Tõrjemaagiast matusekommetes
Preventive Magic in Funeral Traditions

Summary/Abstract: Folk tradition connected to human death and funerals has always included certain regulations (commands and prohibitions) and rituals of preventive magic with a purpose 1) to eliminate death as such from the given location, 2) to avoid/neutralise the damaging influence of the deceased and maintain the economical profit, 3) to protect the dead body by the prevention of dark forces, and 4) to avoid or end the dead relative's return as a revenant. The article's main focus is on the last-mentioned aspect of preventive magic. References to the other purposes of preventive magic are made only if they happen to coincide or contradict the preventive magic used against revenants. The methods and means of preventing revenants in the Estonian tradition are similar to these of many Finno-Ugric and other traditions, and are often even universal. The means of preventing the return of a revenant included: Disrupting all contacts between the deceased and his former environment; Restraining or stopping the dead body's ability to move; Misleading the deceased; Placing obstacles between the living and the dead; Locking the deceased in the coffin or grave.

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