Funerals
The Volga Germans held funeral services as a ceremony for celebrating, sanctifying, and remembering the life of a person who has died.
Many of the Volga colony churches had a bell tower which had stairs leading up to the top level which contained three different sized bells that served as a means of communication for the people of the colony. The tower played an important role in the community and the bells were rung to call people to a funeral service.
The pastor of the church led the funeral services. If the pastor was not available, the school master (Schulmeister) would take his place.
According to Conrad Brill, in his work titled Memories of Norka, the old and new cemeteries lay in the fields south of the church and schools located in the Mitteldorf.
Norka Bell Tower
Letters published in Die Welt Post during the famines of the 1920's make reference to the use of several Bible verses as a funeral text.
Romans 8:18
"For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time [are] not worthy [to be compared] with the glory which shall be revealed in us."
Revelations 3:20:
"Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me."
The song titled Das Schicksal [wird keinen verschonen] (The Fate That Spares No One) was frequently sung at funerals in the Volga German colonies. The lyrics below by G. Schneidmiller are from the book Der köstliche Schatz.
1. Das Schicksal tut keinen verschonen, / der Tod, der folgt selber auf Thronen; / eitel bricht zeitliches Glück, / alles fällt wieder zurück.
2. Der Leib, von der Erde genommen, / geht hin, wo er her ist gekommen; / Reichtum im Grabe vergeht, / nur Tugend einzig besteht.
3. Der Leib in der Erde vermodert, / bis dass ihn der Herr wird auffordern. / Heut is die Reihe an mir, morgen ist sie schon an dir.
According to Dr. Timothy Kloberdanz, noted authority on Volga German folklore, when Protestant Volga Germans in the US or Canada are asked what German hymns traditionally were/are sung at the graveside, there are two common responses: "Wo findet die Seele die Heimat, die Ruh" (Where Does the Soul Find Its Home, Its Rest) and "Lass mich gehn" (Let Me Go).
However, Dr. Kloberdanz recounts that Protestant Volga Germans often painted the following words on the lids of homemade wooden coffins - "Gute Nacht, ihr meine Freund'" (Good Night, My Friends/Relatives). This phrase undoubtedly references the burial hymn "Es ist genug!" - No. 703 in the Wolga Gesangbuch - which contains these very same words. As the coffin slowly was lowered into the grave, the mourners could see words on the coffin that were the same as those in the final farewell song that they were singing.
Dr. Kloberdanz further notes that the Catholics on the Volga traditionally sang the funeral hymn "Das Schicksal wird keinen verschonen" (The Fate That Will Spare No One). This was sung at the graveside as the coffin slowly was lowered into the ground.