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Head
of the funeral procession : the bir carrier followed by the choir
of Albs, Dobritsa, Rumania.
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I have described
elsewhere (J.C., Le feu vivant, pp. 340-412), piece after piece
and with the support of musical notations like in operas, the women's
lamentations, the songs of the priests and their acolytes, the superposition
of voices and cries, horn and bell sounds on various tones.
However various they may be, these elements integrate four offices in
a unique ceremony : that of a civic cult celebrated by the horn players
and the local representatives of the englobing society; that of a religious
cult governed by the orthodox Church and performed by the priest and the
cantor; that of a domestic cult that women officiate and accomplish by
taking care of the dead body and lamerntating; lastly, that of a local
and customary cult in which take part the carriers of the fir, on the
one hand, and the chor of old women preceding the horn player and the
clergy in the procession, on the other hand.
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