girl in a wedding dress when she was sent on her last journey:

• If life circumstances so developed that young people could not fulfill plans for marriage due to their unexpected death, then the bodies of the deceased dressed up in wedding dresses so that their souls could unite when they met in heaven.
• White has always been associated with purity and innocence. And when a girl passed into another world, who did not have time to know true love, and therefore did not marry, she was considered the bride of Christ.
• Almost every girl dreams of marriage, and when the realization of this dream became impossible due to sudden death, the parents of the deceased tried at least in this way to realize the dream of the deceased.

We have discussed only the most common explanations for the observance of this tradition. Of course, modern funerals are not accompanied by cheerful music and dancing, but young girls are still often buried in wedding dresses today.

The traditional funeral attire is a white robe. White symbolizes Sunday. Therefore, when the deceased lies in a coffin dressed in white, this causes bright thoughts in us, we hope that the deceased will be resurrected. If he is dressed in dark clothes, then this will cause opposite thoughts. Seeing off a loved one on a long journey, we put on mourning clothes, expressing inner concentration. For the soul of a dead person, the shape and color of clothing does not matter, but for the living it is necessary to express their love for him. In this article we will try to answer the question: what should a person be buried in?

What are Orthodox Christians buried in?

Burial clothes are chosen according to the status that the deceased had. Civilians are placed in a coffin in a regular suit, firefighters, military and police officers are customarily dressed in uniform. The main condition for choosing clothes is that it should fit comfortably on the body of the deceased.

Depending on the last will of the deceased or at the request of loved ones, bonnets, scarves, ties, hats and shoes are put on the body. To cover the body of the deceased, they use a church veil or dress him in a shroud. The coverlet must be purchased from the church.

How to bury a man

A man needs such things: underwear, shirt, tie, suit, as well as socks, slippers or shoes. What men are buried in: clothes should be in soothing colors in a classic style, preferably new.

What are women buried in?

For women, the following items are required: underwear, a headscarf, a nightgown, stockings, shoes or slippers, outerwear and a handkerchief.

What are older women and men buried in?

According to custom, it is customary to bury the dead in new, clean, unworn clothes. Such an outfit means purity and purity of soul. However, most older men and women prepare their funeral attire in advance. Today, due to the difficult economic situation and a number of other reasons, the elderly are buried in old, worn clothes.

What is grandfather buried in? He is usually buried in a dark suit with a shirt and tie.

How to bury a grandmother? She is dressed in light-colored clothes: in a long skirt with a jacket or a dress.

As shoes for the deceased, special slippers without a hard sole are used, which are not intended to be worn.

What are unmarried girls buried in?

In many nations, there is a custom to bury an unmarried girl who died prematurely, dressing her in a wedding dress: a snow-white dress, white boots or shoes. She, like a bride for a wedding, is being prepared for burial.

Clothes can be fake, not sewn, but hand-baked. Shoes are also used fake. Most often, a dead girl is shod in special cloth slippers. If you use shoes or boots, then first get rid of the nails.

What are young girls buried in? They do not do her hair, her hair remains loose. Today they also use a veil or a veil, in the old days a wreath was put on the head of the deceased

There are some beliefs that explain the reason for the wedding dress at the funeral of a girl and answer the question: what are girls buried in?

First, the immaculate dead girl must appear before the Lord in a clean, bright robe. Secondly, every girl, regardless of age, dreams of showing off in a wedding dress, so relatives and relatives make this dream come true by dressing her as a bride.

What are the young people buried in? A young couple who did not have time to get married and died prematurely is also dressed in wedding attire. They should rest side by side.

What are stillborn babies buried in?

Today, there are no special recommendations for the burial of stillborn children who died during or before childbirth. The rite of burial of stillborn children is carried out in almost the same way as with adults - the child's body is buried in a small coffin or cremated.

If the child died in the maternity hospital, then his parents have every right to take his body and personally organize the funeral. This is preferably done after the autopsy procedure within two days. If there is no one to take away the body of the child except the mother, then it is in the morgue until the mother is discharged from the maternity hospital.

If the child died with the mother, then they are buried in a common grave, while the baptized mother is buried, the child is not.

What is a newborn baby buried in?

If parents do not want or cannot bury their newborn child, this is done by a medical institution. His body is cremated and buried in an urn or buried in the ground. If the urn with the ashes is not claimed within a year, it will be buried in a common grave along with other unclaimed urns.

What are Kazakhs buried in and how

If among the Kazakhs someone dies, then the body is immediately wrapped in a sheet, while the face is closed forever. There should be no women or children in the room. The burial takes place the next day, and only men take part in the procession and funeral.

