Ancient Wisdom Atlas

Motif

night watch over a dangerous dead man

night_watch_over_a_dangerous_dead_man

A motif of the Restless Dead, Haunting, and Vengeance family, within the sub-family Burial Vigils and Corpse-Restraint Rites. Every row below is a tagged passage; each rests on a quote in its source text.

1 occurrences

1 traditions


slavic

  • Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folk-lore SOZH AND DNIEPER. / FOOTNOTES: / CHAPTER IV. / MAGIC AND WITCHCRAFT.; lines 12226-12250 confidence: medium

    In the Russian skazka excerpt, the third confrontation occurs as he is about to rush at her; she lays a cross on him, he dies, and she finds money in the coffin; the father-in-law wanted the money controlled by cunning.

    The Russian scene is identified as a lykewake, and the compared West Highland tale centers on a girl watching a dead man who becomes active.

    read in the book