In the lives of each of us, sooner or later, losses occur - someday our grandparents pass away, then our parents and other close people. After all the unpleasant ceremonies, we are left alone with many questions: “What now to do with everything acquired by our relatives?”, “Can I keep their things in my house?”, “Can I wear their clothes, jewelry, shoes? ?.
This article will be devoted to all folk signs, all beliefs, as well as church instructions regarding the belongings of deceased loved ones.
Is it possible to sleep on the bed or sofa of a deceased relative?
There is an expression: “It is better to sleep on the grave of a dead person than on his bed!” Perhaps there is some truth in this. If a person was sick for a long time, experienced crazy torment on the bed, and eventually died on it, then it is of course better to part with such an inheritance.
People related to extrasensory perception argue that it is better to replace the bed of a deceased person. If it is not possible to buy a new bed, but you need to sleep on something, then it is better to perform a ritual of cleansing the deathbed of a loved one. To do this, you can go around the bed on all sides with a lit church candle, passing it over and under it, sprinkle it with holy water and sprinkle it with salt.
If the deceased person had some otherworldly abilities, then to get rid of the trace of his strong energy, it is better to invite a clergyman to the house. The church, as a rule, meets its parishioners halfway and helps them overcome their fears of the unknown.
If you turn with similar thoughts to someone more down-to-earth, such as scientists or doctors who are skeptical about this kind of activity, they are unlikely to find anything reprehensible in keeping the sofa or bed of a deceased person for themselves. Their only advice may be to disinfect furniture or reupholster it. This is especially true for those options when a person died from an infectious disease or virus.
Ways to clean the bed of the deceased
If a person has died, it is necessary to first hold a funeral; if possible, nothing needs to be done with his things until the fortieth day. But even if a person happened to die in a small apartment, where, besides him, several other relatives live, he will have to perform a cleansing ritual as quickly as possible, since it is extremely difficult to exist in an apartment with such heavy energy.
Church ritual of lighting the furniture of the deceased
Priests recommend clearing all furniture and any surfaces of the house from negative energy. To do this you need to invite the priest. Actions performed:
- a church candle is lit, the clergyman walks around the room, all the corners in it, paying special attention to the bed of the deceased, at the same time prayer texts are said;
- surfaces are sprinkled with holy water;
- you can sleep on a consecrated bed or sofa after 40 days, because before that the soul of the deceased has not yet found a permanent residence, has not completely undergone transformation, and therefore feels attached to certain things, and may be sad at the sight of how others use them.
It is believed that consecration through a church ceremony makes it possible to use the bed on which a person happened to die from cancer.
Lighting the deceased's furniture
Occult rituals in the bedroom of the deceased
Those who study occult sciences confidently declare that it is almost impossible to completely cleanse furniture, pillows, and blankets of negative energy. Some of it will still remain and may continue to have an impact. But it is possible to make an effort to remove it as much as possible if it is not yet possible to get rid of the furniture. Rituals:
- prepare salted water, it will not leave significant traces, but it cleanses things well of negative energy; it is enough to rinse all items;
- the pillows and mattress are also rubbed with salt (coarse-grained salt is suitable), and it is important to imagine (visualize) how the salt particles literally absorb black energy;
- as the above actions are completed, the apartment is fumigated with incense;
- Additionally, they drive out evil spirits with bells - this creates conditions under which dark entities cannot remain in the room.
Getting rid of bad energy according to feng shui
When people die, a proven method is used against the energy of death:
- open windows and doors, and it is better if these actions are performed in windy weather, since it is important to create a draft to remove Qi energy;
- all small items, including textiles that belonged to the deceased, are burned outside the home;
- the candle flame destroys negative energy, and must be held sequentially first over the sleeping place, then under it;
- at the last stage it is necessary to ring the room with a bell.
You can move into the room where a person died after renovation: you should definitely repaint the walls and replace the wallpaper.
