Formation of the culture of public funerals in Tatar society in the 1910s–1940s

Shaykhin A.R.

525-538 p.


doi.org: https://doi.org/10.22378/he.2025-10-4.525-538
EDN: https://elibrary.ru/AWLZIO


Abstract. The article examines the emergence and evolution of the culture of high-status funerals in Tatar society from 1912 to 1942. The term “high-status funerals” refers to public farewell and burial rites that articulated the social or cultural prominence of the deceased. The study analyzes economic, political, and religious factors shaping collective funeral practices and traces their transformation under the impact of modernization, the 1917 Revolution, and subsequent sociopolitical changes. It demonstrates how public funerals functioned as a space of religious ceremonies and simultaneously as instruments of social recognition and arenas for the display of status and communal solidarity. It is pointed out that high-status funerals served as an important platform of symbolical struggle and self-identification, which reflected both traditional and modern ideals of the period under review. Particular attention is devoted to the funerals of prominent public figures, religious leaders and intelligentsia, such as Kh. Yamashev, G. Tukay, K. Yakub, G. Barudi, F. Amirkhan, Kh. Taktash, G. Kamal, and Sh. Kamal, whose funerals were considered significant events in the city’s life. The study reveals distinctive features of Tatar high-status funerals during the early Soviet period and identifies mechanisms of institutionalization and reinterpretation of funeral rituals. The analysis shows that the transformation of burial rites reflected broader changes in the system of Tatar society’s social hierarchy and the dynamics of its modernization. The research is based on the analysis of sources from the funds the National Museum of the Republic of Tatarstan, periodical press, and memoirs.


Keywords: funeral, ritual, death, everyday life, funeral culture, social status, modernization

For citation: Shaykhin A.R. (2025) Formation of the culture of public funerals in Tatar society in the 1910s–1940s. Istoricheskaya etnologiya [Historical Ethnology]. Vol. 10. No. 4: 525–538. https://doi.org/10.22378/he.2025-10-4.525-538 (In Russ.)


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About the author: Aydar R. Shaykhin, Director of the Museum of Tatar Literature with Sharif Kamal’s memorial apartment – a branch of the Republic of Tatarstan National Museum, Senior Lecturer at the Department of Religious Studies, Kazan (Volga Region) Federal University (15 Ostrovskiy St., Kazan 420111, Russian Federation); https://orcid.org/0009-0008-2534-6522; e-mail: a-shayhi@yandex.ru


Received 5.06.2025 Revised 9.09.2025   Accepted for publication 29.10.2025

Published Online 01.12.2025