Marisia - Maros Megyei Múzeum Évkönyve 27/3. (2003)

Laura Pop: Pomul funebru din zona Văii Mureşului superior, Valea Gurghiului şi Valea Beici

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LAURA POP

The funeral Tree from the Mure§ Superior Valley, The Gurghiu’s Valley and Beica’s Valley (Summary)

The preparation of the funeral tree is a very important ritual moment because it is a symbol for the pass into another world, the world of the death. The dough’s forms that accompany the funeral tree preserved archetipal shapes:- ,,loitrita“is marked in a stair’s shape that symbolise the stair for the

souls.- „cristata“ has the „crux gammata“’s shape, an old symbol for the sun and for the season’s order (succesion).- „pupäza“ (the bird) are the meaning of the deaths souls. Another dough’s form maked in 8lh shape could be at the origin an antropomorphe shape, a remember of the forgotten human’s sacrifice.