Dried Herbs

In the area of the former acadean Empire, it's common practice to place fragrant dried herbs near one's bed. This supposedly not only helps people sleep well, but also keeps away evil spirits roaming around at night and lurking in the shadows, who would otherwise cause an uneasy sleep and bring nightmares. As nightmares are considered a unlucky occurence, this ritual can also be seen as one to keep bad luck away.

History

This custom was first practiced by the founders of the city of Acadea. With its expansion into an Empire, the tradition was introduced to other parts of the world and adopted by many of them over time. Since it was quite well established by the time Acadea fell, it has stuck and is still practiced to this day.

Nowadays, the purpose of holding off evil spirits is slowly becoming less popular and less believed in, but the ritual is still practiced, since it is said to allow for a more relaxing, recreative sleep with less nightmares and sudden waking. The ritual is thereby more and more losing its original purpose and cultural meaning, but is still common practice in most of the area of the old acadean Empire.

Execution

It is believed that the evil spirits and monsters of the night don't like the scent of dried fragrant herbs, so a small pouch filled with them is placed near the head of the person sleeping. This supposedly also helps the person's sleep become more restful, so even people who don't believe in monsters lurking in the shadows of night use this to ease their sleep.

Components and tools

The herbs used for this are primarily fragrant ones like lavender or thyme. The pouch they are kept in is in most cases made from a light and/or losely woven linen or similar material in order to let out as much of the scent as possible.