Why You Can't Eat Candy From The Cemetery

2024 Author: Bailey Albertson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 12:53

Why you can't eat candy from the cemetery

After major holidays and days of commemoration of the dead (for example, Radonitsa), heaps of ownerless sweets, sweets and other food remain in the cemeteries. Is it possible to take them without fear of the wrath of the living or the dead? It all depends on the point of view.

Why you shouldn't take candy from graves

There are many reasons that will make you think carefully before taking the candy from the grave.

Signs and superstitions

Of course, omens and superstitions are leading in terms of quantity. Most often, you can hear that by eating food intended for the dead, you can bring your death closer. Quite often there are also statements that the dead do not like being stolen from them - and they cannot regard such an action other than stealing. Do not forget that items from the cemetery can be used by evil sorcerers in their rituals. A candy that looks quite harmless can be damaged by damage or curse.

Another sign borders on objective reasons. Usually food from the cemetery is taken by people who are not able to buy their own. This means that in this way you incur poverty or prolong it, if your financial possibilities are still low.

It is quite true that the opinion that offerings to the dead are fed mainly by homeless people or beggars.

Objective reasons

In addition to vague superstitions, there are more objective reasons for refusing to eat at the cemetery. Let's start with banal hygiene. We hope that it is obvious to you that there are definitely no uncovered sweets and cookies from the graves - flies, birds, and other carriers of infections could already sit on them. But even wrapped candies are not worth touching. After all - who knows? - the relatives of the deceased could have accidentally dropped it into the mud and after that put it on the grave. And the wrapper does not protect against liquid dirt so reliably.

Local animals have probably already managed to become interested in food on the graves and leave their traces on it.

Another reason not to touch the candy is the reaction of the relatives of the deceased. If they happen to be nearby, then trouble will not be avoided - it will be difficult and ashamed to explain their behavior. But even if they don't see you, the lack of food at the grave can be interpreted in two ways. A person can consider that the dead man is sending him any sign, and change his behavior in accordance with the belief in this. If a relative is not inclined to such superstitions, then he may simply be upset that the food, which was supposed to become an offering to the deceased, went to someone else.

Let's not forget about respect for other people's property. Yes, these candies are here, and none of their owners are planning to eat them. But this does not mean that outsiders are allowed to touch them. You wouldn't take someone else's bike on the street just because it isn't chained to the fence, will you?

Church opinion

The Russian Orthodox Church does not blame its parishioners for taking food, including candy, from graves. In general, the opinion of Orthodox priests regarding edible offerings is unequivocally negative. The Church claims that the deceased does not need food, and such "gifts" to the deceased are nothing more than a relic of pagan culture. This means that they can be taken without fear of incurring the wrath of the deceased.

Orthodoxy says that the deceased is more in need of the memory of the living and prayer. And therefore, having taken the candy from the grave, it is worth remembering its "owner". Read a prayer for the peace of his soul or simply ask God from the bottom of your heart for the forgiveness of this person's sins.

Read more about bans when visiting a cemetery in our new article -

Despite the fact that the church does not express clear dissatisfaction with such a cemetery diet, you should not tempt fate and take sweets from the graves. If you want something sweet, it is better to go to the store and buy something to your taste, rather than borrow from the dead.