Funerals today and in history
Why and how funerals happen
Funerals aren’t very common in our world, mainly because death is in no way the end or a permanent thing; it would seem overly dramatic to have a funeral for someone who will most likely come back. A lot of times people refuse to have a funeral, because it would seem that they have accepted their death, possibly convincing Glitter God and Satan to not return their loved one. On the other hand, there are people who like to show appreciation to their loved one, and showing them, as well as Glitter God and Satan just how much they will be missed. This might convinced the loved one to want to come back, and Glitter God and Satan to return them. For this reason, one may end up having more than one funeral before their actual death, and a cross already put up in the graveyard while they are actually still alive. In any case, funerals tend to be more common in East T@Ö#Å3, because it’s the area nearest to Graveyard.
Funerals, as rarely as they may occur, have their fair share of traditions related to them. A lot of these originate from ancient times, and the meaning and purpose of them have been lost to time, but people still seem to stick to them.
The ceremony and black crosses
The most obvious of these is having a funeral at all. This seemed to be a lot more common practice in ancient times when death seemed to be more permanent. It was a way to honor and remember the deceased, and for this reason people still do this today. They hold a short ceremony with the person’s loved ones, run by their local fairy priest. Similar to the ancient times, this ceremony is held at the Graveyard, next to the person’s gravesite. Similar to ancient times, people will put up a cross for the deceased. This cross usually has a picture of the deceased on it and is black. Black used to symbolize death, but the significance of a cross is unknown. However, it seemed to be commonly used on graves, so this is why this tradition stuck to this day. It has been reported that many of these crosses would be depicted with a person nailed to them. Maybe this is how the person whose grave it was, died; people in ancient times were vicious and bloodthirsty so you never know. But then again in the past people treated their ded loved ones a lot worse and made sure they say put, so this may be just a way to let the dead know they are stuch here forever now, same as if they would be nailed to a cross.
Burial boxes and tretement of the dead in history
On this note, we can move on to the tradition of burial boxes. This too is based on ancient traditions. It has been reported that in these funerals people would bury a box or an urn in the ground. People haven’t come to a definite agreement on what exactly was in these, but the overwhelming evidence shows they would actually shut the dead in these and bury them. Despite all the evidence, many still refuse to believe this, just because of how terrifying this thought is, though it explains a lot. If people were left buried in the ground, confined to a box barely big enough to hold their bodies, unable to come back, this explains why death was viewed as a much more final thing. There are some reports of a very rare tradition where people would let their dead out for a yearly festival, but as far as the great majority of cultures around the world goes, once you were buried, you couldn’t come back. Furthermore, to make extra sure that the dead wouldn’t come back, sometimes people would put iron cages on top of graves to the dead couldn't get out, or even go as far as burning their bodies until only ashes were left. Vampires, the ancient species of bat people, got especially bad treatment after death - they would be buried with stones lodged in their mouths, and stakes driven through their hearts, to make extra sure they don’t come back. Because of these reasons, the dead in those times were unable to come back or move on to the afterlife, resulting in only their souls remaining stuck between this world and the afterlife. These would be called ghosts. Ghosts were seen by many and sometimes they would attempt to communicate with the living. But many people would still deny their existence, perhaps to avoid having to acknowledge the brutality of their burial practices and their consequences. It is believed that these very ghosts are the souls still haunting the Haunted Forest to this day.
Burial boxes today
But modern day people are a lot more civilized and kind to their dead. They let them pass into the afterlife, from where they are still free to return, depending on Glitter God’s and Satan's decision. And most of the time they do come back, so burying them in the ground for eternity would seem beyond cruel. So burial boxes today serve a very different purpose. They are a lot smaller and ornately carved and decorated. [The writer of this text admittedly isn’t a full time resident of this world, so he or she is unsure what exactly goes inside the box at the moment of writing this]. After the box is filled with whatever people put in, it is taken to Graveyard where it is buried beneath the black cross.
After the funeral
After the box is buried, and the fairy priest reads funeral texts from the Glitter Bible, people leave the site to cope with their grief in their own ways. They usually try to continue their lives, waiting for their loved one to return. But in rare cases where their loved one is gone for good, people will be returning to their gravesite, to remember and talk to their deceased loved one.
In case that the deceased comes back, but dies again at a later time, another funeral may be held, and another funeral box may be buried, but this will always take place at the same site; one person may only get one cross in Graveyard.
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