Hi all,
Not wanting to sound morbid or anything but I have a question about funerals which I can't find the answer to anywhere.

Sadly our old neighbour passed away in early November and to be blunt the old guy was an inspiration to anyone who met him, he will be sorely missed. Anyway, when "
Papa"
( as I had to call him ) passed away, me and my good lady were asked to attend the funeral and indeed we were the only English people there and didn't know what to fully expect. We have been to one other funeral in Bulgaria but that was different as there was no church service.

On this occasion we noticed that the pall bearers from the funeral directors all wore tea towels wrapped around the bicep on their arm. There were towels on the external handrail of the hearse where the bearers walked alongside the car and held the rail and then there was a towel inside the open coffin as well. We assumed it was a custom but didn't understand what it was about so for weeks we have asked people including many educated and informed Bulgarians ( even the college headmistress ) and nobody knows ! The custom apparently goes back for hundreds of years but it's meaning and significance seems to have been lost.

I've googled it, I've looked on Wickipedia, I've asked around ... all to no avail. Is there anyone out there can shed some light on this for me, I'm intrigued !

Good post....

many countries have traditions and being superstious, i believe the towels are payment (never money) for the preperation of the body for the funeral, a new towel also goes in the coffin, often with coins too to pay for their passage through the gates.

google. why towels at bulgarian funerals, there is a lot of information about the whole planning of a funeral.

I went to a funeral a few year ago here in Bulgaria it all seemed a very cold event I remember the coffin was carried in an old van and was hanging out the back doors with some of the mourners steadying it , once we got the the grave yard the coffin was opened and left for about 15 minutes while people looked at the body and others were shooing away the flies. The coffin was then carried to the hole which was full of water and lowered into it then someone said a few words and another person opened a bottle of red wine and poured it over the coffin and that was about it.

Bulldog wrote:

Hi all,
Not wanting to sound morbid or anything but I have a question about funerals which I can't find the answer to anywhere.

Sadly our old neighbour passed away in early November and to be blunt the old guy was an inspiration to anyone who met him, he will be sorely missed. Anyway, when "
Papa"
( as I had to call him ) passed away, me and my good lady were asked to attend the funeral and indeed we were the only English people there and didn't know what to fully expect. We have been to one other funeral in Bulgaria but that was different as there was no church service.

On this occasion we noticed that the pall bearers from the funeral directors all wore tea towels wrapped around the bicep on their arm. There were towels on the external handrail of the hearse where the bearers walked alongside the car and held the rail and then there was a towel inside the open coffin as well. We assumed it was a custom but didn't understand what it was about so for weeks we have asked people including many educated and informed Bulgarians ( even the college headmistress ) and nobody knows ! The custom apparently goes back for hundreds of years but it's meaning and significance seems to have been lost.

I've googled it, I've looked on Wickipedia, I've asked around ... all to no avail. Is there anyone out there can shed some light on this for me, I'm intrigued !

One of my many professions in the UK was Funeral Director - although I have no knowledge of BG funerals I was present at a Greek funeral and much to my surprise there was a smashing of plates on top of the coffin lid after the body had been lowered into the ground, this was also followed with the pouring of some olive oil. I have been witness to the oddest of things happening at funerals and have been asked several times to write a book on my experiences, but who would read it I ask myself!!

Re ;
itchyfeet's last comment .......I think it would be a bestseller ! People are fascinated by the subject. I once worked with a guy who used to work for a funeral directors and did most jobs before training as an embalmer, he could keep us all transfixed for hours with stories from his experiences and often they were humorous as well as fascinating.

A British friend of ours died this year in Bg and we attended the cremation in Sofia. The coffin was left open on the journey up to Sofia. There was a small viewing room in which they were placed and it was left up to the Brits to organise or say something. there was little warning about the coffin being moved into the furnace and this was done in front of the family causing a lot of distress! So pleased be warned that although we can be cremated here in BG it can be very basic and upsetting so you will need the aid of some capable person to help prevent too much distress.
The coffins are not up to UK standards but then again without sounding to horrible it is going to be burnt so is there no need for an expensive one.
Warnings also to people going to morgues as these are very primitive and you will need to take something to cover up the body as they are left naked.

sallyann wrote:

The coffins are not up to UK standards but then again without sounding to horrible it is going to be burnt so is there no need for an expensive one.

