Death in Apruxi Cultures

This Article describes death and death-related practices in Aprux Mexyrhat.

Death in Apruxi Cultures referes to all cultural practices in regards to death, funeral and afterlife, in Tolfiax and Non-Tolifax cultures of Aprux Mexyrhat.

Tolifax

Death, Funeral and Burial

Upon death, the body must lay in its deathplace from the first sunrise after its death to sunset, provided that the person died of natuaral causes and it's body is deemed non-grotesque. The practice of post-mortal organ donation has become fairly popular in cities, with 12% of decessed people having underwent this process.

Death Mask

A death mask is created using beewax. The impresion is flatened to create a bas-relief, and cut to be haxagonal in shape. Its edges are bound with wood, and the mask is preserved.

Cremation

Traditionaly, the body was cremated in mass-crematories (where multiple deceased persons were cremated at once) using wood, most often pine. In modern times, the bodies are cremated individualy and using artificial flameable materials. Afterwards, the ashes are transfered to a temporary terracotta vesel, usualy cylindrical in shape, sealed with wax, and stored away for when the mourning period ends.

Mourning

The mourning period starts imiedietly upon the sealing of the temporary vessel, and lasts seven sunsets. The family and close friends of the deceased limit their diet to plants, and non-leathaly-derrived animal products, and they abstain from washing their heads in water for this period - however, it is generaly accepted to brake those customs if a person needs special care and cannot fulfil them. On the sunset after the seventh sunrise, the seal is melted away, and morceramists must put the ashes into funerary bricks before the next sunrise.

Funerary Bricks

The ashes are mixed with clay in proportions varieing from burial to burial, so that in the end the morceramists create 32 bricks. The bricks vary in shape and size across the country, but generaly are cubical with dimensions ranging from 10 centimeteres on a side up to 30. They are then fired and assembled into eight 2x2 brick layers and bound by cement. The block is covered in wax and hardened. The death mask is layed freely on the long side of the block, and the cube is tranported to its future resting place. Upon reciving information that the process concluded, the family finaly washes their heads in warm water and have a family gathering with a feast consisting largely of meat and dairy products.

Burial

Upon arriving, the family already awaits the block, wearing white and non-elaborate clothes. The block is lowered into the grave, short side up, and the death mask is placed atop it.The grave is then constructed, and the post-death process concludes.

Grave

The grave is constructed by diging a hole that will fit the block and the walls of the hole are enforced with oak planks. after the block is set in place, stones are layed were the front of the grave will be (usualy east side), while mulch is placed behing the grave. A vertical stone is erected with an ingraving of the persons name, their birth and death dates, and their birthplace. The stone is toped with a disk, usualy ceramic, and plants are planted behind the grave, usualy those flowering the longest in an area.