Something about the biggest fear...

      The last subject of our lectures were phobias and fear. I thing the biggest phobia for everyone is the death because we have no influence on it. As we know, the concept of the death changes all the time, because it's the element of the culture in which we live. But did you ever wonder what was the perception of death in Polish folk cultre? For sure you don't because currently the death became something rational, which is not related with any symbols. 

       In the past in Poland people believed that superior foreces could give poeple the signs of about the death of a family member or a neighbor. Under superior forces people understood widely defined nature: plants, animals, dreams and superstition inherited from generation to generation. When somebody was deathly ill and was lying in the house, then all the doors and windows have been opened  for to facilitate the departure of his soul.  People has been putting all the chairs upside down because they didn't want to death soul stay at home. The coffin has been exposed in front of the house to inform the neighbors about the death. It's very interesting for me because I understand death in a different way. For me it is some kind of mystery which in fact creates the sense of our lives. And what do you think about it? ;) 

Source: Jankowska B., Komentarze do Polskiego Atlasu Etnograficznego, Polskie Towarzystwo Ludoznawcze, Wrocław 1999.