Death and the Romanians (I)

Death , as many came to the conclusion , is the only thing guaranteed all of us.Being a phenomena  that is influenced by many factors and is the study subject of several fields , the way in which death occurs the way in which it is viewed by different cultures from around the world can differ enormously .

 Death and decay are mainly influenced by two groups of factors , pathological and environmental. The pathological  factors describe disease and the way in which they deteriorate a individual's state of health , the symptoms associated with a disease and how their evolution can lead to death. Pathological  factors don't effect the body only in the antemortem period , they also have a huge impact on the decay process that begins after death . If a individual suffered from obesity or committed suicide by hanging , the decay process in both cases will have different characteristics given by the speed of the process and the areas of the body that will be first effected. The environmental ones , like temperature and humidity , can also accelerate or slow the decay .

  Some diseases also put certain extra protection measures in the embalming process  , the cremation process is also conditioned by some medical conditions , such as obesity or in the cases where the deceased had implanted different electronic medical devices that can cause problems when the body is cremated. 

  When it comes to funeral costumes , the preparation of the  deceased''s body will follow in most cases a series of social norms , assimilated to the local tradition, that regulate body disposal practices ,  that are split in three categories : restrictive , permissive and descriptive.

  A good study case for this subject are the funeral costumes of the romanians .
  Known for their elaborate traditions and rituals , the romanians developed over the course of time a very solid culture involving death , this culture being composed of social norms that are meant to prevent any ceremonial errors that could have negative effects on the deceased's departure from the world of the living and on his family. As I mentioned earlier , this norms are split in three categories:

prohibitive funeral norms - what you are not allowed to do - Here we can find both norms that are part of traditional funeral costumes : "You must not let any cat get near the deceased" , "When you take the deceased out of the house in the day of the funeral , the deceased should not exit the house with this head facing the entrance door" , "When people come to a funeral they must not kiss each other".

Permissive funeral norms - the ones that tell you the things that you are allowed to do and you should do - " You should help the relatives with the funeral arrangements" , "You should go to the wake " , etc.

Descriptive funeral norms - the ones that you how certain costumes are prepared .

A other classification of romanian funeral tradition can be made by the period in which they are performed , so we can have : funeral costumes - those associated with the funeral  , post funeral costumes - the ones that can expand even up to seven years after death , this ones have a memorial and symbolic connotation. 

  If we were to make compare between funeral and postfuneral costumes and costumes that revolve celebration (both secular and religious) such as Christmas , Easter , birthdays , New   Year's,funerals costumes managed to preserve their ancestral form even with the influences and limitation that modernization involved. 

When we talk about scale , romanian funerals often involve the participation of a big part of the community , especially in rural areas where costumes are more elaborate and the funeral period can expand even to three days , in urban areas , the funeral is shorter and only the most representative costumes are followed .

  When it comes to its structure , the funeral has different stages , each one with a different symbolic charge , only when one stage is consumed , the next stage can begin. Regarding body disposal , traditional burial has is used in most of cases with some low percentage of people who choose cremation. 

Burial grounds are present in any settlement , in cities under the form of municipal cemeteries (not associated to any cult) and more rarely , graveyards ( burial grounds administrated by a specific religious group , often  having a church in the , or next to the cemetery ) . Cemeteries tend to be larger then graveyards because they usually are divided in areas that correspond to a certain confession .

Graves can vary in size and design , in rural areas , graves are modest , having no concrete walls or vertical subdivision . Funeral stones are more modest when it comes to design and the materials used are generally stone or concrete . In urban areas , things differ quite a bit , with graves often having concrete walls and divided on a vertical level , with a maximum of four places . In many urban cemeteries , only tombs are used for a number of practical reasons , their construction following a number of standards. In cities , funeral stones are more elaborate then the ones from rural areas , materials can include white or black marble and granite , sculptures or sculpted details may also be included.