Memento Mori

sashbar

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There is an unusual tradition in provincial Bulgarian towns and villages that I visited last summer. I apologise to those of you who will find it cynical or disrespectful to the tradition.
But people there do remember their dead like nowhere else in Europe as far as I have seen.
(These photos are not for C&C, but putting it in Just For Fun would be a bit too rich, even for my blood.)

Whenever somebody dies in a house everybody is informed about it by a poster and sometimes by some additional decorations:

$Post mortem 4_1 .webp


There are also signs announcing the anniversary of a death. When the sign is accompanied by the "Room For Rent" ad, it looks even more poignant.

$Post mortem 6 .webp

Some leaflets are more artsy, and you can see a portrait. The dog surely misses this guy:

$Post mortem 5 .webp

Some leaflets remind us of the mortal dangers of electricity:

$Post mortem 7 .webp

You can find these remembering leaflets everywhere - on a tree:

$Post mortem 1.webp

The poster in the middle announces the 21st (!) anniversary of the death.
I guess they have been doing it every year for 21 years.

You can find it behind a bench in a park:

$Post mortem 3 .webp

I can imagine how it feels to sit here late at night with so many dead behind your back..

You can find it behind a church fence, granted:

$Rem 1 web.webp


there are so many on every corner, one can be forgiven for thinking there was a plague:

$Post mortem 2 .webp

.. and sometimes they come completely unexpected:

$Rememe DSC_0065.webp
 
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Not much different from the memorial notices I see in the classified sections on the anniversary of a death.
 
Not much different from the memorial notices I see in the classified sections on the anniversary of a death.

Lew, unlike the classifieds, you can not avoid it. It was everywhere. Every 5th or 6th house had these leaflets on display. I was walking down the streets feeling that this little town was dying. It is not about the content, it is about the placement :scratch: Just imagine the street you live in...
 
Do the elderly have an elevated place in Bulgarian society?

No, not really as far as I could see. It is in essence a South European country. More relaxed than Westerd Europe, slightly more traditional, cheap to live, but hard to earn good money. I would not even say it is any more religious than Western Europe. But I am not an expert, I have only been there twice.
 

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