“Bury online techno”: the ritual agent told about mourning trends

Details about innovations in mourning ceremonies correspondent “MK” told the expert of the ritual industry Artem Romanovich.

- Recently, the deceased are most often cremated, rather than buried, as is customary according to Christian canons. What's this about?

- It is. I work in Moscow, where 80-90% of my orders are cremated. This is explained primarily by the financial component, since cremation is several times cheaper than coffin burial. Even wealthy people are now cremating their families. This is more environmentally friendly, and the ashes can be divided into several parts - customers want to scatter the ashes of their relative in different places. In 30 percent of cases – and this is often considered – the ashes are divided into two urns, sometimes divided into three or even four urns. One urn is buried in Moscow in the family grave, and the second is scattered somewhere. There have been several instances in my practice where my Krishna customers have taken the ashes to India illegally in their luggage, pouring the ashes into a bag that was placed in a suitcase.

- Frequently spread?

- Often now. Of 100% cremations, 20 are dispelled, according to the oral will of the deceased. The most popular places for this purpose, which I have heard about: a forest, a park, over the sea, people go specifically to the Altai, many for this purpose go to Baikal. There are cases when scattered in the country or in a place where the deceased loved to collect mushrooms. It is known that part of the ashes of Sergei Dorenko was buried in the Metropolitan Troekurovsky cemetery. Another part of the ashes of the journalist’s widow Julia scattered on Mount Mithridates in his native Kerch, which was a lifetime request of the deceased. The ashes of the historian and artist Sergey Zagraevsky were divided into two parts: one part was buried in the columbarium of the ancient Danilov cemetery in Moscow, and the second in the ancestral burial of Sergei Wolfgangovich in the village of Abramtsevo near Sergiev Posad.

- Have trends in the choice of coffins and wreaths changed?

- Everything is a matter of taste, but there are some changes. Mostly customers of venerable age, who caught the “five-year lush funeral” (the 11th Five-Year Plan, 1981-1985, when the country, in addition to three general secretaries, buried nine members of the Politburo). - Approx. avt.), inclined to burgundy and red coffins. Younger people prefer to see off their loved ones in coffins of light colors or lacquered. There's no fashion for bouquets. If you ask my opinion, I recommend flowers that the deceased liked. But from wreaths people in the last eight years refuse, preferring live flowers. If previously you could order ten wreaths, now one or three maximum. Customers under 50 years of age do not order wreaths. In Europe, plastic flowers are banned.

- Do you often put crosses or monuments?

- If a person was Orthodox, in 95% of cases a cross is placed on the grave, even if there is no funeral service. Monuments are placed at least a year later, so that the land settles, so that the monument does not lead later. But it happens that they are put in five years, and in ten. If buried in the family grave, then on the existing monument loved ones order an additional inscription. There are cases when during life a person is engraved on the monument of his date of birth, portrait, and relatives after his departure can only apply the date of death.

- What cemeteries in Moscow family and friends most often choose as the last shelter for their loved ones?

- There is no cemetery that is more popular than others. People come from their budget. If the relatives of the deceased have a small income, they are taken to the cemetery outside Zvenigorod, it is free. In other cases, they acquire burial places on the capital’s cemeteries. Only 10% of Moscow residents buy places in Moscow cemeteries. 40-45% of Muscovites are buried in family graves. A new plot on the Moscow cemetery can cost several million rubles. In 15-30 kilometers from the Moscow Ring Road, cemeteries are small and cozy, and burials on them are several times cheaper, so there is a tendency to bury outside the city.

Half a century ago, in the days of God-fighting power, funeral service was a rare phenomenon. How are things with this ritual now?

- If a person was Orthodox, there must be a funeral. The most popular Epiphany Cathedral for these purposes, where Alexander Pushkin was baptized. Of the famous people, Patriarch Alexy II is buried here, the artist Ilya Glazunov and the singer Jeanne Friske were buried in Elokhovsky. But in most cases, there are no specific temples for the funeral ceremony. The church ceremony is also held in the crematorium. A priest is also invited to the place of burial, but this happens less often, people are afraid of changes in the weather: snow may begin, then rain. Funerals are also practiced in absentia. Father reads a prayer without face-to-face presence, then transfers the ritual accessories necessary for the funeral, we put all this in the coffin.

- Is it a ritual service that is popular?

Grim, as a rule, is included in the complex of paid services of the morgue. There are orders without makeup or asked to apply minimal, people do not really believe that it will greatly change the appearance, as they remember that 10-15 years ago makeup was applied much worse than now.

Tell us about the most unusual funeral order you have made.

- I don't remember being shocked by the funeral, but, for example, the deceased animator was dressed, as they call it in our field, in a Sponge Bob Square Pents costume, albeit without a mask.

With the founder of the group Cream Soda Dmitry Svirgunov, who died on the Volga in March 2023, said goodbye to the tracks “Cry for techno” and “No more parties”. Later, a charity party was held in memory of the 35-year-old musician at a famous Moscow club.

There was an order when the body was taken from one provincial town to Moscow, then sent to another country so that relatives would say goodbye to it, and those, having given their last honors, returned the body again to Moscow to be buried in the suburbs.

- Now it is not uncommon for funerals online, when relatives for various reasons can not arrive at the burial site. In Moscow, an agent prepares documents and arranges a farewell. Then, in the farewell room of the crematorium, we contact relatives from another city or country via video link. Relatives of the deceased on the other end of the line gather at the table and watch the funeral and farewell.

- Do you often order music for a mourning ceremony compared to previous years?

- In the farewell room of the crematorium, music from speakers sounds the background in 80% of cases. "We want to say goodbye in silence, we don't need music" - such phrases are rarely heard. At Armenian funerals, if people are wealthy, duduk is usually heard. Live orchestras are rare now. Dark music is a thing of the past, they order classics. Inviting even one musician to the ceremony costs a lot of money. Live music is ordered by wealthy, famous people, but not always. Famous figure skater Peter Chernyshev, the husband of actress Anastasia Zavorotnyuk, ordered a small Troekurovsky orchestra. The musicians came to the cemetery with their puppets and played classical music throughout the funeral ceremony. But such funerals are now rare, mostly people include a tune that the deceased liked on a column or phone and say goodbye to it. It's always touching and sweet, and even I sometimes get tears.

Artem, how did you decide to become a ritual agent, it’s hard?

- I’m often asked, “How did you get there?” And I remember when I was a kid I was always interested in watching funerals, because there was often an orchestra, everything was beautiful. I am still doing everything to ensure that a person is led on the last journey with dignity.