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Cemeteries in Cross-Border Regions. Vita Memoriae

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Cemeteries in Cross-Border Regions. Vita Memoriae ISSN 1691-5038 DAUGAVPILS UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF THE HUMANITIES INSTITUTE OF COMPARATIVE STUDIES CEMETERIES IN CROSS-BORDER REGIONS. VITA MEMORIAE COMPARATIVE STUDIES Vol. VI (2) DAUGAVPILS UNIVERSITY ACADEMIC PRESS ìSAULEî ~ 2015 ~ Comparative Studies. Cemeteries in Cross-border Regions. Vita Memoriae. Vol. VI (2). Daugavpils: Daugavpils University Academic Press ìSauleî, (2014) 2015. 136 p. The publication of the Issue has been approved at Daugavpils University Science Council meeting on December 19, 2014, Minutes No. 13. Editors-in-chief: Maija Burima ñ project ìPopularization of the centres of oral history in the LV-BY cross-border areaî, manager Sergey Pivovarchik ñ project ìPopularization of the centres of oral history in the LV-BY cross- border areaî, local manager Scientific Committee of the Issue Comparative Studies. Cemeteries in Cross-border Regions. Vita Memoriae. Vol. VI (2) Bente Aamotsbakken, Dr. philos., Norway Maija Burima, Dr. philol., professor, Latvia André Filler, Dr. hist., associate professor, France Fjodors Fjodorovs, Dr. habil. philol., professor, Latvia Rahilya Geybullayeva, Dr. philol., professor, Azerbaijan Jeanne E. Glesener, Dr. philol., associate professor, Luxembourg JanÓna KursÓte-Pakule, Dr. habil. philol., professor, Latvia Yordan Lyutskanov, Dr. philol., associate professor, Bulgaria Malan Marnesdóttir, Dr. phil., professor, Faroe Islands Vanesa Matajc, Dr. philol., associate professor, Slovenia Eva Maagerø, professor, Norway Sandra Mekova, Dr. philol., associate professor, Latvia Anneli Mihkelev, Dr. phil., associate professor, Estonia Margarita Odesskaya, Dr. philol., professor, Russia Sergey Pivovarchik, Dr. hist., professor, Belarus Irma Ratiani, Dr. philol., professor, Georgia Elena Sadovskaya, Dr. philol., docent, Belarus Tigran S. Simyan, PhD, associate professor, Armenia ElÓna VasiÔjeva, Dr. philol., associate professor, Latvia Marina Yakoltsevitch, Dr. philol., docent, Belarus Editorial Staff of the Issue Comparative Studies. Cemeteries in Cross-border Regions. Vita Memoriae. Vol. VI (2) The English language editors: Evita Badina, Ilze KaË‚ne, Ilze OÔehnoviËa, Aiga Troka-Trako Proof-reader: Ilze KaË‚ne Lay-out: Marina StoËka The publishing of the Issue is financially supported by the project ìPopularization of the centres of oral history in the LV-BY cross-border areaî (LLB-2-143). ëComparative Studiesí of Daugavpils University has entered into an electronic licensing relationship with EBSCO Publishing, the worldís most prolific aggregator of full text journals, magazines and other sources. The full text of ëComparative Studiesí can be found on EBSCO Publishingís database called Humanities Source. ISSN 1691-5038 © Daugavpils University, (2014) 2015 ISBN 978-9984-14-710-9 COMPARATIVE STUDIES. CEMETERIES IN CROSS-BORDER REGIONS. VITA MEMORIAE The publication is financed under the project Popularization of the centres of oral history in the LV-BY cross-border area (LLB-2-143) The Latvia, Lithuania and Belarus Cross-border Cooperation Programme within the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument succeeds the Baltic Sea Region INTERREG IIIB Neighbourhood Programme Priority South IIIA Programme for the period of 2007ñ2013. The overall strategic goal of the programme is to enhance the cohesion of the Latvian, Lithuanian and Belarusian border region, to secure a high level of environmental protection and to provide for economic and social welfare as well as to promote intercultural dialogue and cultural diversity. Latgale region in Latvia, Panevβys, Utena, Vilnius, Alytus and Kaunas counties in Lithuania, as well as Vitebsk, Mogilev, Minsk, Grodno oblasts and the city of Minsk in Belarus take part in the Programme. The Joint Managing Authority of the programme is the Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Lithuania. The web site of the programme is www.enpi-cbc.eu The European Union is made up of 28 Member States that have decided to gradually link together their know-how, resources and destinies. Together, during the period of enlargement of 50 years, they have built a zone of stability, democracy and sustainable development whilst maintaining cultural diversity, tolerance and individual freedoms. The European Union is committed to sharing its achievements and its values with countries and peoples beyond its borders. The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of Daugavpils University and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Union. PROJECT PARTNERS: Daugavpils University Innovation and Development Yanka Kupala Promotion Centre State University of Grodno CONTENTS FOREWORD..................................................................................................... 