Abstract
The paper analyzes the scientific approaches of funeral rituals undertaken during the period 1905-1929. This period corresponds to the first phase of institutionalizing the ethnographic research of Romania and also the launching of the collection „Din vieaţa poporului român”, edited by the Romanian Academy. There are descriptive approaches (in the magazines Tudor Pamfile and Ion Creangă) and collections of funeral chants (Al. Vasiliu, Ion Bîrlea); typological approaches (Iosif Popovici) and comparative approaches (Gh. F. Ciauşanu, I. Muşlea). Therefore, in terms of methodology, one can speak of a heterogeneous period.