Vicini Views on Death

Burial customs: The Vicini are split culturally into east and west. The eastern Vicini practice inhumation, with bodies placed in decorated sarcophagi or in coffins marked with a stele in cemeteries. The western Vicini practice cremation, with the ashes placed in rectangular cinerary urns and placed in buildings called crematoria (the urns are rectangular so that they fit better into the niches).
In both cases, the body is laid in state for two days, with burial or cremation occurring at sunset of the 2nd day (though this is often shortened in the summer). During these two days, cypress branches are hung from the entrance to the home, and both priests and pontifices (bridge-builders) are barred from entering the building.
The immediate family of the deceased is considered ritually polluted, untouchable, and must cease their daily routines for 9 days (a Vicini week plus a day) after death. They must not wash or otherwise care for their own person or offer sacrifice to any deity.
For those who can afford their services, libitinarii (undertakers) can be hired to help care for both the family and the body of the deceased. Otherwise, the body is washed, anointed, dressed, and placed on a funerary bier by the female relatives of the deceased. Male relatives must never touch the corpse. Like the Achaians, the Vicini also observe the practice of placing a coin in the deceased’s mouth as payment to the ferryman Charun.
Funeral customs: Both eastern and western Vicini have roughly identical funeral customs. On the evening of the 2nd day after death, the deceased is brought to the cemetery in the case of inhumation, or to the cremation site in the case of cremation (and thereafter to the crematorium). Who is in the procession varies by wealth. The simplest ones are quiet and solemn, with only the corpse, litter-bearers, and grave diggers.
Usually, they will at least have their family with them, and it is traditional to have a flautist in the procession. Flutes are an instrument heavily associated with emotions of sadness and sorrow in Vicini culture and, if a family can afford little else, they will try at least to hire a flautist.
In fact, most Vicini cities will have a collegium (professional guild) of musicians who specialise in funeral music that just about any funeral musician will need to belong to if they want a job. The collegium manages jobs, fixes standard rates, and helps ensure sumptuary laws regarding the number of permitted flautists per funeral are followed.
Some of the most elite funerals will have entire troupes of actors dressed up and wearing masks depicting the deceased’s ancestors, and dozens of flautists. The bier is carried by male relatives, close friends, or freed slaves if possible. Otherwise, the family will ask around for neighbours and other members of their community to help.
If things get this desperate, members of the community will usually want to help. Not only is it considered an extremely virtuous act—putting yourself in close contact with the dead and thus ritually polluting yourself for a stranger—but, if you have the time to spare, it is just the right thing to do.
Once they have arrived at the cemetery or crematorium is where the main divergence in funeral customs between east and west lies. In the east, women will chant a song of mourning called a nenia while the coffin is lowered into the grave or sarcophagus. A eulogy is then delivered by the men. This is the end of the funeral.
In the west, there are usually two stages because cremations can take several hours depending on the size of the body (around 8-9 for an average adult). The first stage occurs during the cremation itself. This is where eulogies are delivered. The crowd then disperses, with a few select men (usually the closest to the deceased) stay to guard the burning body in shifts.
In the morning, the crowd reassembles, the ashes are collected in a cinerary urn, and these are then carried to the crematorium in a solemn and traditionally completely silent procession. Once the ashes have been placed in the crematorium, libations and sacrifices are made to the di manes of the deceased.
Then the games can begin. Libations of red wine mixed with blood are poured out, and athletic competitions are held to the upbeat tune of drum music. Wrestling and boxing are popular, while the wealthy will hire gladiators.
Similar to the Achaian zoning rules for necropoleis, Vicini cities and settlements will have a religious boundary called a pomerium that is defined by a priest. This boundary is typically one and the same with the boundaries of the village or city itself.
Post-funeral traditions: The Vicini have a few post-funeral traditions. The first to occur is the Novendialis, 9 days after the death of the deceased. A holocaust sacrifice is made to the deceased, water is poured around the sacrificial victim as it burns on the ground, and a libation is poured on the grave (or on the cinerary urn) of the deceased.
