The second part of Chapter II of Uno Holmberg's survey of Permian religion (1914) reveals an extraordinary world of obligation between the living and the dead. Among the Votjaks and Zyrians, the dead are not gone — they are guests who must be fed, ancestors who must be honored, and guardians who can bless or punish their descendants. The memorial feast system ranges from the first offering of meat pies beside the coffin to the great val-suan bone procession, where the bones of a sacrificial horse are carried through the night to the sound of wedding songs. At Easter, the spirits walk the earth and the living drive them back with willow switches and fire. Every harvest, every birth, every journey depends on the goodwill of the dead. This is religion as reciprocity — the living feed the dead, and the dead sustain the living.
I. The Grave and the Purification
Of the Zyrians we have already mentioned that the relatives of the dead do not take any of the implements used in washing the deceased; these are now given to the body-washer. The coffin must be built in the village street and the shavings burned. The sled on which the dead is carried to the cemetery — in winter as in summer — is left at the grave; in some places it is half-buried, for if it were brought home, another family member would follow the dead. Smirnov reports that in some old cemeteries, as in the Solikamsk district, one sees great numbers of these sleds in every position, often broken. On some graves, instead of a cross, the runner or shafts of a broken sled serve as the grave marker. Moreover, the tools used to dig the grave are left at the cemetery.
To prevent the dead from returning home uninvited, the Votjaks observe many superstitious customs. From the Yelabuga district comes the report that when carrying the body from the house, they place an axe on the threshold so that death in the household would cease. In many regions the door is taken off its hinges when the body is carried out and rehung so that it opens from the opposite side. Shestakov reports that the Glazov Votjaks do not carry the dead through the door at all, but through the window; if the body cannot pass that way, they open the roof and carry the dead out through it to the cemetery. Gavrilov mentions that to confuse the dead so they cannot find the way home, the coffin is set on a block in the yard and spun three times counter-clockwise. According to Bogaevskij, the Sarapul Votjaks sweep away the footprints after the mourners have departed.
The actual purification rites take place only upon the return from the cemetery. Already at the cemetery gate, the eastern Votjaks begin to free themselves from the dead's oppressive company. One of the mourners, who has brought silver-fir branches, strikes the companions on the back and says: "Go to your home, do not stay here!" In other places the mourners wave juniper branches at their sides, crying: "Do not follow us, go to your homes!" In the Urzhum district it is customary to scratch marks across the road with an axe so that spirits will not follow them into the village.
Upon arriving home, the mourners further purify themselves by fumigating, jumping over fire, or rubbing their hands in ash. Müller reports that among the Kazan Votjaks the master of the house threw ash upon the returning mourners "so that they would not again come to carry the dead." The most common purification, however, is bathing in the sauna, which has been heated during the funeral at the deceased's household. Vasiljev notes that no family member may pour water on the hot stones, for the deceased could turn malicious and the steam burn their faces. After bathing they dress in clean clothes.
Just as people purify themselves, the deceased's dwelling must also be cleansed. As soon as the body has been laid to rest, the room where the deceased was ill is cleaned — floor, walls, and even the ceiling are washed. In some places the room is fumigated and juniper branches placed in the corners and beside the door and window frames.
II. Memorial Feasts for the Individual Dead
According to Votjak belief, the obligations of the living toward the dead do not end when the deceased has been honorably escorted to the grave. The dead still need the help and care of the surviving. If the deceased does not receive what they are entitled to demand, they may grow restless and come to disturb the household's peace — they may even punish the living. Above all, the care of the dead is the business of the kin. The sacred duty of descendants is to remember their ancestors. This belief finds its finest expression in the memorial feasts held in their honor.
Memorial feasts are either general, celebrated in memory of all deceased relatives, or individual, when a particular person is specially commemorated. Individual feasts are held on prescribed days after each death. The principal rite is the preparation of a memorial meal and the hosting of the dead.
The Funeral Feast
The first feast in honor of the deceased is held on the day of death or burial, and the first memorial meal is therefore also the funeral feast.
