Last Remembrance

The ritual of Last Remembrance, was the usual way for the people of Serene to honor the dead.
The ritual start after midday, with the creation of a fire pit, large enough to last for the rest of the day. Once it is completed, the bodies who are to be honor, are place in the fire. While the bodies are being burn, those reunited share stories they remember about the deceased and food is prepared to be cook in the pit.
Where most of the body has been consumed by the flames, the fire pit get ready for cooking and different cooking utensils are placed upon it. At least a stew and several types of fishes and meats are prepared to serve a feast. The feast last until the fire is consumed. When that happens, any leftover are throw in the fire, which is left to consumed itself until only ashes are left.
The ashes of the fire are dispersed in the sea, the spirit of the departed is thought to disperse in the sea, just like the rivers who feed it.
Apendix
What if person die because of a disease? There are certain causes of death, which require a modification of the ceremony. If the keeper of the sea declare the deceased die of expredable disease. In this case, the body (or bodies, as it is usually the case in this circustance) is burn alone. The ashes are them added to the pire where the cooking fire will start, normally with some personal belongings, declared safe by the keeper.

History

Traditionally, the ceremony was perfomed in one of the beaches, east to the city, This particular beach is surrounded by elevation, which give the families some privacy, while allowing enough space for the feast to take place.
It is believe the tradition, started due to the need to be conservative with the resource used to burn materials, as nobody wanted to left the body buried outside of the ship, where predators or machines alike could devour them. So burning the bodies was prefered, which presented the problem of having to dedicate some of the scarce resources to allow for this.
Intead, the resources were shared, putting the bodies, as long as they die healthy, in the same fires used to cook for those in the ship. When the colony grow and resources became more available, the ritual became as a way to allow for the spirit of the deceased to stay with the group.
When the royals learned of it, they consider barbaric and unhygienic, and forbade it. After all according to their perception, those who dealt with dead bodies, should not be live close to those who don't, so the idea of having a feast cook in the same fire as dead bodies, was extremely dangerous practice.
After the prohibition, the ritual has dimished, but i has not disappear. It has turn clandestine, with groups of people gathering in secret places, normally allong The Forest River course to perfom it.

Primary Related Location

Serene