Funeral and memorial rituals (as well as maternity, baptismal and wedding rituals) are an effective tool aimed at maintaining and activating the cultural memory of not only individual families, but of the entire community. One of the ways to scientifically study traditional culture (including such a part of family rituals as funeral and memorial) is to consider it as a semiotic system, the units of which are elements of a number of cultural codes – action code (rites aimed at facilitating the transition to another world for the deceased; actions while the deceased is in the house; actions at the cemetery; commemoration, etc.), verbal code, character code (those persons who wash and dress the deceased; make the coffin; sew a shroud and other necessary things; read, taking turns, the Holy Scripture on all the days and nights before the burial; dig the grave; carry the coffin, its lid and the cross to the cemetery, etc.), object code (a cross on a Brandenburg rope – a simple lace, a belt and other items of clothing, as well as the shroud; a “lestovka” (Old Believer rosary) and a “podruchnik” (small rug for prayers), which are placed in the coffin; towels; elements that make up the “pomana”/alms, etc.), culinary code (dishes that are prepared according to special recipes: kutya, borsch, boiled rice, noodles), etc.