The Medal

On May 9, at the Immortal Regiment procession in the mountain village of Mizur in North Ossetia, local residents came out with portraits of their warring relatives. One of the posters featured a photograph of an officer who died in March in Ukraine. 33-year-old captain Aslan Dzantiev was posthumously awarded the Order of Courage. On May 9, his family arranged a memorial ceremony, neighbors and relatives, according to the traditional Ossetian custom, prepared food and lit a candle on the grave of the deceased. In Caucasian families, men and women do not sit down together at the table and grieve differently, men make toasts and behave with restraint, and women cook food and do not hide their grief. Aslan Dzantiev grew up without a father and remained childless, his mother, grandmother and young widow mourn him at home.