Aviani Funeral Rites

There's much ceremony to the cemetery burning rites. In the end, it is the time they do become one with the wind and sky. Foreign traveller about the Aviani funerals

Execution

Burning of the body

The moment when the body is turned to ash so it can then be cast into the wind is a closed event, where only the closest family can be present. The deed is done by special funerary priests, using an enclosed ceremonial blast furnace. The remaining bones are ground down and the collected ashes are then placed in an urn.

Remembrance ceremony

The funeral begins with a part dedicated to the memory of the deceased. It consists of close family members recalling the individual and naming one characteristic feature about them they hold most fondly. Then they proceed to write down this feature on the urn containing the ashes. After this is done, a poem written by the deceased before his death is read. It usually contains a self-descriptive summary of the individual's life and a life motto for others.

Spreading of the ashes

The closing part of the funerary rites is the spreading of the ashes, also referred to as the "endless flight". The contents of the urn are spread into the wind from a cliff edge, so they can be carried off by it into the unknown. This represents the unification of the deceased's body and spirit with the sky, where he can now forever drift along the great winds of Aon.

Observance

The funerals take place on the last day of the month, as it possesses the symbolic meaning of the turning of time, where one thing ends for another one to start.

[...] and remember, those in youth's greatness still bewildered, the life you've been granted still lies ahead, waiting on every step of the path you chose to follow. Live it well, as one day you'll be humbled like I, and all, at the path's end. Fragment of the text written by the deceased, that is read during the remembrance ceremony