Ludowi „śpiewacy” w obrzędowości pogrzebowej regionu opoczyńskiego

Abstract

A number of customs and beliefs are connected with the problems of death and funeral rituals. So-called “chanters”, who were the leaders of the ritual and the prayers, played a special role in the passage ritual in the rural community. The purpose of the present paper is to show the function of “chanters” in funeral rituals in the Opoczno district. The author made use of his own ethnographic field studies as well as the literature of the subject. The first paragraph shows the “chanters” as leaders of the funeral rituals. The chanters were both men and women who were distinguished by piety, knowledge of funeral prayers and songs, acquaintance with funeral customs and rituals; they were people who enjoyed esteem In a given community (most frequently, they were members of the Third Order of St. Francis for the lay). Very often, the “chanters” were the authors of prayers and texts of the funeral songs. They presided over church services for the intention of the dead person. These were organized around the dead man in the house of mourning. The leaders provided spiritual preparation to the dead man in his passage to “the other world”, commending him to the patrons of good death, for example St. Barbara, St. Joseph or the Virgin Mary, in order to commend this person to the mercy of God, who would accept his soul in heaven. The second paragraph discusses the culture-forming function of the “chanters” They maintain and pass the traditions of funeral rituals in the Opoczno region. A lot of old funeral customs and rituals die out and are forgotten in connection with the changes taking place in folk religiosity in those regions nowadays. The funeral leaders are the carriers of this religious and cultural heritage for the present inhabitants. They guarded the rituals of “good death” and “passage” to “the other world”, to the eternal life with Resurrected Christ. Organizing funeral services for the intention of dead people, they created an opportunity for the living to reflect on their own death, they integrated the rural community and passed on the literary, religious and cultural heritage of their region.