Ancestral spirits/souls

In the olden days, in Tartu County, water was brought to the grave in a bowl so that the dead would have a drink when they came out of the grave.

The caretaker of the Kuresaare churchyard (graveyard) went to a wedding in the village of Muratsi, leaving the maid at home to tend to the animals. Suddenly, at dusk, a number of spirits appeared in the room, all asking for water to drink. Because the girl didn't have enough water, the spirits started to strangle the girl. When the host found the maid half-dead on the floor that evening, he realised that there was no water in the troughs at the well for the dead. The troughs at the mortuary well must always be full of water - or the dead will come to strangle those in the room. There must always be a caretaker in the cemetery, who has already been baptized for the dead¹, and who can tame the dead in the graveyard and send them to their graves with a blessed staff in hand.

¹ Baptism for the dead is a non-biblical practice where a living person is baptized in lieu of a person that passed away.

There is a farm here. The wind broke the old-style building, where the threshing barn and dwelling were housed under the same roof.
 In the old days, when it still existed, the master went to thresh at night. He turned on the light and saw that grandfather had come to sleep in the thresh-house. The flail was in his hand and the master threw it on the floor where the grandfather was sleeping. At that time there were no windows yet - there was only a slat covering the hole in the wall. Then the grandfather disappeared with a thump. Who else it was, if not Old Devil.

My mother hastened to depart,
to the ground before the rest.
She left me behind, a poor girl,
miserable before my time.
    My mother was carried out of the house,
her grace crossed over the threshold.
Mother was taken out of the gate,
her grace stepped over the fence.
Mother was taken along the road,
her grace went along the roadside.
Mother was taken to the funeral,
her grace stepped over the fence.
Mother's grave was being dug,
her grace ran over to her.
Mother was laid in the grave,
her grace fell down into the earth.

    "Get up, dear mother,
jump up, my breeder,
come to show us the way,
help us build the path."
    "I cannot get up, dear little girl,
nor jump up, dear little hen.
The cross is heavy on my chest,
the barrow is heavy on my hands.
Lilacs sting my eyes,
the chilly leaves pinch my feet."
    "If I had known Tooni's house,
known the threshold of Tooni's door,
I'd have brought out my mother,
carried out my breeder.
I'd have made lye in the retting pond,
and black soap in the puddle,
I'd have washed  away the stench of the earth,
the stench of death from your mouth,
the stench of the barrow from your hands,
and the stench of the cross from your chest.
I'd have set  you to stand by the pole,
stand against the wall."
    "Then I'd be called darling,
and named a silver one.
Now I'm called the Devil,
and nicknamed a ground beetle."

1 Tooni - God of Death