Armenia: the proper way to pay your respects
In wide angle, the colours of winter Yerevan are made up of shades of grey, punctuated by black cars and people's clothes. Close up, however, one is struck by extravagant fashion. Yerevan is aflutter with the embodiments of pages from fashion magazines. Here glamour seems to be a matter of personal dignity, as too are expensive funerals.
An average funeral wreath can set back a sympathiser around $100 – the monthly income of a teacher. For the bereaved family too, a funeral is costly, and long. For a start, three memorial meals must be held in the first week after the death.
On the eve of the funeral, a wake is held in the deceased's home. Outside the entrance to the building, wreaths flank the doorway.
A black-draped platform in the living room supports the open casket, surrounded by bouquets; the lid is propped upright.
After people have paid their respects, family and close friends remain, taking it in turns to keep the nightlong vigil. In the morning, mourners regather before going to the cemetery.
Until recently, corteges marched down the middle of city streets. Holding the open coffin high and displaying the deceased's photograph, pallbearers set the pace to the accompaniment of a brass band or, lately considered nationally more authentic, the wailful tones of the doudouk. But increasing traffic in central Yerevan has meant that now the coffin is carried three times round the deceased's block. At the funeral I attended, the pallbearers stopped outside the entrance and rotated the open casket overhead six times before putting it into the hearse.
A traditional Armenian Christian funeral (imitating Christ's interment) requires women to distance themselves before the coffin is closed and lowered into the grave. They return the next day.
By the seventh day after her death (another day that is marked), all 12 wreaths had disappeared from Astghig H's graveside.
A local explained that scavengers take the wreaths to sell the foam rings and supporting tripods to florists to reuse. My indignation had to be suppressed. The priest had begun blessing the departed's tomb and soul. At the memorial lunch that followed, discussing robbery and disturbing the spirits would have been undignified, as would effusively praising the food.