The Tsangos of Romania - Corvinus Library - Hungarian History

In Pusztina, the people believe that if someone dies, hisor her soul stays in the house for three days and so they do notsweep in the house for three days in case they sweep the deadperson's soul out. They also leave food on the table for threedays for the dead person. After the death, the relatives lay thebody on the floor and wash it with a cloth, which cloth is laterput into the coffin with the rest of the things that were in contactwith the dead body, because the people believe that these causeillnesses. Then they lay the body on a wooden plank and fortwo nights the people, not just the relatives but everyone in thevillage stays up and prays by the dead. On the second nighteven more people come and this is the time to say good-byesince in the morning they place the corpse in the coffin. Theysew a pillow and instead of feathers they put flowers or sawdustin it and they place all the things which touched the dead body aswell as those things which might be needed by the dead in theafterworld eg. money, watch, glasses, rosemary, and the Bible(although nowadays since there are only few Bibles inHungarian the family gives it to someone). The needle withwhich the pillow was sewn, is either placed in the coffin or it isgiven to a couple who can put it on their pillow when they makelove and that way they will not have children. (These people donot know anything about birth control the RumanianGovernment did not allow pills and condoms to be used and thatis the reason why the Csángós have so many children and, asthey have small houses it often happens that three or fourchildren sleep in one bed.) When the body is in the coffin, it iscovered with a cloth except for the feet and eyes so that it can seeand walk in the afterworld. Then the funeral begins. Pál PéterDomokos took part in a funeral where the parish choir-mastersang a song and the people around the grave cried according tothe tune, if it rose then the crying became louder, and quiterwhen the melody fell. Also before lowering the coffin theyopened it and everybody kissed the dead person's face. Afterthe funeral there is a feast where usually the whole village isinvited. Then, it is believed that the soul of the dead staysnearby for 40 days which is the time for mourning, the men donot shave and the women leave their hair loose. At the end ofthe 40 days there is a mass for the dead person and anotherdinner for the relatives only. People believe that if the deadperson feels unconfortable is cold, hungry, or thirsty, one ofthe relatives either hears the voice or sees the face of the dead