TWO FACES OF THE CULTURE OF DEATH: RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN GRIEF WORK AND HUNGARIAN PEASANT SOUL BELIEFS

Abstract

This article aims to demonstrate that peasant death culture–as a part of the social construction of reality–does not only support the grief work of survivors, but sometimes also interferes with and encumbers it. This destructive aspect of death culture is rooted in its this-worldly normative and order preservative role. If the deceased pursued a norm-following life course, peasant culture offers him or her a positive otherworldly perspective of existence, and supports the reorganization of the survivors in various ways. On the other hand, certain infringements of norms (e .g., suicide) are associated with deterrent otherworldly perspectives and are penalized with sanctions falling on the survivors. These sanctions increase survivors' bitterness and shelterlessness and make more difficult the finding of meaning, as well as a comforting closing of the relation to the deceased and its transition into an inner representation.