Chasind: Death Rites and Rituals

The Path to Twilight
The Korcari Wilds are no place to bury the dead and the Chasind have no tombs and the swamps are mostly too dense for flocks of carrion, thus The Chasind evolved another way to get rid of their dead. The rites are a passage of flame to return the body to the dust of the mountain of the Father. Then, they carry the urns to a temple on the edge of the wilds where their goddesses carry their souls to Twilight, which is the Alamarri word for The Fade.

This is completely opposed to the Avvar sky burial and seen as heresy by the mountain tribes, but their religious beliefs about death are very similar. The Chasind belief in reincarnation is unique to them and born of their myths of Taultiu, the Mother Goddess, who turned to ashes every one hundred years and then was reborn. It is believed that her twin sister, the Gatekeeper, trades the Lady with the souls of the dead for Taultiu's life energy. Whenever Taultiu is reborn some of the souls of the Chasind return with her and are reborn in the Wilds as animals, humans and sometimes as shapechangers. Those Chasind who are born with the gift for shifting are believed to have been Chasind in a past life and given a new human shape for their next life.

The shaman immolate the corpse with magical fire, which has several purposes. Firstly it is symbolic of Taultiu's death. Secondly, it uses magic and does not waste the scarce wood of the wilds. And finally it is the only way to get rid of a body properly in Korcari, especially when one considers it is the magic of a shaman that does the burning. The corpse is placed upon a stone altar and immolated, the ashes collected and stored in an urn until it is time for the Chasind to go to the temple of the Twins and place the ashes of their dead in the Gatekeeper's Catacombs.

A Song of Passing
The Chasind Song of Passing is the same as the Avvars - the same song and the same words. It is another thing they share. Just as the Avvar sing while they carry their dead to the towers the Chasind sing as the body is burned and as they carry the urns to the temple.

One of the other Song's sung during the funeral is called, "The Gift".

We give our body to the flames Táimid ar ár gcomhlacht a thabhairt do na lasracha We burn and store our soul in the ashes Táimid sruthán agus a stóráil ár n-anam sa luaithreach We give our soul to the Lady Táimid ár n-anam a thabhairt don Mhuire And the Mother gives us back our life. Agus tugann na Máthar dúinn ar ais ár saol.