Flora's Perish

Where the Flowers Go to Die

Execution

Throughout the day of the to-be funeral, members of the family and close friends will gather at the departed's home to sit and let loose any stray feelings, they also spend the day preparing for the rite ahead, making extravagant dishes and drinks to bring to the burning fields. Shortly before dusk, attendees of the funeral will gather at the burning fields, with whatever they chose to bring for the festivities that are held afterward, as well as flowers for the Perish. Upon the arrival of the Departed, the Ceremony Leader will begin with an opening speech about the Departed's life and how it ended, they can also choose to share personal memories and bring out other members of the funeral to share their stories. Then

Components and tools

The most important components for a Flora's Perish is a variety of flowers, an open field, and your generic materials needed to start a fire. Optional items included food and beverages for a later feast, torch stands, fire dust, and some form of music/instruments.

Participants

There is one distinct role that is separate from the rest, and that is the ceremony leader. Ceremony leaders are picked by the departed person in question, normally they are the closest relative, a partner, or someone the departed respected/held close to their heart; it is their job to lead the ceremony with various small speeches and may call upon other members to join in doing so. They are the first to start the burning of flowers, and often it begins with a giant mixed bouquet of the departed's favorite flowers and symbolic flowers whose meanings define the person in question.

Observance

Flora's Perish takes place anywhere from the day after up to a month after a citizen of Vorsk dies, and is preferred to take place at night so that the view of the flames could be better appreciated.

Origins

Flora's Perish is a common funeral rite in the country of Vorsk, which is located in Northern Meta. While Vorsk didn't always conduct their funerals like this, it has been around for a good portion of their history, and it all started because of an excessive trade with their ally country Anthos, whose main trading good was a variety of different kind of flowers. As part of renewing their treaties with each other, Vorsk and Anthos would ship an abundance of their biggest trading goods as gifts of friendship, though the exact reasoning for this has been lost to time. The excessive amount of flowers in Vorsk became so much, that burning specific types of flowers because not only a means of eliminating extra flowers but also a way to symbolize what kind of person the funeral was for. This practice rapidly grew popular throughout Vorsk that it essentially is a tradition now for people to grow or frequently buy their favorite kinds of flowers to that others will know what to burn at their funeral. The most common place this the funerals to happen is in a large empty field, as Vorsk is heavily occupied with farms and large flat buildings.