Keshar Ishpaiks Kalkas

General introduction

The people of Andaperna, no matter what ethnicity they belong to, practice a special sacrifice to their dead, called simply 'Keshar Ishpaiks Kalkas', which means 'a handful of grain'. It is meant to keep the souls of the deceased by the grave, so they don't wander around haunting the living.

Process of the event

The ritual takes place at certain fixed times after the burial of the deceased person. The Madini believe, that three souls reside in the human body, one of which, the 'bone soul' is considered to be the dark and evil one. As bones break down the slowest of all the human body, the bone soul is also considered to be the most persistant of the souls, sticking to the body for several years. Just like all the different kinds of souls, they can start wandering around though, which is a major problem considering they are bad.

Shortly after the death of a person, the soul is also believed to be most active. That is, why the Keshar Ishpaiks Kalkas is performed on the day of the burial, one day, one week, one month and one halfyear and one year later and from then on every year on the day of the burial.

For the ritual, the cover of the grave is removed and a handful of raw grain, blessed by a priest is thrown into the opening. The bone souls is believed to feed on the grain and being kept busy by the individual grains being strewn all across the burial shaft's or chamber's floor.

Sometimes though, if some unlucky event occurs in a family of a recently deceased person, a priest might find out, that the bone soul is to be blamed. In this case, the Keshar Ishpaiks Kalkas is performed outside of the regular shedule. Also in this case, the grains are treated differently before putting them into the grave, giving them a special blessing to appease the rampant soul.

Cultural significance

The ritual is, as all religious matters, very important to the superstitious people of Andaperna. Other than the Madini, who are likewise superstitious, but put taboos on everything potentially harmful, the peoples of Andaperna all face their supposedly and real supernatural problems actively. The Keshar Ishpaiks Kalkas has proven to be an effective way to deal with problems that are caused or might be caused by bone souls. A noticable rise in frequency of accidents, sickness and bad luck all are problems that have been successfully solved by the Keshar Ishpaiks Kalkas. Thus it is always conducted whenever it is due after a death, irregardless of how pious the berieved may be and always been taken in consideration by priests, who are asked to help a family or individual plagued by otherwise inexplicable problems.