Do-it-yourself cleansing ritual
The room needs to be completely cleaned. For this purpose, disinfectants are used. Old wall and floor coverings are removed, as they absorb odors and toxic substances. After this, clean the surfaces with bleach or special products for different surfaces. It is important to consider that such substances can spoil materials - they leave traces. You can perform rituals yourself:
- 2 containers with salt are left under the bed;
- It is important to place them in certain places: in the area of the legs and head.
Second way:
- remove the mattress;
- prepare a weak vinegar solution, it is used to clean the bed frame;
- it is recommended to sprinkle it with holy water;
- say “Our Father”;
- remove the remaining negative energy with the help of a church candle - you need to walk around, concentrating on good thoughts.
Radical method: getting rid of the bed of the deceased
When the bed is in very poor condition: a person lay here for several days after death, the wood and woven materials have absorbed corpse poisons, in this case it is impossible to clean the sleeping place. You just need to throw it away. If possible, they burn furniture outside the residential area, in an open area where the fire will not bother anyone, or better yet, on the property of a private house. The frame is first disassembled, which will allow it to be removed.
What to do with the bed of a deceased relative?
The Church, in turn, may take a reprehensible attitude towards the desire of relatives to keep the deathbed of their loved one. It is not Christian to sleep on a bed where another person has come face to face with death.
The psychological side of this issue is also very important. A person who has lost a loved one may not immediately be able to get rid of grief and melancholy. An object associated with this person can often remind you of him and excite sad thoughts in your head. However, there is a category of people for whom, on the contrary, memorabilia gives only positive emotions and memories. Falling asleep on the bed of their relative, they can meet them more often in their dreams and enjoy such spiritual communication.
In other words, the choice is yours. If you are able to subjugate your feelings of fear and give up superstitions, then put the bed of your loved one in order and sleep on it to your health!
In what cases can furniture be left?
Considering the price tag in furniture stores, adding the purchase of a new bed to funeral expenses is costly and unjustified. You should not throw the deceased’s belongings into the trash if death occurred as a result of cardiac arrest, a detached blood clot, an accident, etc. Sudden death not associated with infectious diseases does not pose a danger to others. Especially if the death occurred outside the home. Also, you should not paint the bed of the deceased with negative colors if death occurred as a result of a short illness. And the fact of death itself was recorded in the hospital ward.
What to do with photographs of deceased relatives?
This is perhaps the most controversial issue. We have long been accustomed to the fact that in the houses of our grandmothers, great-grandmothers and parents, numerous portraits and general photographs of their ancestors and loved ones hung on the walls. In the old days, this was not considered something dangerous or reprehensible. But today there are a lot of ideas floating around that photographs of the dead carry negative energy and can affect the health and fate of living people.
First of all, let's talk about a portrait of a person who has just died for a funeral procession. It should be a photo that both you and he liked. The portrait can be framed in a mourning photo frame or have a black ribbon placed on it in the lower right corner. After burial, the portrait of the deceased must remain in his house for 40 days. What to do with the portrait later is up to his loved ones to decide.
If after this time the wound of loss is still too fresh, then it is better to remove the photograph until calmer times. If the relatives have already managed to survive their loss and have coped with their nerves, then the portrait can be placed in the living room or another room other than the bedroom.
Photos of deceased relatives in the house - the opinion of the church
The Orthodox Church does not see anything wrong with photographs of deceased relatives being in the home of their relatives. We are all equal before God - both the dead and the living.
Therefore, photographs of loved ones, especially loved ones and loving ones, can only bring a bunch of pleasant memories and fill the heart with purity and love. If the loss is too severe, then at first it is better to remove the photo out of sight. But there is absolutely no need to get rid of it forever. The time will come when the appearance of the deceased begins to blur and gradually disappear from a person’s memory - that’s when his photo will come to the rescue.
It is also better to temporarily hide a photograph of a deceased person with whom there is resentment or misunderstanding. After a certain period, all negative emotions will fade into the background, and then you will be able to see your loved one with a pure heart.
