Ceremonialul funebru în Vrancea (Contribuții).

This study on the funerary ceremonial is based on our direct field research, which took place in a few villages that make up the archaic nucleus of the Vrancea area. The first part is dedicated to a comparative analysis of the main rituals, insisting on their magic-mythical layer, and giving special attention to the most important ceremonial and ethnographic objects that are used in these rituals. Consequently, we mainly analysed the rituals facilitating the passage to the other side, the burying of the defunct with all the daily useful tools, the wake, the ritualistic alms, as well as the death marks. We considered these sequences in all the stages of the ceremonial, starting with the agony, and then the funeral ceremonial itself; in the end, we analysed the rites that take place after the funeral. We permanently observed all sequences and elements that are very old, as well as the ones that are extremely particular and give the funerary ceremonial its individuality, or a note of uniqueness; thus, we highlighted regional versions, as well. Our research also entailed an analysis of the shapes of the ceremonial ring-breads, which are extremely old and carry a distinct symbolic meaning; the funerary-tree and the alms trees, the house of the defunct, all of them carriers of a special magic-mythical load. The second part of our research was dedicated to a recounting of the evolution of the entire ceremonial, as it appears from all field information that we gathered, as they were transmitted to us by our informants. The details we have inserted facilitate a highlighting of differences, which sometimes appear even from one village to another. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]