Date of publishing:
30.6.2026
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.59618/NV.2026.1.05
Abstract:
This paper examines how the introduction of death-related buildings, such as the funeral home in rural Slovakia, alters the ways and frequency of contact with the dead body and, in turn, influences the course and certain aspects of funeral rituals. It presents a case study based on long-term ethnographic research, analysing data collected over three years in a village in the Horehronie region of the Slovak Republic with a predominantly Roman Catholic population. Through analysis of ethnographic data, the study argues that the establishment of the funeral home and the related shift in the space where the body is kept before the funeral changed the course and some elements of funeral rituals. The funeral home not only serves an essential function in the funeral process but can also gradually become a space and symbol associated with the dead, death, and the afterlife; it also embodies and reflects religious beliefs and norms that can shape both collective and individual behaviours and emotional states.
Keywords
Transformation of funeral rituals – funeral home – death – dead – Slovakia
Article Text
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Research participants / Interlocutors
The author states that the article is based on research data that is stored by the author and is available upon reasonable request. All additional information concerning the ethnographic research materials is available on reasonable request from the author. Providing data in this manner requires signing an NDA agreement. The ethnographic data is currently being entered into the Slovenian Social Science Data Archives (ADP; www.adp.fdv.uni-lj.si/en/), where it will be accessible to some extent for scientific and research purposes only. For this reason, codes such as Interlocutor MU001 are also included in this list, which correspond to the codes in the data package submitted to ADP.
Interlocutor MU001: Anna-RKC-1948
Interlocutor MU002: Albert-RKC-1991
Interlocutor MU003: Alžbeta-RKC-1956
Interlocutor MU005: Andrej-RKC-1959
Interlocutor MU009: Agáta-RKC-1943
Interlocutor MU013: Božena-RKC-1946
Interlocutor MU015: Angelika-RKC-1949
Interlocutor MU028: Gizela-RKC-1938
Interlocutor MU035: Dana-RKC-1939
Interlocutor MU038: Renáta-RKC-1951
Interlocutor MU040: Pavlína-RKC-1943
Interlocutor MU043: Šalamún-RKC-1983
Interlocutor MU044 Vanda-RKC-1960
Interlocutor MU045: Xénia-RKC-1953