Funerals -1. 1

A life lasts more than a life
by Ion Jani,
Chapters

…Everything flows, everything changes,
Only principles of the human being have been unchanged
since the dawn of time till today ….

Chapter 1.1.
FUNERALS

      The days passed casually one after the other. Nothing seemed to change in the daily routine. But, it was just an appearance and an illusion. In fact, absolutely everything changed. The old were dyinh, the adults were growing old, the young were growing up, the children were becoming adult and entering into marriages, giving birth and raising children. The changes also affected our furry friends. Some had to be butchered for food, mainly on holidays and big days, that is, weddings and funerals, others were passed on or sold to each other by their owners, including to other villages, and some simply died out, having lived their allotted age. It so happened that animals that accompany humans from the year one, live much shorter than their owners. Over their life, people here survive more than one generation of chickens, ducks, geese, sheep, cows, oxen, buffaloes and of course, horses, donkeys, mules, dogs, cats and other.

It is difficult to explain how much a person is attached to them, perhaps someone thinks deeply about such issues in order to understand their mutual influence, especially, the impact of all this constant change in the surrounding life on a person. Of course, at a less noticeable pace, the inanimate environment of a person is also subject to natural changes. But the most noticeable changes occur in the thinking of the people, who, in order to facilitate and make more sense of their mortal existence, have to comprehend something new every day, something hitherto unknown. The absolute truth is that all these processes have accompanied man from time immemorial and have been an integral part of his being at all times. As been said, everything flows, everything changes.

Everywhere people create their own special conditions of existence, adapting to climatic, geographical, and social conditions, which together make up established traditions. In these places, it has happened for centuries that people are born, live, get sick and die in the environment and direct presence of everyone …

The forty-year-old honourable Hovhannes has recently often reflected on these and other aspects of his life, and has become increasingly convinced that people, along with communication, need fellowship. And now, his not so old neighbor and mate since childhood, Yervand, give up his spirit, Yervand with whome, as kids, it seemed not long ago, there were running around almost carefree, playing, fishing in river, swimming in its icy rapid waters, enjoying life, at the same managing to help adults. Oganes now cannot remember at what age exactly they learned to properly load the donkey with all sorts of weights, or from what age they had to do job in the household, making a feasible contribution to win daily bread. It is a great grief for Yervand's wife, who looked at the people who kept coming and coming with a tender and pleading look. They came, of course, to express their condolences, to say goodbye to the person who leaves them for ever, to sympathize and condole with his wife and children.

Along with witnessing their impotence, with a sense of some guilt for what has happened, everyone is ready to provide all possible assistance to the family. She seemed to be looking pleadingly at people, asking them to resurrect her Yervand. Her breadwinner, the hard worker, the father of their children, who could be a grumbler and a bore, and more often, a man of very few words. Her mute gaze expressed a plea to all and to the Almighty God, a hopeless plea for the return of yesterday. The day when her Yervand was still alive, and he had not yet been torn apart by a predatory bear, protecting his own life, when Yervand, on a sunny august day, accidentally stumbled upon its home, in search of a noble tree to make a new arba. Even such a number of respectable people and well-wishers, not only from their native village, but also from neighboring villages, could not restore her yesterday's happiness, which she did not realise yesterday. That way, she lived happily for almost twenty years with her Yervand and did not realize that she was completely happy. Today's grief led to the realization of yesterday's happy life. Life not always good and simple.

         Always something, or even much was missing. Like, the children could not be educated, and what kind of life they lead in this wilderness. All life has been outlined  long ago. And today, the realization came that all this was happiness. Because then her dear Yervand was nearby. And now, he was gone, and misfortune came. Of course, she was aware that all people are mortal, but what does it care her now about other people and all mankind. All this was now in her eyes and in her eyes, which had no tears left, but which would have been much calmer if they had flowed.
As it should be, Ter Avetis, with his majestic singing voice, said a prayer, traditional for such cases, in which he asked the Creator to accept the soul of his obedient slave Yervand. At moments like this, it is appropriate to mention some inexplicable magical effect of the prayer coming from Ter Avetis and the spiritual outpouring of the sounds of the duduk, which in turns have been for centuries accompanying the established funeral ritual. After Ter - Avetis ' words in the ancient Armenian language, even if not very clear to all those present, comes some spiritual relief.
Perhaps, hoping that this is the way to testify to the Almighty their unquestioning faith and obedience, and that, in this way, you can bring to Him the common plea for a favorable attitude, both to the family of Yervand, and to all those present.

Along with this, and with the mournful melody of the duduk in Samson's mouth, perceived positively and understandable to all, a magical connection was involuntarily established not only of the times, but also, the connection of the living with those who have gone to the next world. And now it's time to say goodbye.
 The people slowly approached the open coffin, where everyone would see Yervand's face and mortal body for the last time. Everyone, somewhat cautiously and guiltily, approached the wooden coffin, paused, necessarily touched it and whispered to themselves either a prayer or something unconsciously-internally-emanating understanding of communication with the deceased.

          Then, as if returning to reality, each in his own way continued communication either with death or with life, someone asked to convey good news to previously deceased relatives and friends, someone appealed to God's favor and mercy, someone wept with regret, sympathizing with the fate of Yervand's wife and children. Yervand always stocked up on a couple of coffins in the workshop. And here today the master himself is in one of these coffins. How could Yervand the master not provide a coffin for the evil day?
Everything here happens according to a script written by life itself. Of course, the funeral ritual does not end with the casting of stony soil, accompanied by its short-term rumbling on the lid of the coffin, installed at the bottom of a one-and-a-half-meter grave pit and the subsequent arrangement of the grave mound. Which takes on the eyes of sympathetically watching participants of the procession, the shape of the coffin itself, and the corresponding size of the coffin. This is the amount of soil that increases in the grave pit after the coffin is placed in it. And the funeral ritual ends with a big dinner. People in such moments show special mutual assistance, concern and kindness to each other. Some would bake bread in the required amount, some would slaughter and cut up a bull, which every self-respecting family keeps for a rainy day, some would prepare lobi for everyone. Of course, the widow and the distraught children, of whom Yervand has three, a son and two older daughters, are released from such troubles. Every now and then people approach them, hug, kiss and say some comforting words, the meaning of which is obvious, but they do not hear them, because a void has formed in their soul, and their mind has ceased to adequately perceive reality…