As a recipient of sacrifice, the deceased then becomes di manes (one of 3 types of spirit a person’s soul can turn into). The Manes of a family are honoured on the Feralia, the final day of the 9-day Parentalia festival in Maius.
The next thing is veneration at the family lararium. If a person is believed to have been righteous and worthy, they become lares (another of these 3 types of spirits). These lares are given offerings and worshipped at the family lararium as guardian deities of the household. The lares are also honoured over the course of the Parentalia festival.
Finally, during the Lemuria, the restless and malignant deceased are chased away with loud and boisterous parties.
Beliefs of the afterlife: The Vicini do not have the same concept of the eidolon that Achaians have. For them, the soul of the deceased is, for all intents and purposes, the deceased in an undying ethereal form.
Another difference is that Mercury (the Vicini form of Hermes) is very rarely depicted as a psychopomp. Instead, that task is given to Vanth and Charun. Vanth escorts women to Underworld, while Charun escorts men. Charun is also the ferryman, who will take the dead across the River Styx in return for a fee.
The Vicini Underworld is nearly identical to the Achaian Hades, with three differences: the judges, Tartarus, and Asphodel. The Vicini version of the Underworld does not have the 3 judges Aeacus, Rhadamanthus, and Minos. Vicini Tartarus is effectively identical, except that instead of being far beneath the rest of the Underworld, Vicini Tartarus is depicted like a prison fortress. It is separated by three tall perimeter walls, beyond which flows the flaming river Phlegethon.
At the gates of Tartarus sits a great 50-headed hydra with black, gaping jaws, flanked by adamantine columns. Somewhere inside the walls of Tartarus is a wide-walled castle with a single tall iron turret, inside which stands guard the sleepless Tisiphone—one of the Erinyes, who represents vengeance (her name literally means “vengeful destruction”). With her whip, she will lash at the denizens of Tartarus.
Finally, the Asphodel Meadows in Vicini culture are a lot less negative than in Achaian culture. Whereas the Achaians view Asphodel as a land of utter neutrality where everything is still, the Vicini see it as a more relaxing land where the dead can rest and be at peace. It’s not the unending excitement and delight of paradise, but it is by no means bad. All souls who dwell here are bid to drink from the water of the River Lethe, and thus forget their past lives.
Regarding the souls of the deceased, the soul of a deceased person can be most broadly categorized as a di manes. If the person was righteous, pious, and is afforded a proper burial, funeral rites, and affectionate cult by the living, they will become a lar (pl. lares).
Lares are the guardian deities of a family and household. They are the spirits who will be granted everlasting paradise in Elysium (a lower standard for entry than the Achaians have).
If the person was neither good nor bad and is not offered affectionate cult (apart from the Feralia), but is still afforded proper burial and funeral rites, then they become a manes. The manes dwell in the Asphodel Meadows, drinking from the River Lethe and forgetting their past lives entirely. Manes are often invoked in spells, and on funeral steles.
Finally, those not afforded proper burial, funeral rites, or affectionate cult (note: their moral character in life is unimportant here) become lemures. They are the restless and malignant dead, wandering the world as vengeful spirits. They are formless and liminal, bringing terror and misfortune to the living, and are attracted to death and suffering.
However, they can be startled into flight with loud sound or music (especially the banging of bronze pots) or placated into leaving a person alone by the act of throwing black beans behind oneself. For this reason, both things are practiced during the Lemuralia, a festival dedicated to warding off the lemures.
Both the lares and the manes are classified as types of lesser deities called di inferi (“the gods below”). Technically, all 3 types are considered di manes (as the word di implies, even lemures are considered a form of deity). Technically, the word manes means “good,” even though the lemures are generally considered malignant.
The lemures may also sometimes be classified as di terrestres (“the gods of the earth”) since they are trapped on the earth. Some educated people will tell you instead that they are di inferi like the lemures and manes, but that are trapped on earth.