Beliefs about the dead and body parts

[Natalie O. Kononenko]

I'm replying to the list on the assumption that this might be of general
interest.  One person asked whether there is a belief that fingernail
clippings might be used in witchcraft.  The answer is - no.  What people
do believe is that the water used to wash the deceased (mertva voda) can
be used for magical purposes.  Same goes for the cords used to tied down
the deceased's legs and sometimes arms so that the body does not move as
rigor mortis sets in.  These are called puty.  The puty must be removed
from the body before burial.  This, again, is so the deceased can move
freely in the other world.  The puty must be placed in the coffin so that
no one with evil intent gets a hold of them.  The mertva voda is poured
somewhere like at the edge of the yard, right under the fence, so that no
one will walk where it has been poured.  Otherwise the person will sicken.

The magical uses of both puty and mertva voda can be either good or bad.
The good use is as an anesthetic, to "deaden" pain.  So, if you have a
backache, you rub it with mertva voda or sew a piece of the puty into your
clothing so that it touches the aching area.  If you have a toothache, you
swish mertva voda around in your mouth, and so forth.  Bad uses are to
cause aches and pains.  So, if a person with evil intent throws mertva
voda where a couple will walk during a wedding, the marriage will die.  If
such a person manages to touch the body of his or her victim with puty,
that body part will ache or atrophy.

I could go on, but enough is enough.  I should repeat that is applies to
the area where I conduct field work - Central Ukraine, mostly Cherkasy
region, though also Chernihiv, Kyiv, Poltava.  Date of collection is
1998-present.  It may well apply elsewhere.

Natalie Kononenko

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