In the Muslim-majority republics of Russia's North Caucasus region, most celebrations and commemorations are observed en masse. Weddings are held on a lavish scale, while the mosques are always full for Friday prayers. A wake can draw hundreds of people.
But COVID-19 has hit the region hard. And despite restrictions, locals are determined to bury their loved ones the proper way – making funerals hotbeds of infection.
Tezet in the time of coronavirus
In May, a woman died at a hospital in Ingushetia. The cause of her death was recorded as a thromboembolism, or detached blood clot, although the deceased had stayed in the same building as COVID-19 patients, and had been admitted with symptoms of the virus. Her relatives were not given her remains. Instead, her corpse was washed with bleach, wrapped in polythene, and buried in a cemetery. Her relatives were not present. On the same day, as tradition demands, the woman's family held a Tezet in her honour, which lasted three days. Among those who received condolences was the deceased's daughter, who was showing symptoms of COVID-19.
Dozens of people turned up to pay their respects.
A funeral, including the obligatory washing of the corpse, is an important tradition for Muslims. It is followed by a wake, which is known in the North Caucasus as a tezit, tazit, or taziyat. Although the hard realities of the pandemic have forced some changes to these traditions, they do not go as far as Russia's prominent Islamic clerics would like. The dead are still taken to be buried in ancestral villages, where relatives from other regions flock to attend the funeral. In the North Caucasus, recommendations for autopsies or cremation provoked fury and condemnation. For many believers in a devout region of the country, this was unacceptable.
The COVID-19 death rate and difficulties presented by funerals raise many questions, particularly given the opacity of official statistics and local traditions alike. oDR spoke with people from Chechnya, Dagestan, and Ingushetia who have lost friends and family members to the pandemic.
Their stories show just how dangerous a funeral during the height of a pandemic can really be.
"He was just old"
On March 27, when Russia was seized by panic due to the spread of COVID-19, Friday prayers were held at the Akhmad Kadyrov Mosque in Grozny, the capital of Chechnya. Despite the fact that the local authorities had already declared restrictions (closing restaurants and other public spaces), about a thousand people arrived at the mosque. Half of them wore face masks. The mosque could not accommodate all the worshipers; many had to pray by its walls on the street outside. This is not uncommon: often worshipers fill the entire street near the mosque, and sometimes part of a nearby square.
This was to be the last Friday prayer. Shortly thereafter, they were banned in Chechnya.
Ten days later, in the village of Novye Atagi, the funeral of a respected elderly local took place. Several hundred people gathered to mourn Akhmad Garayev. It was later discovered that Garayev's relatives had been infected with COVID-19. More than a hundred people who attended the funeral picked up the virus.
At this time, mass public events were already banned in Chechnya.