Personal Photos
Nowadays, this issue is resolved quite easily. If you want to save some pictures for friends, children and grandchildren, you can simply digitize them and upload them to any of the clouds, giving access to everyone interested. Some create a gallery in slideshow format.
unsplash
What you should do with printed photographs is to put them in boxes or drawers (there is no need to mix photographs of the deceased with images of the living, unless they are captured in a common photo). Some people burn them - this is a completely acceptable option.
What to do with old photographs of deceased relatives?
Of course, they need to be stored. Now, if we imagine that the relatives of great writers or other outstanding people would not keep their photographs, as we would imagine them to be. It is always interesting to compare a portrait of a famous person drawn in your imagination with the original.
So in this situation, our grandchildren, great-grandchildren and other heirs will want to know what their ancestor looked like. Photography will help them with this. By preserving photographs of our relatives, we preserve a piece of our history, which will be important for our offspring. But the question of whether to expose these photographs to the public and ours, including our daily viewing, remains open.
Church opinion
The clergy contradict the researchers of the unknown. Faith presupposes remaining faithful even to the dead. People are brothers and sisters in Christ. They prayerfully support each other in this world. And they help those who have departed to achieve the Kingdom of Heaven in that.
The Church recognizes hanging portraits as the norm. Pictures help preserve memory. Forgetfulness harms the spirit. The memory warms.
Each believer decides for himself how exactly to remember his dead. Father will only scold you for following superstitions. The clergyman would classify prohibitions on photography as prejudices.
Is it possible to hang portraits of deceased relatives on the wall?
Psychics claim that a photograph of the deceased can become a portal to the other world. By hanging a portrait of the deceased on the wall, we can open the door to the world of the dead. If this door is constantly open, that is, the portrait will always be in sight, living people living in the house can feel the energy of the dead.
Some relatives who have hung photographs of their deceased loved ones on the walls claim that they are constantly tormented by headaches, impotence, and various kinds of diseases. All this may be just a far-fetched theory, or it may have some truth.
It is especially not recommended to place portraits of the dead on the walls in the bedroom, especially among children. Being under the constant gaze of the dead, you can think of anything you want.
Photographs taken on the day of the funeral have especially strong energy. It’s not clear why people take these kinds of pictures at all. After all, they only bear human sorrow and grief. Such photos are unlikely to bring goodness and positivity into the home. It would be better to get rid of them.
How to store photos of deceased relatives?
According to the instructions of psychics, you should store photographs of deceased relatives as follows: It is advisable to separate photographs of the deceased from photographs of living people. For photographs of the deceased, it is better to select a special photo album or photo box. If there is no separate album, then it is better to place such photos in a black opaque bag or envelope.
If the photograph is general and there are also living people in it, then it is better to cut out the deceased from it and store it separately. In order for the photograph to be stored longer, it is better to laminate it. Photos of the deceased can be scanned and stored on a separate medium - disk, flash drive, website.
What to do with the clothes of a deceased relative?
The clothes of a deceased person can preserve his energy, especially if they were his favorite clothes. Therefore, you can either store it or get rid of it. The best way to get rid of a deceased person's clothes is by distributing them to those in need. The person will be grateful to you for the gift, and you can ask him to remember the deceased with a kind word and pray for him.
If a person wore clothes during a period of illness on the eve of death, then it is better to burn such things.
What to do, how to deal with the things of the deceased?
It is best to deal with the deceased’s belongings in the same way as with clothes - distribute them to the poor. If among his things there are things close to his heart, then they can be kept somewhere in a secret, remote place and taken out only when you want to remember your relative.
If the thing is directly related to the suffering and death of a sick person, then it is better to get rid of it by burning it. If during his lifetime a person gave instructions to his relatives regarding certain things, then it is best to deal with them in the way the deceased wanted.
Cross, objects of faith and worship
Decorations, jewelry and similar things can be inherited by both children and grandchildren. Usually, rings and earrings are removed from the deceased. You shouldn’t put them on right away - it’s best to soak them in salt and then hold them in the sun’s rays or give them for a cleaning procedure to a church or any other clergy person you trust. Stones, especially precious ones, absorb energy very well, so in such cases they must be cleaned. You can wear the cross yourself (after cleaning it in any way) or simply give it to the church.
