This article explores a key aspect of life, funeral and memorial rites, and attitudes toward death, using the language and culture of two Old Believer groups in Yakutia and Transbaikalia – descendants of the Tsar’s coachmen and the Semeiskie Old Believers. Both Old Believer groups speak a secondary dialect, a territorial variant of the Russian language. The coachmen and Old Believers long lived in isolated conditions, with unrelated linguistic and religious backgrounds. The Old Believers’ neighbors were the Buryats, who practiced Buddhism and shamanism, and the Evenki, who were pagans. The coachmen’s neighbors were the pagan Yakuts and Evenki. The language and funeral and memorial culture of the Yakuts and Evenki greatly influenced the coachmen, leading to the long-distance displacement of Russian as the native language of this ethnosocial group. In terms of ritual, the coachmen also adopted pagan views on death. To this day, the Yakut language is actively used by the descendants of the Tsar’s coachmen in everyday life. At the same time, the orthodox way of life of the Semeisk Old Believers prevented them from replacing the archaic version of Russian until the era of illiteracy and globalization. However, today, a surviving dialect can be heard in certain areas where Semeisk Old Believers live in compact settlements in Transbaikalia and Buryatia. In the case of the village of Dono mentioned in the article, it can be said that the dialect has been lost within the village. The religiosity of this ethnosocial group remains strong. One of the key factors in preserving orthodox views among the Old Believers is the Old Believer Church in Dono and the division of the village cemeteries into Nikon and pre-Nikon cemeteries. During fieldwork, a comparative analysis revealed that the topic of death is taboo among the descendants of the Tsar’s coachmen, and funeral and memorial rites include actions with superstitious undertones and pagan roots. The Semeiskie Old Believers have a relaxed attitude toward death, and preparation for the funeral process begins while they are still alive.