The Body of the Divine Scavenger
The most sacred tradition in valturo society is the cycle of life and death. But in their culture, the cycle starts with death.
For the valturo, death is not the end of their life but the final service to their community by offering their bodies to the Divine Scavenger. They call it the Wake. When a valturo is near its death, its last act in life is to fly to a height where the calling of the Divine Scavenger takes the valturo through the airless sky. There is no greater honor to a valturo and its family if the valturo can take this journey of its own. However, many valturo dies before the Divine Scavenger nears the dying. In these cases, the relatives of the valturo take its body up in the sky to reach the calling. At the end of the calling, the Divine Scavenger devours the valturo body to recreate its own carcass. That is why the valturo goes to extreme lengths to take home the body of every valturo who died outside the Aerie.
In return, the Divine Scavenger gives the valturo its grace, its own body, which is consumed during various festivals and ceremonies. The most notable of these ceremonies is when a new chick is born. It is called the Eve. The valturo believe that it will bring blessing to the house if a chick's first taste of meat is of the body of the Divine Scavenger. In contrast, if the first meat of the chick is not from the Divine Scavenger, it will bring disgrace to the family.
The body of the Divine Scavenger is consumed during other ceremonies, like weddings and festivals. However, the Wake and the Eve are the most spiritual occasions.
A most remarkable but also a most disgusting tradition
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