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Unclean dead[a] — according to Slavic beliefs, people who died an unnatural death did not find peace after death. It was thought that they returned to the world of the living and continued to exist on earth as mythical beings.[1]
In Russian ethnography, the term «zalozhny dead» (Russian:заложные покойники) is also used, which was introduced into scholarly discourse in the early 20th century by the ethnographerDmitry Zelenin, since the «unclean» dead had no single name common to all Slavic traditions.[1]
It was believed that the soul of a so-called "unquiet" (Russian:неупокоенный, literally "non-calmed down") could not pass into the otherworld and therefore wandered the earth.[2] According to Slavic folklore, such dead could turn into malevolent supernatural beings.
The term «zalozhny» dead was introduced into scholarly usage in the early 20th century by the ethnographerDmitry Zelenin, who borrowed it from theVyatka dialectal lexicon to designate an «unclean», «restless» corpse. He associated the origin of the word “zalozhny” with the specific burial practice itself: the body in the coffin was placed face down, and the grave was sealed with stones and branches (hence the term “zalozhny” — from the verb zakladyvat’, “to block up”). Those typically classified as zalozhny dead included people who had died a violent death, suicides, those who died from drunkenness, thedrowned, unbaptized children,sorcerers, andwitches.[3]
Unlike «ordinary» dead, the so-called «parents» — i.e., the community's own), the «unclean» were not buried in the ground and not interred in cemeteries, but rather atroad crossings, field boundaries, in forests, swamps, or ravines — that is, outside the churchyard enclosure, since it was believed that they were «cursed by their parents and the earth would not receive them».[4]
Among the Eastern Slavs, such dead were commonly buried at roadsides, especially at crossroads,[5] as well as along field boundaries. Inancient Rus’, there was a pre-Christian custom of collecting the ashes of the deceased after cremation into a vessel and leaving it on roadside posts.[6][7]
Despite the Church's opposition to such practices (for example,Serapion of Vladimir condemned the pagan custom of digging up the bodies of drowned or hanged people during times of calamity, whileJoseph of Volokolamsk established the practice of performing funeral rites for the «unclean» dead and founded the Bogoradny Monastery, where they were buried), these beliefs were so deeply rooted that eventually separate cemeteries (skudelnitsy —«paupers’ houses») appeared. These were simple plots fenced with planks or stakes.[8]
InSimbirsk Governorate there existed a belief that during a drought «one must certainly find a drunkard whom the earth does not accept, therefore he must be dug out of the ground and thrown into a swamp so that rain may come».[8] Similar accounts exist elsewhere, except in regions where drought never occurred.[9]
Apart from drought, unquiet dead could also cause other harm. One legend, for instance, tells of Baturka, who was said to have been extremely greedy; to appease his insatiable hunger, passers-by had to leave an offering, otherwise he might bring illness upon them and their livestock.[8] Numerous tales survive about «unclean» dead frightening both animals and people.[9]
InBelarus, places of violent death were regarded as unclean, and passers-by would throw stones, branches, tufts of straw, or handfuls of earth onto such spots «lest the deceased pursue them for a long time».[10] Beyond Belarus, the custom of throwing something onto the grave of an unquiet dead was also recorded inVilna,Pskov,Olonets,Saratov,Volhynia,Chernigov,Poltava andKharkov Governorates.[11] In Kharkov Governorate, it was believed that the person casting something onto the grave was, in effect, participating in the burial and rendering the deceased proper funeral honors.[10]