'Spicy Burial'

Andraous (Discontinued)    Culture    Rituals      'Spicy Burial'

With Cackling Hyenas digging up graves being a common issue throughout the Firadas Prairie many solutions have been developed to stop them. One of the most successful of these has been the 'Spicy Burial'

History

For as long as Humans have been burying their dead out on the prairie, Cackling Hyenas have been digging them up and devouring the corpses. This lead to both anger from living relatives who discovered that their loved one was eaten, and increased attacks from Cackling Hyenas that now associate Humans with easy food. Many solutions were deployed to try to combat this with mixed success.
Some cultures tried different burial methods, from cremating the dead to feeding the body to captive creatures that they already revered. However this could result in accidental wildfires or an animal that would go man eater if it escaped captivity. Others tried to fortify their cemeteries with higher walls, slabs of bone over the grave, or guard animals. These methods however, were not fool proof, with many hyenas being stubborn enough to dig under the barriers.
One day, a young man was ambushed by a couple of Cackling Hyenas while tending to his field of peppers. When one of the hyenas went to bite him, it got a mouth full of pepper. Overwhelmed by the spiciness of the fruit, they hyena quickly retreated, yelping in pain. Confused the other hyena followed it's companion, leaving the man alone. Realizing that the peppers had saved his life, the man told everyone about how the pepper had driven off the hyenas.
Since then peppers have been used as a predator deterrent in many aspects of life, including when dealing with the dead. Some cultures will coat their dead with a paste made from peppers to stop a predator from eating their body, while others will plant peppers over the burial spot.

Primary Related Location

Firadas Prairie