Often the preparation begins even before the body has been carried to the cemetery. Smirnov reports that as soon as the deceased has been washed and dressed and placed on a bench, the eldest woman sets cups beside the body and prepares meat pies (tukmat'si). The eldest man takes a pie, breaks three pieces from it and places them in a cup; into another he pours kumyshka, saying:
"In this life you lived well — live well in the other also. Do not torment us, do not oppress us. Guard our good cattle well. Protect our children well. Gather the dead around you. Guard our good cattle from rivers and ravines. More I cannot say to you — be not angry. Live well in that life; do not seize us from behind or from before; do not pursue us."
After the eldest, the other family members do and say likewise. The ceremony is called tiron ("payment").
Gavrilov reports similarly from the Kazan Votjaks. A small trough is placed beside the coffin. The women prepare broth and three small unsalted, unleavened pancakes. Each person in turn takes a morsel of pancake and a spoonful of broth, pours it into the trough beside the coffin, and says: "Elders, do not touch us!" Finally the trough is carried to the back of the yard and its contents given to the dogs.
Both writers report that the food vessel was placed near the body. In the prayer recorded by Smirnov, the address is solely to the deceased; in Gavrilov's account, other ancestors are also remembered.
From Vasiljev's description of the Sarapul district we learn that the deceased's previously dead relatives have arrived to welcome the newcomer and together partake of the feast. When the body is placed in the coffin, the men prepare homemade candles and the women cook food from a freshly slaughtered hen (if the dead is female) or rooster (if male) — either boiling the meat separately or mixing it into a thick oat porridge. A trough is set by the door at the base of the oven, and small wax candles are fixed to its rim and at the head of the dead. Pieces of meat or oat porridge mixed with butter are thrown into the trough, and broth is poured in with a spoon while speaking the names of the deceased ancestors, asking them to receive the offering, to eat and drink together, to be gladdened, and with contented hearts to take the newly dead into their company. If the deceased is an unmarried youth, they urge the ancestors to find them a spouse, telling the dead that their close relatives are there who can love them and that they may marry in the other world.
Wichmann records: "No one is specially invited to the funeral. Anyone who knows of it is obliged to come, if they wish to avoid the troubles that the deceased, offended by discourtesy, might later cause. For the guests every kind of food is prepared: porridge, meat, butter, pancakes, beer, and — above all — kumyshka. These serve not only earthly guests, but also those ancestral spirits who have come to welcome the newly dead into their realm. For them a special cup is set beside the oven near the door, into which a morsel of each dish is thrown. To the rim of the cup are fixed as many homemade wax candles as there are ancestral dead. The eldest man, throwing food into the cup, says: 'Here, take this! May it fall before you, grandfather, grandmother' (and other deceased relatives are named)! 'For your sake we have cooked and roasted. Be satisfied, do not be angry! Let our cooking and roasting always succeed, watch over it! Let the grain we have sown prosper, protect it! Guard the grain from mice! Give our children success, protect them!'"
The ancestral spirits who come to welcome the newcomer are thus, according to these accounts, given their food vessel by the oven near the door. This custom is very general among the Votjaks, arising from their belief that the doorway is the proper gathering-place of spirits arriving for the memorial feast. Bogaevskij says that in the Sarapul district, food was thrown directly onto the threshold.
The Feast at the Grave
Almost as common as the home funeral feast is the memorial meal held at the grave during the burial.
Jelabuzhskij reports that when the relatives escort the deceased to their last rest, they bring bread and kumyshka to the grave, eat and drink, and pour and crumble the dead person's share onto the grave, saying: "We drink kumyshka and pour it out for you — may it fall before you, drink it in the other world. With bread we remember you — eat it there. Eat and drink in the company of your new friends; live with them in peace." Ostrovskij mentions that the dead person's share is poured into a small pit made at the grave.
The fullest description of the graveside feast is in Smirnov's work: the mourners bring abundant food and drink — pancakes, egg dishes, eggs, pies, kumyshka, beer, and spirits. People gather from other households too, all bringing provisions. At the cemetery they feast at the grave, inviting the newly dead along with those who have gone before to come and eat and drink with their living relatives. Part of the food is left at the grave, part is buried in the earth.
