Tyrwinghan Funerary Traditions

The Tyrwinghan religious traditions are very similar to the Sembaran, and much of the Tyrwinghan experience of death is the same as the Sembaran. However, Tyrwingha has always maintained cultural distinctions from Sembara, and throughout the many long years when Tyrwingha was a Drankorian protectorate, the people there never lost their sense of their Tyrwinghan identity. The Tyrwingan experience is therefore more heavily influenced by the Kestavan Funerary Traditions than the Sembaran experience is, despite worshipping the same gods as the Sembarans. Additionally, an important part of the Tyrwinghan cultural psyche involves the fey, and stories of fey boons bringing the dead to life are told and believed.

The Tyrwinghan tradition, like the Sembaran tradition, is concerned with the journey of the soul through the Land of the Dead, and shares the belief in the the miracle of the Gathering of the Soul and the miracle of the Gifting of the Soul with Sembara. So, like in Sembara, human prayer and ritual is most important to ensure the soul can cross the dangerous territory of the Land of the Dead.

Like in Sembara, tradition holds that the preparation of the body, and the ten days of ritual mourning and private reflection, is important, and the Tyrwinghan cultural taboos around avoiding discussion of the deceased during these ten days are stronger than in Sembara, both from the cultural inheritance from the Kestavan Funerary Traditions and also due to greater awareness of fey and other forces in the world that could cause trouble for a deceased.

The ceremonies after the ritual period of mourning are not dissimilar to the Sembaran ceremonies, but there is a much greater emphasis on burial, partly due to the influence of the Zimka cultures, and partly simply due to the fact that a belief in the possibility of bodily resurrections, perhaps by Ethlenn in her realm. Although certainly quite rare, stories of a mysteriously empty grave and a farewell token left on the doorstep are not unheard of. Cremation or other bodily destruction is thus more final in Tyrwingha.

Finally, there is a prevading sense of the protection of Ethlenn on the land, and thus concerns over, for example, zombies, are reduced compared to other places. That makes some feel that all of Tyrwingha is sacred land, and it is one of the few places in the Greater Sembaran region where burials occasionally take place outside of holy ground.