The Vital Afterlife of Chernobyl Cemeteries

Every year, after Easter, hundreds of families from all over Ukraine gather in the Chernobyl Zone of Alienation. People converge toward the now-deserted area to perform rites called hrobky, whose main feature is a family meal on the graves where their kin are buried. These rites are not exclusive to the Chernobyl-affected regions of Ukraine, the hrobky performed in the Chernobyl Zone are unique in light of the peculiar landscape of remambrance and loss in which they are carried out. This article explores hrobki rituals in Chernobyl through the notion of heterotopic afterlife.