The Feast at Home After Burial
Sometimes the memorial feast at home is held only after returning from the cemetery and bathing in the sauna. Miropoljskij reports that the Votjaks hold the memorial feast at the deceased's home after returning from the burial ground. Each guest tastes a piece of pancake and chicken, and also places a morsel into a vessel set by the oven, on whose rim candles are lit, saying: "First eat, then depart, but do not go far — guard our house and protect our cattle, that they do not stray." After this they sit down to eat, and the contents of the offering vessel are given to the dogs.
In some regions, such as the Mamadysh district, a special cup is set at the feast table for the deceased, from which the dead are thought to dine in the company of friends and relatives. The trough by the oven seems to be exclusively for the previously dead relatives, in whose memory each candle is lit and each name spoken during the food offering. From the Glazov district comes the further report that even after the funeral day, the Votjaks throw food out onto the porch for the night, whenever they fear they placed too little provision in the coffin, believing that the deceased may come to fetch it during the night.
Of the Zyrians' earlier funeral customs there is relatively little information. However, among them too traces have survived of the belief that the deceased takes part in the memorial meal. Smirnov reports that in the Solikamsk district it was customary to place a pancake and a cup of mead at the head of the deceased, with the wish that the dead would eat and not be angry. Nalimov adds that the Zyrians, like the Votjaks, believed that other ancestors also came to the funeral feast, for in some areas one woman was required to stay home to receive the spirits who might arrive before the mourners returned from the cemetery. If no one were there to welcome them, they could easily take offense.
III. The Scheduled Memorial Days
Besides the day of death, the individual deceased is commemorated on prescribed days after death. The timing of Votjak memorial days varies somewhat by region depending on the degree of foreign cultural contact. In the southern and eastern Votjak areas, individual memorial feasts are held regularly on the 3rd, 7th, 40th, and anniversary days — the same days observed by the Tatars and Chuvash. Christian Votjaks and Zyrians hold memorial feasts on the 3rd, 7th, 9th, 20th, and 40th days, and on the anniversary — the same schedule as Russian folk practice.
The Votjaks reckon the timing not by days but by nights. Thus they call the third-day feast kuin üi ("third night"), the seventh sizim üi ("seventh night"), the fortieth nil'don üi ("fortieth night"). The anniversary feast is called ares kiston ("year-pouring"). At every feast some animal — at least a hen — must be slaughtered, for without blood-pouring (vir-kiston) a memorial feast cannot properly be held.
A description published in the Vyatka provincial gazette (1861) records the customs of the Malmyzh-Urzhum Votjaks. For the memorial feast, kumyshka is prepared and all relatives come to the house where the deceased lived. The eldest relative pours himself drink and sets pancakes on the table. All present then pour themselves spirits. Everyone turns toward the north, and the eldest recites a prayer asking Inmar's protection for the dead. After the prayer he takes the topmost pancake from the plate, dips it in kumyshka, and gives it to a dog. If the dog eats it, this signifies that the dead lives happily in the other world, and the Votjaks begin to feast joyfully, assured that the ancestors gladly join them. But if the dog refuses it and turns away, this portends ill, and the relatives disperse in sorrow.
The Fortieth Day and the Anniversary
The fortieth-day feast has a special significance for both peoples, because they believe that the dead depart the world of the living only then. Nalimov reports that among the Zyrians, the deceased returns home with the funeral procession and remains there for forty days. A towel is hung in a designated spot in the room so that the dead may wipe their face whenever they wash. No living person may touch it, for that is considered a grave offense, punishable even by death.
A notable description of the Zyrian fortieth-day feast is in Smirnov's work. A cup, spoon, and mead goblet are set at the table for the deceased. The living may not touch the dead person's portion. Various memorial foods are brought to the table — fish pie, egg dishes, porridge. Spoons are set for other ancestral spirits as well. When all is ready, the head of household takes a candle, walks three times around the table, and fumigates the food with candle smoke. Then he breaks a piece of fish pie, speaks the deceased's name, and says: "May this come as your share!" The steam rising from the pie is said to form the portion that benefits the dead. With the same wish, the others taste the foods. Afterwards the table is set for strangers and beggars. The chief among them — a man if a man is being commemorated, a woman if a woman — departs first from the room, with the others escorting them with candles in hand, for this person is believed to carry the deceased's spirit out of the house.
