Mourner
And you shall care for all those you see in mourning.
Mourning was a professional position held in Saas in its early colonial days, brought over from Diamondheart. As in Diamondheart, it was most commonly taken up by widows as a way of providing for themselves after their husbands died.
Mourning Rituals
In the Een tradition, when a person dies, their loved ones dress in black and cover their heads to indicate that they are in mourning. They keen at the funeral and are also required to recite certain prayers for their loved ones and light insence. The amount of time this lasts, up to a year, depends on how close the person was to the dead. But while they are in mourning, they are also excused from working, and the community is expected to care for them by bringing them food or money or otherwise attending to their needs.
The incense and prayers are intended to help the spirit of the dead find their way to the afterlife and to speak on behalf of the dead to the Soul-Joiner, the Een diety. Therefore, some people believed that the more people mourning a dead soul meant that soul would receive a better place in the afterlife, thus they would hire professional mourners to pray for their loved ones. In other cases, people who felt the need to return to certain responsibilities would hire proessionals to mourn in their place, so they were free to handle business matters.
If it were not for the people of Auras, I would have had to resort to mourning
In Diamondheart, mourning became a common profession among widows, and sometimes other women who did not want to marry, as there were not many other professions available to women, who were expected to have their husbands provide for them. Professional mourners would wear black and cover their heads year-round. Een tradition also specifies that when you see someone in mourning, you are required to care for their needs. In the case of the hiring party, this was considered covered by the payment. But others, seeing widows in mourner's clothes, would bring by food or offer services such as construction work needed to maintain the woman's home. In some cases, men would also take up the position, especially if they struggled to find work elsewhere.
Gender Shifts
In Saas, mourning died out as women took on other, more necessary, professions. With most of the men employed in the local prison, there was a shortage of people to cover other important duties, such as shopkeepers, shipbuilders, and sailors. With their sons usually away at school in Diamondheart, the women often took on these roles, apprenticing their daughters underneath them. Thus, when a man died, it was common that his wife was already employed in a necessary position within the community. Not only did professional mourning go out of fashion, the lengths of necessary mourning were shortened, and some eliminated all together, lest the town stop functioning every time someone died. To better fulfil the need for prayers on behalf of the dead, it became a custom for friends and family to gather either in the morning of the evening to undergo the mouning ritual together. It was also added to end religious services, so that a community could honor the dead together.
In the Een tradition, when a person dies, their loved ones dress in black and cover their heads to indicate that they are in mourning. They keen at the funeral and are also required to recite certain prayers for their loved ones and light insence. The amount of time this lasts, up to a year, depends on how close the person was to the dead. But while they are in mourning, they are also excused from working, and the community is expected to care for them by bringing them food or money or otherwise attending to their needs.
The incense and prayers are intended to help the spirit of the dead find their way to the afterlife and to speak on behalf of the dead to the Soul-Joiner, the Een diety. Therefore, some people believed that the more people mourning a dead soul meant that soul would receive a better place in the afterlife, thus they would hire professional mourners to pray for their loved ones. In other cases, people who felt the need to return to certain responsibilities would hire proessionals to mourn in their place, so they were free to handle business matters.
In Saas, mourning died out as women took on other, more necessary, professions. With most of the men employed in the local prison, there was a shortage of people to cover other important duties, such as shopkeepers, shipbuilders, and sailors. With their sons usually away at school in Diamondheart, the women often took on these roles, apprenticing their daughters underneath them. Thus, when a man died, it was common that his wife was already employed in a necessary position within the community. Not only did professional mourning go out of fashion, the lengths of necessary mourning were shortened, and some eliminated all together, lest the town stop functioning every time someone died. To better fulfil the need for prayers on behalf of the dead, it became a custom for friends and family to gather either in the morning of the evening to undergo the mouning ritual together. It was also added to end religious services, so that a community could honor the dead together.
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