Procession of the dead is a motif present in the folkloric traditions around the world. It mostly refers to a march of

ghosts A ghost is the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that is believed to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to rea ...

, phantoms or

souls In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...

, sometimes commanded by a creature related to the Otherworld, the

Underworld The underworld, also known as the netherworld or hell, is the supernatural world of the dead in various religious traditions and myths, located below the world of the living. Chthonic is the technical adjective for things of the underworld. ...

or the

Afterlife The afterlife (also referred to as life after death) is a purported existence in which the essential part of an individual's identity or their stream of consciousness continues to live after the death of their physical body. The surviving ess ...

. The concept is taken to be of considerable antiquity, and is classified in

Stith Thompson Stith Thompson (March 7, 1885 – January 10, 1976) was an American folklorist: he has been described as "America's most important folklorist". He is the "Thompson" of the Aarne–Thompson–Uther Index, which indexes folktales by type, and the ...

's '' Motif-Index of Folk-Literature'' as Motif E491, "Procession of the dead".

Overview

According to

Carlo Ginzburg Carlo Ginzburg (; born April 15, 1939) is an Italian historian and proponent of the field of microhistory. He is best known for ''Il formaggio e i vermi'' (1976, English title: ''The Cheese and the Worms''), which examined the beliefs of an Ital ...

, the procession of the dead, as described by

Orderic Vitalis Orderic Vitalis ( la, Ordericus Vitalis; 16 February 1075 – ) was an English chronicler and Benedictine monk who wrote one of the great contemporary chronicles of 11th- and 12th-century Normandy and Anglo-Norman England. Modern historia ...

, comprised a march of sinners and damned people, being punished for their wrongdoings in life. Professor Christian Abry listed several alternate names for the phenomenon in

Alpine Alpine may refer to any mountainous region. It may also refer to: Places Europe * Alps, a European mountain range ** Alpine states, which overlap with the European range Australia * Alpine, New South Wales, a Northern Village * Alpine National Pa ...

, Southern France and North Italy tradition: curs dj’ànime; La processione dei morti; Tòtòprossenziò (from

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

''Totenprozession''); ; procession des revenants; cours di mort; lou cours de i anime (

Occitan language Occitan (; oc, occitan, link=no ), also known as ''lenga d'òc'' (; french: langue d'oc) by its native speakers, and sometimes also referred to as ''Provençal'', is a Romance languages, Romance language spoken in Southern France, Monaco, Ital ...

); Lou cours d’li mouòrt (in

Balme Balme is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Turin in the Italian region Piedmont. It is located in the Graian Alps area, in one of the Valli di Lanzo, in the about northwest of Turin, on the border with France. Balme borders ...

); il corso delle anime (in

Traversella Traversella is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Turin in the Italian region Piedmont, located Metropolitan Cityabout north of Turin. Traversella borders the following municipalities: Pontboset, Donnas, Valprato Soana, Quin ...

); il corteo dei morti. Professors Fabio Armand, Marie-Agnès Cathiard and Christian Abry suggest that "the procession of the dead", as described in Christian mediaeval literature, is a "remythification" of the

Wild Hunt The Wild Hunt is a folklore motif (Motif E501 in Stith Thompson's Motif-Index of Folk-Literature) that occurs in the folklore of various northern European cultures. Wild Hunts typically involve a chase led by a mythological figure escorted by ...

phenomenon.

Europe

Continental Europe

There are various myths of processions of the dead, most related to the

. A Croatian storyteller provided a tale with the motif of the "procesija mrtvih" ("procession of the dead") in the 1970s. In a Raeto-Romance tale, a man sees a procession of the dead and the last person is the soul of someone about to die.

Iberian Peninsula

In Galicia and Asturias, it is known as

Santa Compaña The Santa Compaña ("Holy Company") is a deep-rooted mythical belief in rural northwest of Iberia: Galicia, Asturias (Spain) and Northern Portugal. It is the Iberian version of the pan-European mythical motif known as the Wild Hunt. It is also ...

. In Portuguese tradition there exists tales about one's double that take part in this procession. There are also tales about incomplete baptized individuals that join this cursed retinue.

Italy

The Benandanti in the Friuli are said to participate in these processions. Female ''benandanti'' were seen as connected to the processions of the dead, as beneficient protectors against the ''malandanti''.

Ancient Greece

In Ancient Greece, the festival of

Anthesteria The Anthesteria (; grc, Ἀνθεστήρια ) was one of the four Athenian festivals in honor of Dionysus. It was held each year from the 11th to the 13th of the month of Anthesterion, around the time of the January or February full moon. The ...

was performed to honor and placate the dead, who were thought to walk freely among the streets.

Pacific Ocean Islands

Hawai'i

The '' Nightmarchers'' of

Hawaiian mythology Hawaiian religion refers to the indigenous religious beliefs and practices of native Hawaiians, also known as the kapu system. Hawaiian religion is based largely on the tapu religion common in Polynesia and likely originated among the Tahitians ...

are also considered to be a version of the "procession of the dead".

Asia

Nepal

Professors Fabio Armand, Marie-Agnès Cathiard and Christian Abry state they have found an occurrence of the theme of the procession of the dead "in the rural areas outside the

Kathmandu Valley The Kathmandu Valley ( ne, काठमाडौं उपत्यका; also known as the Nepal Valley or Nepa Valley ( ne, नेपाः उपत्यका, Nepal Bhasa: 𑐣𑐾𑐥𑐵𑑅 𑐐𑐵𑑅, नेपाः गाः)), ...

of Central Nepal". This retinue, called ''panchabhāya'' (from ''pancha'' 'five', and ''bhāya'' 'younger brother') manifest as "five or more spirits" riding on horses and dressed in white.

Americas

Brazil

The motif is also present in cultural traditions of

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...