The belief that after the fortieth-day feast the deceased departs the world of the living is likely of later origin among the Permian peoples, for it appears that according to the older custom, the dead were escorted to the cemetery only after a full year. It is noteworthy that even in those regions where the forty-day belief prevails, the relatives visit the deceased's grave only at the anniversary feast. Among the eastern Votjaks, the shorter period is unknown: according to their belief the deceased always separates from the family only at the anniversary, when the urt that has been dwelling among the living finally departs. All relatives then gather, a sheep or cow is slaughtered, and food and drink are carried to the cemetery. The white cloth strip that was tied to the ridgepole on the day of burial is also brought and solemnly interred in the grave. After this day, the deceased's garments, which have been preserved and brought out only at the great feasts, may be given to the poor.
IV. The Dream-Prompted Feast
Besides the scheduled memorial days, a memorial feast is held whenever the deceased has appeared in a dream to a relative. Such dream-prompted feasts must be considered older than the scheduled ones, which can hardly be thought to originate from truly ancient times. A nameless writer in the Vyatka gazette (1861) reports of the Malmyzh-Urzhum Votjaks that they do not hold memorial feasts at all until someone has seen the dead in a dream. Smirnov likewise says that if the deceased appears in dreams after the funeral, a tiron must be performed at once. As soon as the dreamer wakes, they carry an egg to the cellar roof or some other high place and promise to prepare a memorial feast. The food is immediately cooked — porridge or meat broth — part eaten by the family and part poured into a cup and carried to the corner of the house.
Bogaevskij tells a legend explaining why the Votjaks, who originally did not commemorate the dead, began holding memorial feasts: a man once saw the dead in his dream. They threatened him, and soon several of his family fell ill. Wondering at the coincidence of the dream and the misfortune, he slaughtered a sheep for the dead. The sick immediately felt better, and from this it became clear that the dead can send both good and evil to their descendants. To this day, the writer concludes, it is considered essential to hold memorial feasts when the dead appear in dreams.
Sometimes the deceased makes themselves known in other ways. In the Mamadysh district, memorial feasts are sometimes held when the dead person's soul has appeared at the window of their former home in the form of a soul-butterfly (urt-bugl'i).
V. The Val-suan — The Bone Procession
Among the individual memorial rites there is one remarkable ceremony performed not at a fixed time but sometimes one year, sometimes five, ten, or even twenty or thirty years after death. In any case this sacrifice, which appears to be known in all Votjak areas, must be performed once for every adult deceased.
The ceremony, usually held in late autumn or winter, is called val-suan ("horse-wedding") or kulem-murt suan ("dead-person's wedding"), because unlike other memorial days it has a joyful character — wedding songs are even sung. The sacrificial animal, slaughtered usually in the household yard, must be a horse if the deceased is male, but a cow if female. Aminoff mentions that in Vyatka province black animals were used; in other places where the feast is held soon after death, the animal most often sacrificed is the one the deceased used and particularly loved in life. All the deceased's relatives are invited — they alone may partake of the feast, for it is not customary to offer sacrificial food to outsiders. Not the whole animal is consumed at once: only the head, legs, and left side are prepared that day; the rest is kept for the family's later use.
The principal ceremony, which usually begins on a Thursday morning, is the bone procession in the evening by lamplight, with music and wedding songs. The bones of the head and legs are especially the deceased's property, and must therefore be carried to the so-called kir-kujan place, also known as li-kujan ("bone-throwing place"). In earlier times, and still today among the eastern Votjaks, the bones designated for the deceased were hung by bast ropes in the trees of the cemetery.