7 INTRODUCTION Maija Burima (Latvia) Cemetery Culture in Border Zone as a Phenomenon of Comparative Area Studies ............................................................................................................... 11 RESEARCH OF NECROPOLISES IN LATGALE REGION Inguna Teil‚ne (Latvia) Funeral Rites in Memories of Latgale Residents ................................................. 41 fians Badins (Latvia) Peculiarities of Muslim Necropolis of Daugavpils Communal Cemetery ............. 48 IngrÓda Kup‚ne (Latvia) Catholic and Lutheran Confessional Segment in Daugavpils Communal Cemetery ........................................................................................................... 56 ElÓna VasiÔjeva (Latvia) Daugavpils Jewish Cemetery: Dynamics of Tradition ......................................... 64 RESEARCH OF NECROPOLISES IN WESTERN BELARUS Albina Semenchuk (Belarus) Methodology of Research of Necropolises in Modern Polish and Belarusian Historiography ................................................................................................... 79 Sergey Omelko, Evgeny Mahnach (Belarus) Methods and Sources of Research in Urban Necropolises (Case of Hrodna) ....... 92 Irina Pivovarchik, Natalya Filina (Belarus) Epigraphics of Gravestone Monuments of a Polyconfessional Region ................. 101 Svetlana Selverstova (Belarus) Methodological Approaches and Research Methods for the Study of Rural Necropolises of Northwest Belarus ..................................................................... 112 Aleksandr Dobriyan, Yuliya Yurkovec (Belarus) Evolution of Funeral Traditions of the Village Population of Belorusian Ponemanye (on the Materials of the Necropolises of the Village Komatava of the Hrodna District)....................................................................................... 123 CONTRIBUTORS ............................................................................................ 134 Albina Semenchuk METHODOLOGY OF RESEARCH OF NECROPOLISES IN MODERN POLISH AND BELARUSIAN HISTORIOGRAPHY Summary Among the closest neighbours of Belarusians, Polish science, especially its branches (archaeology, cultural anthropology, ethnology, sociolinguistics and others), has the richest experience in the research of burial sites. Each of these disciplines has its own huge history of research and literature on the subject. In Polish historiography, there are several specialized publishing issues, devoted to the study of death ñ thanatology. These are Tanatos, Funeralia Lednickie compendia, which have been being published for more than 15 years, and the monographs by Jacek Kolbuszewski, Arkadiusz Kalinowski and others. In Poland, scholars traditionally conduct inventories of the necropolises not only in their own country, but also in Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, i.e. in the territory of the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Belarusian science is taking the very first steps in the research of necropolises. Small-scale studies are devoted to the cemeteries in the town of Navahrudak, in the village of Pleban, and to Hrodna Catholic and Orthodox necropolises. Belarus is a polyconfessional country, that is why all the research studies of necropolises are related in some way to the cultural and historical traditions of the national and social groups residing in it. In the past, the population of Belarus professed the Uniate religion as well. At present, the Catholic and Jewish cemeteries in Belarus together with the national memorial in Kuropaty, where tens of thousands victims of Stalinist repression are buried, have been extensively studied. Further research in the field of Belarusian thanatology is not possible without drawing on the experience of European, especially Polish, scientists. Key words: cemetery, necropolis, thanatology, cultural anthropology * According to a widely spread belief, cemetery is a place, where the body of a dead person or the remains of a body after cremation are buried in individual or collective graves (this is a secular point of view). Initially, cemeteries appeared in connection with the cult of the memory of the dead and the belief about the afterlife. Since prehistoric times the idea of cemeteries has been rooted in the religious ideas of people. Arkadiusz Kalinovsky, Catholic priest, points out the main functions of cemeteries: 1) creation of a respectable peaceful and quiet gravesite, where it is possible to perform religious cere- monies in accordance with the traditions of the professed religion, 2) protection against profanation of the places of final resting and 3) provision of sanitation norms.1 From a terminological point of view, ëcemeteryí is an institutionally designed spatial segment used for burials, organized in accordance with certain rules that are connected with the ritualized forms
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