Icons, religious objects of unknown purpose, ancient objects - here it is important to listen to your intuition. They can be both protective and suck the energy of the living. If you cannot understand what and how to do with them, call a psychic or energy practitioner for a consultation (best of all - on a personal recommendation).
What to do with photographs and things of deceased people: advice from a psychologist was last modified: November 5, 2022 by Masha Dubrovskaya
Is it possible to keep and wear the things of a deceased person?
As mentioned above, it is best to get rid of such things. However, there are some things that are very difficult to part with. They can be preserved, but it is not recommended to take such clothes out of the closet for a long period of time. You can wear clothes after the deceased no earlier than 40 days after his death. Some people recommend holding off on doing this for at least a year after the person’s death.
Psychics offer to clean the clothes of the deceased using the same holy water and salt. The item can simply be soaked in a water-salt solution for some time, and then washed thoroughly.
Cloth
Most often, the clothes of the deceased, especially those that he did not wear very often, are distributed to the poor or simply taken to a landfill, carefully placing bundles of them next to containers. True, with the most expensive things, for example, fur coats and sheepskin coats made of natural fur, this is usually not done for reasons of practicality: they are distributed to more or less close friends and relatives, and this is not considered shameful.
But things in which a person died (and even more so a violent death) are always thrown away or burned.
Is it possible to keep the belongings of the deceased at home for relatives?
Of course, it is possible to store the belongings of a deceased person, but is it necessary? It is believed that after a person departs for another world, his house, apartment, room needs to be put in complete order. The best option, of course, would be a new renovation. However, if this is not possible, then it is necessary to remove all the rubbish from the premises, throw away old, outdated things, distribute suitable things to those in need, and do a general cleaning with disinfection.
If the thing is as dear as a memory, then it can be hidden away from human eyes. It is best to wrap such a thing in a rag or an opaque bag and put it in the “far corner” for a while.
Duel with forks and knives
Cutlery - a fork, is considered the devil's tail, which can destroy the soul of the deceased, so it is not advisable to use this demonic device, like a knife.
Kutia is an obligatory funeral dish, but if you eat it with a knife and fork, you can disturb the soul of the deceased, and it will not go to heaven.
What does Orthodoxy think?
The knife and fork were introduced into circulation by the reformer Tsar Peter I, which the Old Believers and other religious denominations fought against, considering it a devilish plant.
According to another version, sharp objects began to be removed from the table when, after the death of a person of the merchant class, a real stabbing of arriving relatives took place at the funeral due to the division of the property of the deceased.
During the Soviet period, the absence of forks, and even more so knives, on the funeral table was explained by the desire of some funeral participants to take home an item suitable for household use.
Failure to comply with the rules of Christian morality and the use of customs invented by man is not prohibited by the Orthodox Church, but is not encouraged either.
Is it possible to wear jewelry from deceased relatives?
Precious metals and stones have a very good memory. They are able to remember their first owner for years and even decades. If relatives received the jewelry from a benevolent deceased person, then there should be no harm from wearing it. Some stones, such as opal, very quickly adapt to new energy and forget their former owner.
If the deceased was engaged in witchcraft or other magic with the help of this jewelry, then it is better to get rid of it altogether. It is advisable only for those heirs to whom the deceased passed on his secrets and knowledge to continue the work of his relative, that is, to connect himself with the world of magic.
Pregnant women and children - not allowed?
Pregnant women and small children under one year of age are prohibited from participating in the funeral procession. Unborn children and toddlers do not have effective protection from evil spirits.
In order not to bring the latter with them into the house, before leaving the cemetery gates, participants must turn to face the graves and carefully wipe their feet on the ground.
Church wording
Perhaps it is not advisable for pregnant women and small children to attend a funeral simply because it is not a festive procession, and the tears and emotions of those around them are not joyful lamentations.
But how can a child not at least escort his beloved grandfather through the gates of the yard, and his pregnant daughter – her father? You can, of course, not do this if the deceased was a distant relative or just an old acquaintance.