Gavrilov gives a vivid account of the ceremony in the Kazan province. When the feast is decided upon, relatives are invited on the morning of the memorial day to help with preparations. Others slaughter the cow or horse, directing the animal's head northward and saying: tshök peresjosli ("for the elders"). That day the head, legs, and entire left side are cooked. The food is prepared for the evening, when the deceased's kin invite all relatives. When the meat is cooked, a designated person — the part'tshaskis ("carver") — cuts it into pieces and places them in a large trough. After his work he gives the bones to the children who have gathered at the door, and the bones are then collected into a bast basket. After the meat, porridge is cooked, and when ready all present begin to commemorate the dead, throwing porridge, meat, beer, and kumyshka into a trough set aside for the purpose. Lit wax candles brought by the guests are fixed to its rim. Then the revelry begins. Boys standing at the door sing wedding songs. When enough has been drunk and eaten, a pair of horses is harnessed to a sled, bells are tied on, and the bast basket heaped with sacrificial bones is loaded. Singing, they set out to carry it to the appointed place where, by old custom, the basket is deposited. If there are many mourners, several sleds are used. Some bring kumyshka as well. Linen strips and coins are placed among the bones. Upon arriving, the mourners light a bonfire and perform further rites in honor of the dead, throwing pancake pieces, beer, and kumyshka on the ground. A candle is fixed to the basket's rim, and there too they sing and dance as at home. Having drunk all the beer and kumyshka and thrown the pancake scraps into the basket, the mourners take out the linen strips and coins, throwing one strip and one kopek on the ground but dividing the rest among themselves. The basket with bones is left in place, and the company returns home singing. When the mourners arrive at the house, they are not admitted until ash has been sprinkled on their heads. They then display the cloth strips to one another, saying: "Look, what fine gifts we received at the wedding!" Whoever is shown a strip takes it, wipes their face with it as with a towel, and returns it, saying: "Good, good!" At last all disperse to their homes. The next morning the guests return to give the dead the chance of "curing the head" — the dead are commemorated with spirits poured into the trough, and the guests attend to their own heads as well.
Wichmann describes how the dead are cheered: after the meal a basket is brought in, lined with straw, and all the horse bones carefully collected into it, skull on top. The skull is fitted with a bridle, as on a living horse. Those who wish place linen pieces and kopek coins on the bones. Then a joyful sacrificial dance begins. The old Votjak men and women step forward one by one and dance around the basket to an ancient melody. Cries of joy are let out, and when the crowd asks the dancer, "For whom do you dance?" the dancer names the deceased. After the elders have shown their skill, all — young and old — gather around the basket to sing wedding songs, accompanied by a fiddle and the stamping of feet. Some songs exist specifically for this occasion, such as:
"Your horse-fold, master, is full of horses —
Now we lead one of them away.
Though we have taken a horse,
May those that remain yet prosper!"
When the songs are done, the basket is carried to the yard where harnessed horses wait to carry the bones and guests to the cemetery. The basket is placed in the first sled. The slain horse's hide is spread on the ground and they dance upon it, singing wedding songs around it. Then the whole company sets out for the old pagan cemetery, with bells ringing and wedding songs echoing.
The poor, who cannot afford to sacrifice their own animal, buy the necessary head and leg bones at market to carry to the cemetery.
VI. General Memorial Feasts — Clan and Village
Besides individual memorial feasts, the Votjaks also hold periodic general memorial feasts. Just as the timing of the former varies, so does that of the latter, depending on the degree of foreign cultural influence. Where Christianity has become established, the Votjaks observe memorial feasts in the manner of the Russian church — on the feast of Pokrov (October 1, O.S.), on St. Dmitry's Day (October 15, O.S.), on the Saturday before Whitsun, and on Radonitsa, the tenth day after Easter. Where paganism is best preserved, as in the Kazan province, memorial feasts are held in spring on Maundy Thursday and on the Thursday before Whitsun, and in autumn on the Thursday before the feast of the Kazan Mother of God (October 22, O.S.). By the oldest custom, the Votjaks likely had only two great annual memorial feasts — in spring and autumn. This is indicated by the names tulis-kiston ("spring-pouring") and sizil-kiston ("autumn-pouring"), which Aminoff records as their terms for the year's greatest memorial feasts.
General feasts are held either with each family separately commemorating its own dead, or with families of the same clan gathering together to remember their common ancestors. Sometimes an entire village — usually a clan-village — holds a communal commemoration. Nowadays the first mode seems most common, but in many regions traces of the older clan-based observance have survived into our time.
The clan (bel'ak), according to Vasiljev, gathers at a house typically located at the very edge of the clan territory. One of the eldest men dons an old coat and begins making wax candles. When a sufficient number are prepared, he fixes them to the side of the oven and begins to commemorate the clan's dead. For each one he crumbles a bread morsel, breaks a piece of pancake, pours a little kumyshka and beer, and adds a spoonful of broth and soup into the trough set for the invisible spirits. After him, all guests whose parents have passed do the same. The trough's contents, as in all memorial feasts, are later given to the dogs.
