Ka T'kra: Place of Death

Purpose / Function

When a citizen's life is, as verified by a medical professional, nearing its end, the citizen moves to the Ka T'kra, equally a medical site and a ceremonial site. There, the citizen would live out the rest of his/her days in a one-room shallow dwelling, cared for by a permanent staff. There is no set social norm for mourning after death; rather, when a citizen enters a Ka T'kra, the family visits often, to spend as much time as possible before death. Each day, the wife, or the children, or the youngest of the family, is recites poetry and/or prayers. The elder can request something, the family can write it, or the staff can have something ready for the occasion. Upon death, the staff on hand fills the one-room house completely with the citizen inside it. Thus, the dead die in the place where they ultimately lived.

Alterations

When a space reserved for the Ka T'kra is completely filled with dead, and all the rooms have been covered up, the local community loads another three feet of soil onto the previous lot, usually with soil from the mountain above it. The lots are redrawn, and the cycle continues. Because these plots are renewed, there is always the risk, perhaps an inevitability, that whatever is left on the plots (flowers, markers, small statuettes) would be lost to time under several feet of dirt. Lots that are marked with stone tablets that have the names of those buried there are sometimes removed before the filling, to be replaced in the proper location. When another dies on top of the location, that citizen's name would be chiseled into the stone above the original name, so that mourners can find their dead generations later.

In times of extreme devastation, some rooms are designed to fit dozens if not hundreds of sick or elderly. For those who die unexpectedly, through, for example, combat or acts of God, there are reserve plots built far away from most hills. Because people who died in the same plots usually died under similar circumstances, those plots often became memorials, dedicated to a certain war or a particular disease, or even just natural disasters.

Architecture

The Ka T'kra, with the exception of the space allotment given to each elder, is very efficiently constructed. Tent-like roofs are pitched above the allotment to keep out wind and rain, to be taken down at the time of death. Many families choose to plant flowers and similar plants in the rooms, to sprout once the elder is buried. Often words and pictures are engraved in the hillside above the Ka T'kra, such as the Seven Truths or images of those who died there. A wealthy family can sponsor sculptures and paintings to be placed at the cemetary edge, but it's ultimately the business of future cemetery management whether the works of art would survive the extra layers of soil.

History

Most ceremonial marriage hills (usually the tallest hills in the local region) would have a Ka T'kra constructed at each of their feet. It is expected that, when a man or woman is married, he/she would be buried in the Ka T'kra at the base.

Tourism

Ka T'kra that have been turned into memorials are common destinations for scholars, historians, aficionados, and the like. Memorials often have quotes and biographies that are not available anywhere else and so contain a wealth of valuable information.

Type

Cemetery

Owning Organization

Keyrit, Iathoya Takalarkyi: Daskalarch Order of Keyrit

Related Tradition (Primary)

• T'ku T'kaka: Reminder of Death