Dead Man Walking: мъртвите тела, мощите и иконите като културни/политически реликви
Dead Men Walking: Corpses, Relics and Icons as Cultural/Political Remnants

Summary/Abstract: Carrying deceased around is perhaps the most frequent public, mass ritual which serves to define, renew and establish symbolic capital of secular ideology (thus appearing indispensable regardless of the degree of secularization in a society). This ritual takes place at the border of sacred and profane (hence combining them), and the prevalence of one over the other depends on a general cultural climate of given historical period. The concept of saintism as a feature of Orthodox Christianity, rules of ritual handling of relics, including handling corpses or remains of the saints, deceased rulers, important individuals or holly objects, and constitution of national Pantheon are the basic frameworks used to determine social/political/public concept and understanding of Death. These variables reflect the relationship between historical and meta-historical realities. Regardless of the relative inalterable ritual forms, these frameworks experience an essential turning point in the historical relation Middle Age- Modern Times. Parallel with the rituals of secondary burials of important historical individuals, there were periodically cases of carrying the remains or relics of the canonized saints and Christian relicsmost often particular icons and special crosses, whose symbolic power and layers of historical legends had managed to mobilize the nation during centuries. In Serbia, the return to the religion also reflected at the level of visual- starting from influences seen in changes in urban architecture, to fashion and behavior and decoration of public space. Hence, in schools, offices and similar environments, there is often an icon of St. Sava at display, who was the first Serbian archbishop and establisher of the Serbian Orthodox Church; also, frequently, at display is an icon of the Beli Andjeo (White Angel), which is in fact a segment of the larger fresco composition Mirosnice na Hristovom grobu, from the monastery Mileševo. At the same time, at mass celebrations, street rallies (frequent in the late 1990’s) alike as well as at city slava days and various public celebrations, image of the Holly Marry is prominent, standing as a central symbol.

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