Alhamish Ancestor Worship

The oldest known human religion in Alhamland, ancestor worship is still the predominant religion among the people of that cold, harsh region despite the growing popularity of The Ascended among the more cosmopolitan westerners. Honoring the dead is among the most important elements of Alhamish culture, with the honored dead believed to give blessings to their descendants whereas improperly or spurned dead may rise as undead draugr to terrorize the living.

Traditions

While lacking the formal organization and structure of many religions, Alhamish Ancestor Worship has many traditions which stretch back as far as recorded human history.

Funeral Traditions

When an adherant dies, Alhamish Ancestor Worship provides two options for proper treatment of the dead. The preferred method is burial in properly prepared and consecrated burial mounds, also known as barrows, although this option is expensive and extremely time consuming. For circumstances in which a barrow isn't available, cremation on a funeral pyre is also a suitable way to treat the honored dead.

Barrows

Burial mounds containing chambers with multiple alcoves to contain either prepared bodies or cremated remains, barrows are usually built with room for many generations of a family due to the cost and effort required to construct one. Barrows are most frequently owned by wealthy and prominent families with the more extravagant ones even containing multiple burial chambers. In well established towns, there may be a communal barrow which is left open until it is filled and only cremated remains may be interred.

Cremation

In the absence of a barrow, immolation on a funeral pyre is considered to be an acceptable alternative. The deceased is placed on a prepared pyre and burned until their remains are fully cremated and then either interred in a barrow, buried, or left to the wind and weather. In some places local tradition dictates that the deceased be dressed in their finest clothing or armor and be surrounded by their most prized posessions while in other areas they are simply wrapped in a burial shroud. Sometimes, particularly in the case of communal barrows where saving space is a prime concern, bodies must be cremated before being interred.

Offerings

Regularly, often once or twice a year but sometimes more frequently, offerings should be made to the dead to show respect and that they have not been forgotten. These offerings usually take the form of food, drink, or trinkets representing things that the deceased liked in life, although in the first few years after death more significant offerings may be made.

Draugr

Not to be confused with the drowned undead that the name refers to in other regions, In Ahlamland draugr refers to the improperly buried or insufficiently respected dead who have risen to seek vengeance on those who have wronged them. Generally, this means family who have failed to observe the funeral rites or make offerings, but someone who dies with their heart full of hate may return to seek vengeance as well. Even among the properly treated dead, the robbery or looting of their barrows may cause draugr to rise, and more than one town has been beset by the vengeful dead after a barrow was opened by robbers.

Worshippers

Alhamish Ancestor Worship is by far the most commonly found religion among the humans of Alhamland, with worship of the ascended still a distant second. Barrows can be found outside any settlement of any real size, and most villages have an area reserved for funeral pyres just outside of the main settlement. Reverence for ones ancestors is a core element of Alhamish society, and blood feuds over insults against them have lasted for generations in some cases.

While it lacks a formal hierarchy or any sort of organization, it does have a clergy of sorts in the form of the 'Alhamish Priests', 'Shamans' or 'Hofgothi' who are spread across the many small villages and settlements of this harsh region. In some cases one priest may serve many settlements, moving between them and being given lodging and food wherever they may be. In the absence of a true priest, religious ceremonies will typically be lead by the highest ranking member of the community who is referred to as 'Gothi' while they are filling this role.

Today, worship of The Ascended has begun to move into Alhamland, beginning in the more cosmopolitan west and among members of the nobility seeking to ingratiate themselves with foreign nobility and show that they have moved past their 'barbarian roots'. Outside of the nobility, worship of The Ascended is typically adopted alongside traditional ancestor worship, the average person not seeing any inherant conflict between the two. Despite its relatively gentle entry into the region, this new religion has been the cause of some controversy and conflict, as many more traditional alhamlanders view the new religion with suspicion and see it as a sign of southern culture pushing aside Alhamish culture.