– The title of the book in full is "Funeral Rites in Karelia. The Karsikko Tree, the Path to Tuonela, and the Mighty Ancestors Syndyzet". This is important, because the narration all the way really goes about describing a path: our ancestors believed the most trying path for a person was the journey to the ‘world beyond’. On this journey, the soul of the deceased may perish or get stuck and fail to pass across. Lest this happens, the living must fulfill the funeral rite properly. A soul laid to rest will become your mighty ancestral protector – syndyzet (from the Karelian syndy – birth), – said Alexei Konkka, Senior Researcher of the Ethnology Section at the Institute of Linguistics, Literature and History KarRC RAS.
Alexei Konkka is the author of more than 100 scholarly papers and translations, and editor of seven scholarly collected volumes and monographs. The topic of his dissertation research was "Trees as Signs in the Ritual Practices and Beliefs of Balto-Finnic Peoples" (2011). The scientist has participated in more than 70 expeditions and field trips in Karelia, Murmansk, Arkhangelsk, Leningrad, Novgorod, Vologda, and Tver Regions, Komi and Mari El Republics, Northern Finland, and Norway. He has examined 346 cemeteries and revered groves in Northern Europe. Sergey Minvaleev, Researcher at the Ethnology Section ILLH KarRC RAS, was a student and is now a colleague of Dr. Konkka. His main research focus is the life-cycle ritualism of the indigenous peoples of Karelia. The young scientist actively participates in scholarly and popular-science projects. In 2022, he defended his Cand.Sci. dissertation titled “Traditional Rites of the Ludic Karelian Life Cycle in the Light of Comparative Historical Analysis”.
Popular-science book “Funeral Rites in Karelia”
The monograph published by the ethnologists is the most state-of-the-art publication on the topic of Karelia’s funeral ritualism both as regards its content and in the very structure of the book. It integrates the results of the authors' latest research, including materials gather through fieldwork, and the findings of their predecessors, in particular the folklorist Unelma Konkka and the ethnographer Yugo Surhasko, as well as data from other sources in Russia and Finland.
The main body of the book is divided into five chapters. The first one is devoted to the ideas about the soul and the netherworld in the mythology and folklore of Karelians and other peoples. The second chapter presents the funeral process and the associated complex of rites. The third chapter relocates from the home to the cemetery: this part describes grave structures, communication with the dead, and burial customs. The subject of the fourth chapter is the memorial part: what happens directly after the funeral, on the fortieth day, and the general memorial holidays. Finally, the last chapter focuses on the phenomenon of karsikko – a tree that has been ritually processed to become a sign associated with syndyzet ancestors and the netherworld.
The book is supplied with archival and contemporary photographs and illustrations, a glossary of terms, and a list of recommended literature on the topic. Additionally, a QR code is provided for downloading an index of geographical objects, administrative units, and ethnic groups mentioned in the book.
– We sought to cover the geography rather broadly and extensively used comparative material, demonstrating similarities and differences both between different villages and districts of Karelia and between regions of European Russia. Tradition is heterogeneous; each settlement may have its own local peculiarities. That is why we produced an additional list with geographical, toponymic, and ethnic designations and references to the pages where they are mentioned, – explained Sergey Minvaleev.
Notably, the book was published by the well-known Russian publishing house MIF, which invited the scientists to publish their research findings in a popular-science format. As Sergey Minvaleev recounted, the pandemic triggered increased public interest in topics that can be generically termed ‘death studies’. The Karelian scientists appeared on a number of educational podcasts and gave comments on public platforms, thus drawing the attention of a representative of the publishing house, who then got in touch to discuss publishing a book. Owning a huge amount of material collected over dozens of expeditions, the ethnologists agreed to the proposal.
Despite the seemingly gigantic gap in traditional ideas, modern people still often encounter funeral rituals, both directly during funerals and commemoration and when visiting cemeteries – "dead people’s villages". They still preserve evidence of how our ancestors pictured life after death: ritual karsikko trees, crosses with grave houses, coffins with windows, and other features of a specific epoch. In the afterword, the authors expressed the hope that it will not only clarify many practices for the reader but may also help them live through the grief of bereavement.
