Mourning in moscow !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Daanyeer]

Source: Observer Reporter
December 4, 2006 Author: Michael Bradwell


A Washington County funeral director is helping the Russian funeral industry make major changes as it adopts more western ways of preparing bodies and holding viewings for the deceased.

Darla Tripoli, 43, of Washington, who freelances as a licensed funeral director and licensed cosmetologist, was invited to speak in October at the 14th annual Necropolis 2006 conference in Moscow that was attended by 1,500 people. She also was the first American to address the event.

Tripoli's experience also is typical of how businesses are reaching across the globe to exchange ideas.

She said she wrote an article last year on the importance of cosmetology in funeral preparations for a British trade journal on embalming.

"A company in Russia had seen my article and invited me to speak at the convention," Tripoli said.

What Tripoli saw when she arrived in Moscow was a funeral industry that is undergoing many changes.

"Their traditions are very different," she said, noting that the deceased are buried within three days and are usually laid out at home unless they are placed on view in one of Moscow's large public morgues. Family members, who can now have funeral rites performed at a church, often rent or purchase traditional mourning clothes.

Until recently, Tripoli said, cremation was very popular. Those who are buried are placed in cloth or wooden coffins and no outer casket is used. Tripoli noted that the Red Star, symbol of the former Soviet Union, is still placed on many coffins.

Even the placement of family members during funerals is highly proscribed, Tripoli said.

"The family members are the only ones seated and are always seated at the right hand of the deceased," she said, adding that undertakers use scarves that cover the forehead of the deceased, exposing only the face. Hands are placed beneath the burial blanket that covers the body up to the chest.

Despite the traditions, Tripoli said changes are occurring rapidly in the Russian funeral industry.

"It's a very traditional area and it's word of mouth, but they're very open to new ideas," she said, adding that funeral homes are now being built in Moscow and viewings are becoming more popular.

"The younger generation is looking for more technical advances," she said, adding that Russians are now willing to spend more money on funerals.

Tripoli said she mentioned to her Russian peers that showing hands of the deceased can be important, particularly if the person is wearing a sentimental piece of jewelry.

"I told them they used their hands to work and to cook," she said, adding that the Russian funeral industry is new to the concept of grooming a deceased person's hair or fingernails, using cosmetics or restoring their hands for a viewing.

"They had never done mortuary cosmetology before," she said.

While Russia is undergoing myriad changes since the fall of communism in 1989, and has been trying out various aspects of the free-market economy, it is still very much respectful of its revolutionary past.

During her visit, Tripoli said she was taken to visit Lenin's Tomb on Red Square, adding that the resting place is under constant armed guard.

"They demand respect, and you have to be silent" during the visit, she said.

"Nobody spoke one word when we were in there," said Tripoli, who added that the guards make sure that nobody lingers at the tomb.

"I stood there for a minute, and I felt this tap on my shoulder," she said, noting that when she turned around, the guard gestured silently for her to move on.

Despite the brusque treatment at Lenin's Tomb, Tripoli's contacts in the Russian funeral industry apparently like what they heard in her presentation.

"They've invited me back in the spring," she said.