Whole-village memorial feasts are also recorded. Buch reports them called gurto kalike-kiston. On that day every house sets the table with abundant food. In the afternoon all villagers gather — except newly married women — and go from house to house, omitting none. In each house every visitor throws food scraps into the trough set for the dead, saying: "You who long ago went to the underworld, may this food we sacrifice fall before you."
When a whole clan or village undertakes a communal commemoration, it usually lasts several days, sometimes three or four. Gavrilov reports that on the morning after the memorial day, the Kazan Votjaks slaughter a pair of hens. While the food is cooking, relatives are called from five or more households. They do not immediately sit at the table but stand awhile, until the specially prepared food is brought. The old men and women take their spoons and pour broth into the trough in turn. Beer and kumyshka are also poured, and the dead are remembered. The second day's feast, the writer notes, is really only for "curing the dead's hangover" (makmir veskaton).
Vasiljev says the second day serves as the dead's farewell. When the rooster has been slaughtered and the dead again hosted with meat and drink, the kin say to them: "Eat, drink, and go home to your companions — live in peace, be merciful to us, protect our children, guard our crops, our animals, and our birds."
Visits to the Cemetery
Besides the home memorial feasts, the Votjaks also commemorate the dead at the cemetery. Shestakov reports that the Glazov Votjaks visit the cemetery during every general memorial feast, men and women alike usually riding on horseback, bringing food and drink. At the graves they weep aloud, eat and drink, and leave the remainder for the dead. Pervuhin describes them visiting the cemetery at Radonitsa and at Pokrov, which they call "little memorial feast." They slaughter a duck at a designated spot by the river, pouring its blood into the water and saying: "Here we give you blood — be not angry, elders." The meat is cooked at home. The next morning they go to the cemetery bringing eggs, pancakes, beer, salt, bread, and kumyshka. They light a candle, spread a cloth on the grave, set the food upon it, and crossing themselves pray:
"Walk in the light, elders! You went to a foreign land — may you have bread and salt in plenty there; live in peace with your friends. We have been left orphans and weak — do not release our hands from work, do not scatter our family, do not oppress our cattle. Here we bring you candles. Walk always in the light! For you are the egg dishes and pancakes — without anger receive our hospitality, eat, drink, and sing songs."
After eating they leave the scraps at the grave, crushing some whole eggs as well, and pour beer and kumyshka, wishing that the nourishment would benefit the dead.
The Zyrians also visit the graves during their Whitsuntide (semik) feasts, bringing abundant food and drink. Hlopin reports that the food is brought as hot as possible, for the people believe that the dead enjoy the steam of the food. After the guests have eaten, the remainder is distributed to beggars. In former times it was customary to dig a hole at the position of the deceased's mouth and pour drink into it. Popov records that in the Cherdyn district, women came to their relatives' graves bringing mead and pancake, crumbling the latter onto the grave and pouring the mead into the hole, saying tearfully: "Drink, drink!"
VII. The Easter Spirit-Driving Ceremonies
The most notable season in the Votjak memorial calendar is Easter-tide, when all the dead are believed to be abroad. Especially on the night of Maundy Thursday — which in many regions is called kulem-poton üi ("dead-persons'-walk night") — the dead are believed to come into the world of the living. At this time many superstitious rites are performed whose purpose is to protect the living from the harm wrought by the dead.
Already on the eve, in many areas it is customary to draw a circle around the house with a knife, axe, or oven broom. Windows, chimneys, and all openings are tightly shut. Iron objects are placed on the windowsills; juniper, heather, or rowan branches are set at the door and window frames. Christians also draw crosses on the doors and walls. Before retiring, the room is fumigated with juniper branches. The next morning a straw fire is lit in the yard, over which the household members jump in succession, saying: "Inmar, grant health!" They then bathe in the sauna and begin the memorial feasts.
