PRAKTIKAT E TREFISHTA MAGJIKO-RITUALE NË SFERËN KULTURORE TË VDEKJES DHE TË ZISË NDËR SHQIPTARË
TRIPLE MAGICAL-RITUAL PRACTICES IN THE CULTURAL SPHERE OF DEATH AND MOURNING AMONG ALBANIANS

Summary/Abstract: The historical and ethnographic data gathered within the Albanian cultural realm up to the last decades of the 20th century do clearly indicate the presence of death and mourning rituals totally built around number three. In Albanian folk beliefs, the triad is viewed as a symbol of vitality and magical strength stemming from mythical triadic beings, such as Fatat [Fates], Mirat [Fairy-like beings], Orët [Fairy-like godmother/guardian], and Zanat [Mountain fairies]. Consequently, every word uttered three times and every action performed three times during the rituals associated with the cycle of life embody a magical and ritualistic approach towards confronting death and safeguarding life. This explains the intensity and prevalence of threefold ritual practices in the cultural realm of death, lamentation, burial, and mourning which can be attributed to various factors: one such factor is the belief that the soul revolves around the body three times after departing from it. Additionally, wailing men traditionally shout three times “woe is me, brother!”; stretcher of the dead body “slams” the threshold of the door three times to keep the luck inside the house. During the burial process, three individuals open a relative's grave, and three shovels of dirt are thrown on the coffin, as a gesture of pardoning and forgiveness for the sins of the deceased. To “ward off death” from the house and “alleviate their longing for the deceased”, participants in the funeral throw water three times behind their backs. The mourning period would typically last for three days, and a mother mourns for her child for three years, and so on.

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