It is not customary for Kazakhs to bury the deceased in a coffin: the body, wrapped in a sheet, is placed in a pit, and thick boards are laid diagonally at an angle from above, which can lie in the ground for many years.

In what and how are the homeless buried

For the burial of the homeless, almost every cemetery has a certain area. A certain amount is allocated from the city budget for the burial of an unclaimed corpse, which includes the cost of an excavator that digs a hole, and the coffin itself. A small plaque marked with a number is placed on the grave.

What are the Chinese buried in?

Many residents of large Chinese cities bury their dead in the traditional way - they cremate them or purchase a piece of land in a cemetery.

In some villages, if the deceased was alone during his lifetime, they arrange a kind of wedding-funeral. To do this, in a neighboring village, they are looking for a soulmate of a suitable age for the deceased. After that, they negotiate with close relatives, betroth the couple and bury them in the same grave.

What are Muslims buried in?

Muslims are not cremated after death. Cremation for Muslims means burning in hell. The deceased person is placed on his back so that his legs are directed towards Mecca. The eyes of the deceased are closed, the chin is tied, the legs and arms are straightened, and the face is covered.

It is forbidden to bury a Muslim in a non-Muslim cemetery, as well as a non-Muslim in a Muslim one. Tombstones and graves should be directed towards Mecca.

If a young girl dies, it is customary to bury her in a wedding dress. Find out where this tradition came from and why our ancestors dressed the unmarried in white outfits.

A beautiful white dress evokes, rather, light associations: after all, we most often imagine a bride dressed in a new outfit. However, the wedding dress is worn not only by future wives, it is also intended for girls who are no longer destined to marry. Why is a wedding white dress traditionally an outfit for a young deceased?

The roots of such rituals go far into the past. Previously, people believed that if a guy or a girl passes away without having time to marry, their souls are destined to forever wander restless, between the afterlife and the world of the living. Such souls, like the souls of suicides or the unbaptized, could cause serious harm to the living. And in order to prevent this from happening, the Slavs stylized the funeral as a wedding.

"Dead Wedding"

To make the funeral really look like a wedding, a guy was chosen who took on the role of the groom: he was dressed in a solemn outfit and in the procession he took a place near the coffin of a young girl. If there was no such guy, then to organize such a funeral, people used an ordinary stone or fruit tree, on which they put on a hat.

The girl herself was dressed in a white dress and light boots. For the wires, the girls specially wove wreaths. One wreath was intended for the deceased (nowadays a veil or veil is used), and the second - for the young groom. As soon as the coffin was lowered into the grave, the wreath of the "groom" was thrown on him or hung on the cross.

Often, at the funeral of a young girl, not mournful, but cheerful music sounded, people danced round dances and baked a loaf, treating everyone present to them.

Other explanations

Of course, the belief about restless souls was far from the only reason why an unmarried woman was escorted on her last journey in a wedding dress.

• It was believed that if the young were supposed to get married, but did not have time, as they died, the funeral in wedding dresses should have united their souls in heaven.
• White has always been a symbol of purity and innocence. And since before the wedding it was believed that the girl did not know true love, she became the bride of Christ.
• Every girl dreamed of getting married. And, dressing the young woman in a wedding dress, the parents, as it were, embodied the unfulfilled dream of their daughter.

This is the most common explanation for this tradition. Of course, today people at the funeral of an unmarried girl do not choose a groom and do not dance, but they still dress the young woman in a wedding dress.

The death of a loved one is an incomparable grief. It is the responsibility of loving relatives to organize a decent burial. The body must be washed and dressed according to religious customs if the deceased was a believer. According to the Orthodox rite, it is customary to bury the dead in a certain outfit and special shoes. Items are necessarily placed in the coffin, which, according to church canons, will be useful to a person when meeting with a heavenly judge. Next, you can read in more detail about what clothes for a funeral should be and what needs to be put on the deceased, seeing him off on his last journey.

What is customary to bury men

Traditionally, men who wore military uniforms during their lifetime are usually buried in full dress uniform. In this case, the clothes should be put in order, cleaned and ironed. The body of a civilian is dressed in a suit and a light shirt. It is not customary to wear ties and belts according to Christian canons, this is rather a secular custom. However, if the relatives consider that a tie is necessary, they can add it to the deceased's outfit. As for the color scheme, it is customary for older people to be buried in dark-colored clothes. It's blue, brown, black. Younger men can wear light-colored clothes: beige or light gray.

The rules strictly determine in what clothes men are buried, according to the Christian rite. For the deceased, you need to choose:

• underwear (panties and a cotton T-shirt),
• shirt,
• trousers and jacket,
• socks,
• tie.

