Gionghua

death is only the beginning

Gionghua is the Giaan’lun death ritual. It is the sacred treatment of a jhuu'giaan's body, and more importantly their head and brain, so that life's sacred wisdom, or 'xeichi', can be sent to Moksh ke'Jishu. Once there, the xeichi of the deceased person can merge with Niryusha, adding to it's sacred essence, or 'zu'dhan', so that one day Niryusha, along with all those who have completed Gionghua, can finally return to Tienwara ya'Shuu.

Execution

The ceremony of Gionghua is fundamentally universal, but can differ in detail based on geographical location and social class.
The minimal or default procedure is as follows:

• When a jhuu'giaan dies, their body is taken to the nearest Temple of Niryusha.

• Once there, temple priests, men who devote themselves to the service of the ud'Baahanxi, prepare the believer for the ceremony. The first step being the laying out of the body on a long narrow display table in the communal viewing room. Some makeup is applied to the face and body, and any serious injuries are covered with red cloths.

• The family and friends have 2 days to visit and vieiw the body and say farewells. It is often encouraged for visitors to account their complaints and negative feelings about the deceased to the corpse, so their hearts might be lighter and more positive for the Gionghua.

• After the viewing period, the dead person's clothes are stripped from them (bodies must be brought in their best clothes) and the clothes then donated to the poor as an act of final modesty and generosity.

• The head of the corpse is separated from the body, drained of fluids, and then placed in a large offering jar, the 'tour aalte'. The tour aalte can be simple or elaborate depending on the wealth of the deceased family. Among the noble classes, the jar may painted with a portrait of the deceased, and amongst the elite of the High Houses, the entire tour aalte may be sculpted in the image of the deceased.

• The body of the deceased, now meaningless, joins other bodies in the temple's mass furnaces for disposal.

• The Gionghua must happen within 3 days of death. Performing the ceremony during the weekly low eclipse of li'hekaar is considered auspicious, but performing it during the high eclipse of zu'shihaan is considered extremely auspicious and the deceased is almost guaranteed to find a more honourable place with Niryusha. There is a common trend that many elderly or terminally ill people find themselves quite lucky to die suddenly or accidentally 3 days before zu'shihaan.

• The ceremony itself is quite simply. The tour aalte is placed on a pedestal in the centre of the ascension room at the peak of the temples high tower. Friends and family sit around the perimeter of the circular room. A sister of the ud'Baahanxi will oversee the ceremony herself. Typically a Xiuhaan Dhaashen will conduct the proceedings, but for higher nobles a Muhaan Dhaashen may attend to the ceremony.

• When the attendants have settled and crying relatives silenced, the Xiuhaan Dhaashen will begin the ritual recitation of the deceased's 'tsingdhaar xeichi', the list of sacred knowledge accrued and great accomplishments of the deceased. The tsingdhaar xeichi is often kept by the deceased person themselves through their life and completed or updated by the deceased's family after their death. While small embellishments may slip onto the list from time to time, overt falsehoods or misrepresentations are considered the height of blasphemy. If such errors are found to have happened after the Gionghua, family members can be arrested and even executed for the mistakes.

• After the tsingdhaar xeichi is complete, the priestess calls for anyone present to contest it. This is technically allowed, but almost never actually happens. It is so rare, that most Xiuhaan Dhaashen will go their whole lives without encountering it.

• Finally, the tour aalte is raised up through a hole in the centre of the ceiling and secured by priests on the roof amongst the various other deceased persons heads on special pedestals.

• The tour aalte remain there until the end of the next zu'shihaan to ensure the xeichi of the deceased makes full ascension to Moksh ke'Jishu.

• Once a week, after the eclipse, the sacred jars are taken down and the jar and it's contents, now considered 'empty' and meaningless, are added to the temples cremation furnaces.

Since the brain is the most sacred part of the body and the carrier of the xeichi, the sacred knowledge and experience of an individual, it is crucial to the ceremony to be properly executed and the deceased person to ascend to Moksh ke'Jishu. If a person's brain is injured or damaged after death, or if the person is killed by an injury to the head or brain, they cannot undergo the Gionghua and have a true afterlife with Niryusha or contribute to the great dream of reaching Tienwara ya'Shuu. Such persons are considered 'truly' dead. Their body, head intact (or what may be left of it), is buried in the ground in designated areas outside towns and cities. It is hoped that this way the body may decompose and re-join nature, having some hope of contributing to the great dream in some way in the future.
The importance of protecting the brain and head for the common good of all humanity has led to interesting practices across Dal Karchuan society and all of Yatan'aa. Soldiers in war and combatants in duels deliberately avoid attacks to the head. Even drunken fist fights tend to stay focused on attacks on the torso and limbs. Anyone who attacks another man's head, even in war or self defence, is seen as cowardly and even blasphemous. Great generals have been known to go into battle with no head protection whatsoever as a challenge to the honour of the opposing army and it's commanders.

Components and tools

Various tools are used in the preparation of a body for Gionghua, though the most important are the saws and knives used to sever the head from the body. The head is ideally severed as close to the scull as possible, leaving no vertebrae still attached. This is done as cleanly and respectfully as can be, but complications can often arrise requiring more impromptu or haphazard methods. Once the head is clear of it's body and hung to drain for approximately an hour, the neck hole is sewn shut with extra neck skin left attached for the purpose, and placed on a bed of saw dust in the tour aalte jar.

"Great Niryusha, we send to you the knowledge, wisdom, experience and insight of <insert name>. May <he/she> join you on Moksh ke'Jishu with humility and strength, that we may all one day journey with you to Tienwara ya'Shuu."

- The first line of the sacred litany that marks the beginning of the Gionghua ceremony.