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Illustration of Lithuanian returning dead
Original AI-made illustration based on the descriptions in the sources. Not an official design.
Fael Nɔma 031 wɔ 446 mu

Lithuanian returning dead

Wɔfrɛ no bio: sugrįžtantys numirėliai, numirėlis, walking dead of Lithuania
Tete nsɛm ne anansesɛmAwufoɔ a wɔnantewOwuo bɔne anaa ayie a ɛnkɔɔ yieMfinimfini Mmerɛ

Lithuania kept a strong tradition of the dangerous dead long after its conversion to Christianity. Cemeteries of the 14th to 17th centuries contain bodies deliberately beheaded, dismembered or turned face down, which archaeologists connect with fear of corpses returning. Lithuanian legends collected in modern times still describe meetings with the 'walking dead', usually brought on by disrespect for a grave. The material and the stories together give a Baltic counterpart to the revenant evidence from England and Poland.12

Fa ko
Wɔdii kan kyerɛw
1350
Deviant burials of the 14th-17th centuries; legends recorded by modern folklorists
Mfiase
Lithuanian
Lithuania
Deɛ ɛde ba
Owuo bɔne anaa ayie a ɛnkɔɔ yie
Folklore names the untimely dead and the very sinful as those who return; the legends add that the living provoke them by disturbing remains or grave goods.
Sɛnea wobɛdane bi
An unexpected or wrongful death, a sinful life, or interference with the grave.
Nyansa
Nyansa kakra
Mmerɛwyɛ
  • decapitation of the exhumed corpse
  • burial face down or on the side
  • physical force
  • the intervention of a priest

Ɛberɛ bɛn na ɛdii kan puee?

Tete wiaseMfinimfini Mmerɛ1500 kɔsi 18991900 kɔsi 19671968 kɔsi 19992000 kɔsi 20092010 kɔsi ɛnnɛ1350

Deviant burials of the 14th-17th centuries; legends recorded by modern folklorists

nhwehwɛmu nsɛm

Deɛ fibea no ka

1

Archaeologist Gintautas Vėlius documented headless, limbless and prone burials in Christian-era Lithuanian cemeteries12

2

He interprets posthumous beheading as exhumation carried out from fear of the returning dead12

3

Many prone male burials contain weapons, suggesting men killed in battle12

4

In legends analysed by Edita Korzonaitė, short tales end with the living person's death and longer ones with a narrow escape12

5

Priests in the legends sometimes use methods with no obvious Christian basis12

Fibea

  1. Gintautas Vėlius, 'Sugrįžtantys numirėliai' (Returning dead: unconventional burials in medieval Lithuania), Lietuvos istorijos studijos 25 (2010)
  2. Edita Korzonaitė, 'Human contacts with the dead: relationship of fable and reality in folklore', Tautosakos darbai 25 (2003)

Asɛm biara a ɛwɔ krataafa yi so fi saa fibea yi mu, na yɛde yɛn ankasa nsɛm na akyerɛw. Wohunuu mfomsoɔ bi? Ka kyerɛ yɛn wɔ [email protected].

Ma dɔm no aduane. Dawurubɔ nni hɔ, trackers nni hɔ, onipa baako na ɔtua ho ka. Akyɛdeɛ ma ɛkɔ so wɔ intanɛt so.Ma akyɛdeɛ

Berɛ koro: Mfinimfini Mmerɛ

DraugrNorse, 1250VetalaHindu (Indian), 1070GlámrNorse (Icelandic saga), 1300Revenant (medieval England)Medieval English, 1100UpiórSlavic, 1100AsvithNorse (Danish chronicle and Icelandic saga), 1200
Ma dɔm no aduaneMa akyɛdeɛ