Shoes for the deceased deserve a separate discussion. It should be comfortable and a couple of sizes larger so that swollen limbs can easily fit into shoes. Shoes with lacing are not worn by dead people. It is better if the model has side elastic inserts.

The most budget option will be special slippers designed for burial. Contrary to popular belief, they do not have to be white at all, black or brown is allowed. From the point of view of the Christian religion and the Orthodox faith, it is precisely such shoes, light and with thin soles, that are most suitable for a person to go on his last journey to meet the Lord.

To dress a dead man in a mortuary, you may need a towel, soap, a pack of cotton, cologne, a razor. If the deceased person used dentures, they must also be provided to the employees of the institution. This must be done immediately, before the body is embalmed. After processing, it will be impossible to insert an artificial jaw. The mouth of the deceased is sewn up so that the face is not deformed.

What are women buried in?

According to an ingrained tradition, many elderly men and women prepare their clothes before they die, freeing loved ones from unnecessary trouble. And rightly so, relatives will have more time to take care of the soul of the departed. However, not everyone thinks about death in advance, especially if a person has not yet reached a respectable age. In this case, those involved in the burial of the body face the question of what kind of dress to choose for the deceased.

There are certain rules in what clothes women are buried in, but they are not as strict as for men.

• A lady can buy a dress or a suit. The main thing is that the model is sufficiently closed, and the skirt reaches the middle of the calves.
• The head of the deceased is covered with a handkerchief, scarf or a special shroud. The latter looks like a cape with a hood. It is usually sewn from white fabric, decorating with lace.
• Outerwear is traditionally chosen in light, soft shades. It can be pink, lilac, blue, white, peach, turquoise. Decoration with embroidery, lace, contrasting collars and cuffs is allowed. The model should have a front closure, long sleeves.
• A woman is put on simple underwear, a shirt, stockings without elastic bands made of cotton.
• Shoes are chosen comfortable, without heels, with soft soles. It should not have buckles or other decorations.

If a young unmarried girl dies, the believers say that she will become the bride of God. The Christian tradition of young ladies who died early in wedding dresses echoes the rituals of the ancient Slavs. The priests add that for such an outfit, the girl must be innocent. However, this is a personal matter for parents, what outfit they choose for their beloved daughter who has untimely passed away. Jewelry and a veil of the deceased are not worn, the hair is left loose, they are not covered with a scarf. The style of the dress is chosen discreet, with long sleeves and a closed collar. Underwear should be modest, stockings and flat shoes remain an indispensable element of the outfit.

What are children buried in?

Infants who died unbaptized are usually dressed in long white shirts, similar to baptismal ones. However, it is not forbidden to dress a child in a dress or suit; blue for boys, pink for girls. The baby's head is covered with a cap. Older children are dressed in smart clothes. It is not necessary to wear a headdress, but Orthodox parents put headscarves or lace caps on their daughters.

The deceased does not have to choose a new outfit, but it is necessary to ensure that the things are intact, clean and ironed. When choosing clothes for the deceased, you need to take into account that the body swells, so you need clothes a couple of sizes larger. The same applies to shoes. Most of the restrictions are related to the shade of the dress or suit. Outfits of bright colors in the clothes of the deceased are undesirable. Light colors are preferable, close to white, which in Christianity is associated with spirituality and purity of thoughts.

It is not customary to bury the dead in red, it is believed that in this case one of the blood relatives will go after them. According to the signs, you can not give your things to dress the deceased. Their former owner may become seriously ill. You should not put your photo or wedding ring in the coffin. This carries a negative connotation and, according to esoteric experts, may not affect the future life in the best way.

What else is put in the coffin

The deceased does not need ordinary things, but it is customary to put some items in the coffin according to the Christian rite.

• A handkerchief is always left for a dead person. It is believed that a person will begin to wipe sweat from his forehead at the Last Judgment.
• If extra clothes were bought for the deceased, this also happens, it is also better to put it in a coffin.
• A believer is put on a pectoral cross; it should not be silver.
• A whisk is placed on the forehead, the body is covered with a church veil (shroud), and a pillow is placed under the head.
• Some people collect their favorite things, talismans, glasses for their relatives on their last journey.
• Children are often left with toys.
• Together with the deceased, they put a comb with which they combed his hair, ropes that hold his legs and arms. This is not forbidden by religious canons, but it is not too welcome either. The Church sees this as prejudice.
• The deceased's awards, if any, are carried in front of the ritual procession on special cushions. But putting them in a coffin is not worth it for safety reasons. The grave can be ruined by marauders who want to profit. The same goes for expensive items and jewelry.
• Before the coffin is boarded up, relatives take away the icon, which is in the hands of the deceased. It is customary to put it on the memorial table, and the rest of the time it is kept on the iconostasis.