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PhD Candidate, Department of Literature and World Culture, Amur State University
Funeral rites are one of the most conservative ritual complexes, an ethnically differentiating cultural attribute. In the culture of the Russian population of Trekhrechye (Sanhe District), these rites naturally combine Russian and Chinese components of the “motherly” and “fatherly” traditions of children born and raised in interethnic marriages. This article presents a reconstruction of the funerary rites of the Russians of the Trekhrechye based on funeral photographs of the family of Ivan Dementiev and Anna Pervoukhina and accompanying verbal discourse. These funeral photographs are examined in the context of the canon of Russian photographs of the first half of the twentieth century. They reflect the main stages of the funeral rite: farewell to the deceased, burial, and installation of a monument. Examining photographs of the funeral of Ivan Dementiev’s father and mother and the narratives accompanying their examination testify to the syncretic nature of the Russian and Chinese religious traditions. The materials presented are analyzed using the method of involved observation, textological reconstruction, and interpretation.
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