A Changeling Wake is a celebration of mortal life of a deceased Changeling and a push toward its next incarnation.
Overview[]
The major changeling rite involving death is the wake. When a changeling dies, their family and friends gather to celebrate their life and remember them. Wakes are always the ultimate neutral ground. All divisions are forgotten in the remembering and honoring of the deceased. Commoners and noble, Seelie and Unseelie, all seemings and kith mix and mingle at the gathering.
Traditionally, the wake is held at the home of the changeling who has passed, among their possessions and works. If this is not possible, it is held in some place that had special meaning to the deceased in some way. The deceased’s kin, oathmates, and close friends hold places of honor during the wake and traditionally speak in turn to remember the deceased and celebrate their life. Friends comfort each other and bask in the renewal of ties of life, love, and companionship.
Mortal and kinain relatives of the changeling are often enchanted to bring them into the wake and allow them to share in the celebration of life. Most of them do not recall the wake as anything more than a dream about the deceased, but they still find themselves comforted by the experience, their grief eased with the help of the Kithain.
The wake is a place and time for the releasing of all of the emotions associated with the changeling who has passed. There is crying and grief for the loss of a friend and loved one, but there is also celebration, recollection, laughter, and fun. The Kithain believe that the best way to acknowledge the life of a changeling is by sustaining the Dreaming that gives them all life. Wakes are a way to honor and celebrate the Glamour of a changeling’s life and keep that sacred fire burning.
During the wake, any last words or wishes of the deceased are heard, and many Kithain swear oaths to uphold those wishes or undertake some last request of a friend. The deceased’s chimerical possessions are distributed to their friends and loved ones, who place them in the homes of the changeling’s kin, often without the knowledge of mortal kinfolk.
Some Kithain do not like the tradition of the wake. They prefer to ignore death in hopes that it will go away, and refuse to attend wakes, funerals, or other acknowledgements of death, even those of close friends. These changelings are certain candidates for Bedlam, since acknowledging of death is one of the major ties to the mortal world. Fortunately, most Kithain understand the need for the wake and find comfort for their own fears about death in the celebration of another’s life.
To the sidhe who celebrate them, the wake is an important ritual that eases their fears about death. It is believed that the wake and the remembrance of a deceased sidhe helps them pass on to whatever awaits them on the other side of the great veil. If the ritual is not performed as it should be, the sidhe’s spirit is doomed to oblivion, although some sidhe have said that they would almost prefer that fate to the possibility of returning to the world as a commoner.
Funerals[]
While wakes are considered an important part of changeling culture and tradition, the Kithain have little concern as a whole about funerals. The disposition of the mortal remains, once bereft of fae spirit and the spark of life and Glamour, is not very important to the fae. So long as the body is treated with respect, it can be disposed of in whatever way the deceased or their friends and family see fit.
For most changelings, a humble grave is the most common disposition of their mortal bodies after death. Just as the changeling spirit emerged from its mortal seeming as a flower spreading open in the sunlight at its Chrysalis, so does the spirit eventually leave the body like a seed and the mortal flesh returns to the earth to continue the cycle of the Wheel of Life. Some redcaps carry this concept forward in their own strange manner and honor the deceased by eating their remains and, perhaps, taking some small part of their essence into themselves.
For some Kithain, a mortal funeral will not do. The sidhe have their own somber ceremonies for the disposition of one of their own. Sidhe funerals are often very elaborate affairs, as if dressing a funeral up in enough ceremony and ritual can conceal its true purpose. A proper funeral is considered by some sidhe to be a part of the entire ritual needed to send their spirits on to what awaits them and is almost as important as the wake itself.
Trolls also consider funerals important. A troll warrior needs to be laid to rest with proper ceremony and ritual to honor their spirit. Usually the troll is built a great funeral pyre where their body and their primary chimerical weapon are laid out and the fire lit. Some trolls still follow the ancient custom of sending their dead out to see aboard a burning boat.
References[]
- CTD. The Enchanted, pp. 64-65.