Often these protective measures include a spirit-driving ceremony. Pervuhin writes of the Glazov Votjaks that they gather old iron, pokers, guns, and so forth and go to the nearest thicket, making noise, shooting, and shouting to drive away wolves and other beasts for the year. On their return they take a scythe, oven broom, and shovel, and with ash from the hearth draw a circle around their houses to protect them from the malicious designs of sorcerers and witches, for evil spirits are believed to be abroad doing harm at this time. They also bless themselves and their cattle, saying: "osto Inmar!" Before bed they shut the windows, smoke-hole, and foundation openings so that witches cannot enter. On the table in the far corner, covered with a white cloth, they place a wheat cake and salt to appease the good spirits who guard the sleepers through the night. In some places young men sit armed all night on the roof of the house or barn, watching for witches, who usually appear in the form of a cat, dog, or sometimes a wolf.
In the Kazan province, a kind of dramatic performance accompanies the spirit-driving. On the eve, young men gather in a bathhouse at the edge of the village, where they light a fire and play various games including tax-collection and military recruitment — complete with officials, collectors, inspectors, judges, and even policemen. Beans serve as tax money. Some resist and are punished. Then comes military recruitment: generals, captains, and other officers are chosen, soldiers are drafted, and drills performed with sticks for rifles. Finally at midnight the "general" commands his men to run into the village to drive out the devil.
The spirit-driving is connected to Palm Sunday customs in many regions. In the Birsk district, boys and girls beat the gates and walls of houses with willow switches as they pass through the village, and sometimes also strike people lying in their beds, shouting: "vervagistir!" They continue until the cock crows, when the switches are thrown onto a field outside the village or burned. On returning, each hurries home, for the last to arrive is believed to suffer some misfortune. In the morning some still go to the cattle yard, striking each animal on the back with a willow switch. Vasiljev mentions they shout while striking: "We drive out diseases and sickness!" The call "vervagistir," whose meaning the Votjaks themselves cannot explain, is clearly related to the Russian verba ("willow branch").
VIII. The Dead as Protectors and Punishers
Like most peoples of nature, the Votjaks believe that the life and prosperity of the living depends on the dead. From this arises the superstitious reverence they feel toward the dead, especially children toward their parents. Sometimes the elderly, if badly treated in their old age, threaten their descendants even on their deathbed. Vereshtshagin reports that if relatives have poorly cared for an old person, the dying one threatens them with these words: "You kept me like a dog, you hated me, you only waited for my death — very well, it approaches. I will trouble you no more in my lifetime. But mark this: once I am gone, misfortune upon misfortune, adversity upon adversity shall come upon you."
Diseases and Misfortunes Sent by the Dead
The most common misfortune believed to come from the dead is illness (kulem-murt-mizh). It is punishment for some neglected duty, and the only remedy is a sacrificial ceremony. The Votjaks sacrifice to the dead either at home — slaughtering the animal in the yard and cooking the meat inside, with the bones carried to the kir-kujan place — or the entire ceremony takes place at the kir-kujan. The most notable of these sacrifices is the so-called ber-ves ("last sacrifice"), which must be performed during the night and for which a black animal must absolutely be stolen. During the sacrifice the priest prays to the dead, pointing out that this is the last offering, and asking the spirits to enjoy the meal and trouble people no more.
Besides sending diseases, the dead can cause much other misfortune. They can hide their relatives' cattle. Jelabuzhskij reports that when an animal from the herd goes missing, the Votjaks say: "The elders have hidden it." If others happen to find it, they dare not inform the owner, fearing the anger of the dead. When a horse goes missing it is attributed to a male ancestor, when a cow — to a female. In either case the animal must be "promised" to the deceased, for its disappearance shows that the ancestor needs the animal.
The dead can also devastate crops, send destructive insects and mice, and ruin the household in many ways. In general, as Jelabuzhskij notes, the Votjaks see in their ancestors more evil than good — thus the dead can easily develop into all manner of malevolent spirits.
The Dead as Guardians
But when favorably disposed, the dead can in many ways advance the fortune and prosperity of their descendants. From the prayers recited at memorial feasts it is plain that the dead, in Votjak belief, can accomplish whatever the gods can: they can increase the family and the herd, protect them from enemies and predators, watch over the growth of grain, and govern rain and sunshine. Therefore the Votjaks approach their ancestors with offerings and prayers in all of life's circumstances.