The Funeral Directors in the UK can supply cardboard coffins, they cost as much as the cheaper wooden ones, but are probably looked upon as being more ozone friendly by conservationists. They do the job alright, but they do slip on our shoulders when they are being carried, so a great deal of care is needed, no handles on the side either, so nothing to grip hold of if the coffin starts sliding all over the place. Never lost one the ground though, except into the grave when being lowered.

Funerals in Bulgarian villages are primitive because of cost. Any vehicle is used from horse and cart to transit van or car and often hanging out of the back. When I went to pay my respects to a neighbour's wife, all close friends and family went into the house where the front room had been prepared with candles and offerings with the body on view for people to add posies of garden flowers. Everyone finally followed the van carrying to coffin to the church mostly on foot at a slow pace. I seem to remember that the male bearers also wore a towel around one arm and after the service everyone followed the cortege to the burial ground on the heath at the edge of the village. A beautiful spot.
I know there are many traditions surrounding death and burial and most seem to be that people believe in the hereafter and on special days leave food and wine at the grave. I am sure that there must be lots of information on these rites and rituals somewhere on the internet.
In our village there is a designated lady who rings the church bell when there is a death and men who dig the grave. There is no pomp and circumstance but I would venture to suggest that people are more reverent to the dead than many funerals in Britain.
I think that village Bulgarians accept illness and death as a natural event and do not surround it with all the whys and wherefores that we do in Britain trying to deny that it happens and that we are all immortal. I have made my wishes known that I will be quite happy to be buried like a Bulgarian and will not worry how my coffin will be taken to the grave although I would love it to be on Ivan's horse and cart!

oldun wrote:

I think that village Bulgarians accept illness and death as a natural event and do not surround it with all the whys and wherefores that we do in Britain trying to deny that it happens and that we are all immortal. I have made my wishes known that I will be quite happy to be buried like a Bulgarian and will not worry how my coffin will be taken to the grave although I would love it to be on Ivan's horse and cart!

Some Brits in the UK cannot believe that their dearly departed have actually departed and I have had experience of a deceased being placed in the coffin with a live mobile phone in their hand. On the day of the funeral the phone in the coffin rang before the gravediggers could move forward to fill the grave. Of course nobody answered "
wrong number."

I have just read 5 very interesting pages about Bulgarian burials. There are many varied traditions such as the body being laid in the house facing the East and people laying posies of flowers or throwing coins in the coffin before lighting a candle to light them into the hereafter. Apparently, in the past white was the traditional colour of mourning so maybe the various types of armbands in white are the same as the black ones worn. White material might also be worn by friends and black for family. You will often see big black bows on gates and public buildings which are replaced at various stages like after 40days.
I had learnt a little about some traditions from my choir ladies. When one of their husbands died, they left the choir because for 40 days, or even a year, there is no singing or dancing of the Hora. I remember we also had a collection to pay towards the funeral expenses and ate the traditional boiled wheat at the reception afterwards which was held in the local hall but can be held at the graveside. The laying of food and wine on the grave is to feed the dead on their way to the hereafter and there are many other traditions still held with this in mind. Some old traditions were to stop the dead becoming a vampire!
It was a very interesting read and it should be understood that some traditions have died out or vary according to each village.

sallyann wrote:

A British friend of ours died this year in Bg and we attended the cremation in Sofia. The coffin was left open on the journey up to Sofia. There was a small viewing room in which they were placed and it was left up to the Brits to organise or say something. there was little warning about the coffin being moved into the furnace and this was done in front of the family causing a lot of distress! So pleased be warned that although we can be cremated here in BG it can be very basic and upsetting so you will need the aid of some capable person to help prevent too much distress.


The coffins are not up to UK standards but then again without sounding to horrible it is going to be burnt so is there no need for an expensive one.
Warnings also to people going to morgues as these are very primitive and you will need to take something to cover up the body as they are left naked.

you are quite right everything is very basic,and in all the villages unless you are prepared to transfer the body to Sofia which i think has the only crematorium then in the villages and even large towns there is no refrigeration facilities,so you die one day and you are buried the next,its that quick,thats the Bulgarian way


Mike