«Impure» dead people in perceptions of the population of the Belarusian-Russian (Polotsk-Pskov and Vitebsk-Smolensk) borderland

Abstract

The article deals with the perceptions of «un-pure» dead people on the basis of the materials of the Belarusian-Russian (Polotsk-Pskov and Vitebsk-Smolensk) borderland. Special attention is paid to the analysis of such categories of «un-pure» dead people as unbaptized children, suicides and sorcerers. The study has shown the presence of many archaisms in these representations even on the basis of contemporary materials. The paper traces the evolution of the funeral rites of the «un-pure» dead, as well as the beliefs associated with them. The study is based on published and archival materials, as well as the author’s notes. An important place in the study belongs to the materials of folklore and ethnographic expeditions which were conducted in the region at the end of XXth – beginning of XXIst century. A significant part of these materials is published for the first time.