Traditional funeral laments of Cherdyn area: current status, ritual lexis, "letter-message" motif

The article considers the current status of traditional funeral and commemorational laments in Northern Prikamye. The main objects under analysis are various forms of laments which were recorded in Cherdyn area in the 19th-20th centuries and during a special field research in 2009-2011. The first part of the article includes a review of published texts of laments and discusses some ways to study them. It should be noted that the laments of Prikamye were recorded not systematically and not purposefully. The main gap is the lack of ethnographic details which show the functioning of this genre in the ritual life of villagers. The focus of this article shifts from the traditional point - texts and poetics - to the ritual and communicative context. The main material is the narratives of lament-singers and their listeners. The paper shows some mechanisms of improvisation and reveals some factors which inspire lament-singers to join the tradition. When the traditional "culture of crying" almost lost its relevance, lament-singers sing lamentations according to a previously given promise, or an oral "testament" which the person left during their lifetime. Another question resolved in the article is description of vernacular ritual terms and some expressions used by informants when they tell about funeral and commemorational lamentations. This terminology in Cherdyn area is differentiated; there are special words and collocations which are used for nomination of wedding lamentations and funeral laments. The last part of the article contains analysis of the particular traditional verbal formula - sending a letter-message (into the afterworld or back); this popular motif of laments is connected with mythological representations and ritual practices used by the inhabitants of Cherdyn area. Thus, the special collocation "vestku-gramotku peredat'" (to pass on a letter-message) is not only a nomination of a lament motif but also a local ritual term.