Above all, the dead are the protectors of their living relatives' livelihoods. Aminoff reports that in the Vyatka province, where hunting is still an important occupation, the Votjaks sacrifice to the dead at the beginning of the trapping season, at the same time as to the forest spirits. Vasiljev mentions that in spring, when cattle are first put out to pasture, a vow-offering is made to the dead: the head of household slaughters a hen in the yard, saying: "I sacrifice this hen's blood and promise to slaughter one of the pastured animals in your honor in autumn, if they return home safe and unharmed."
In the work of their latest livelihood — agriculture — the Votjaks likewise turn to the ancestors for help. Aminoff states that the dead, in their belief, can influence vegetation like the gods themselves. Therefore in many harvest-related festivals the spirits of the dead are remembered. Bogaevskij reports that each head of household goes in autumn to his field-share before sowing, carrying a rooster or hen, and slaughters it there, pouring the blood into the soil. The meat is cooked at home; the bones and feathers are carried to the place of slaughter.
When beginning the hay harvest or grain reaping, the Votjaks commemorate their ancestors with bread, saying: "Elders, fathers, brothers — do not forsake us, grant a plentiful harvest, as full as this cake!" After the harvest, memorial feasts are held in the customary manner.
Among the Zyrians too, according to Nalimov, the dead are turned to in every kind of matter. When they go to the forest they ask the dead for game; when they put the cattle out they ask protection; when they sow grain they pray for a good harvest. After reaping, they eat a special memorial food called t'shomor, made of butter and barley flour, which they formerly placed on the boundary ridges between field-shares for the dead.
The Dead as Givers of Life
Even human life itself is, in Votjak belief, a gift of the dead. Bogaevskij notes how close the connection between ancestors and descendants appears in the Votjak belief that the dead give the newborn their spirit. This belief manifests in the practice of turning to the ancestors with prayers during difficult childbirth. Vereshtshagin mentions a case where a woman holding a stillborn child prayed: "Dead ones, brothers — give the child a spirit!" Pervuhin says that when the midwife has vainly called upon various gods during a difficult birth, she finally begins to pray to the most revered ancestral dead of the mother and her husband, naming them by name and promising sacrifices.
The Votjaks also seek the ancestors' blessing for their journeys, their marriages, and even for the success of their kumyshka-brewing. Vasiljev reports that when the distilling goes poorly, the women sacrifice a black hen to appease the ancestral spirits. The great significance of ancestor-worship is further shown in the belief that the dead are not only the founders of customs and religious rites, but also their guardians. The dead, in Votjak belief, are the watchmen of ancient ways. Gavrilov mentions that the Kazan Votjaks claim that if the present generation does not observe the customs their fathers established, the dead will punish them with crop failure.
In this respect the nature gods cannot compete with the dead. Only at a very late period does the sky-god, under the influence of foreign culture, step alongside the ancestors.
Colophon
Translated from the Finnish by the New Tianmu Anglican Church as a Good Works Translation. The source text is Chapter II ("Vainajainpalvonta," Ancestor Worship), Part II, of Uno Holmberg, Permalaisten uskonto (Helsinki: Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura, 1914), pages covering lines 887–2104 of the Project Gutenberg digital text (PG #61164). Holmberg (who later adopted the surname Harva) compiled this work from the ethnographic reports of Smirnov, Gavrilov, Wichmann, Bogaevskij, Vasiljev, Vereshtshagin, Müller, Shestakov, Pervuhin, Buch, Jelabuzhskij, Aminoff, Nalimov, Georgi, and others. No complete English translation of Permalaisten uskonto has been previously published. This translation was produced independently from the Finnish source text; the English renderings of prayers and ritual formulae are translated directly from the Finnish as given by Holmberg. This file is the fifth in a series translating the full contents of Holmberg's survey of Permian religion.
Scribed for the Good Works Library by Vös III, the Komi + Estonian Translator, March 2026.
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Source Text
The Finnish source text is Uno Holmberg, Permalaisten uskonto, Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seuran Toimituksia 137 (Helsinki, 1914). The complete text is freely available at Project Gutenberg: PG #61164. This translation covers Chapter II ("Vainajainpalvonta"), Part II — lines 887–2104 of the digital text, corresponding to the sections on burial customs, memorial feasts (individual and general), the val-suan bone procession, Easter spirit-driving ceremonies, and the role of the dead as protectors and punishers.
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