Narnian burial practices

[bedlamsbard]

A couple of random thoughts regarding Narnian burial practices that I've been turning over in my head for a couple of days after something we talked about in my Age of the Vikings class, in somewhat disjointed form:

Traditionally the Telmarines practice ship burials; royalty, nobility, and the wealthy are buried in ships, while those that aren't so well off make do with being buried in the center of stones in the shape of a ship. After the Telmarine fear of the sea developed, this practice somewhat fell by the wayside, but gravesites are still marked by stones; not entirely certain if the ship burials are still being carried out by Caspian's time. I think so, at least for the royalty. (They also might still be carried out by Tirian's time. Caspian definitely had a ship burial; he was buried in the Dawn Treader. And I'm reasonably certain, yeah, buried, rather than burned, but not entirely positive.)

Traditional Narnian burial practice, pre-Long Winter, is to bury the dead facing east, towards Aslan's country. During the Long Winter burial wasn't practiced, as it was impractical to bury the dead in frozen soil. Not entirely certain what Long Winter funerary practices were; I think the tradition was forgotten by the time Spring came.

Comments

[isweedan]

LET ME TELL YOU HOW MUCH I LOVE STONE SHIPS: A LOT. A LOT A LOT. ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

My face when I read Traditionally the Telmarines practice ship burials : o.0****

[bedlamsbard]

I am not even sure what that emoticon means!

I AM VERY FOND OF THIS IDEA.

[isweedan]

Lol! It's misshapen eyes of incredulity followed by a string of anime sweat-drops for emotional emphasis.

Of course.


(What if they forgot they were ship-shaped! And were just like " well, that's the shape you make burial mounds in. It's traditional." Because OMG Telmarines! The sea! Scorned heritage!)

[bedlamsbard]

Aha! I don't know, my brain translated that to "drool" for some reason, which was confusing. SO I WAS CONFUSED.)

That is probably exactly what happened! And some people thought, oh, well, of course it's a ship, because of crossing the river to the underworld (CORNELIUS) but everyone else was like, it's just what's done!

[snacky]

Interesting! Of course Caspian is buried in Dawn Treader, I love it.

Have you ever read Neil Gaiman's Sandman? There's an issue where you get a story of the Necropolis Litharge, which is a city devoted to the dead and all the myriad ways and customs of internment and burial for different cultures. Sandman as a whole, is a great read, but I think you'd like that one story a lot.

[bedlamsbard]

Caspian is very attached to the Dawn Treader!

I haven't -- I don't really like Neil Gaiman's writing style, so I'm usually not bothered to go and seek his stuff out. But that sounds interesting!

[snacky]

The only thing in Caspian's life that didn't disappear, die or abandon him is a boat. :D

I think Sandman is Gaiman's finest work, and as a comic book, the writing style is considerably different from a novel or short story. I just did a reread and it's actually quite amazing how well it still holds up after all this time. There's all kinds of incredible characters - from the fantastic to the mundane, each as well-drawn as the next (and the women do not get short shrift in this comic book at all), fantastic detail and world-building and playing around with all different types of mythology and story-telling. The story I mentioned, "Cerements," is actually a story that's five layers deep. Anyway, the whole thing is kind of right up your alley, I'd think.

[bedlamsbard]

...oh my God, that's true. Wait! There's Drinian! (Isn't that actually a line from SC, where Caspian's about to kill him, and then goes, "WAIT YOU'RE THE ONLY THING LEFT IN MY LIFE EVERYONE ELSE IS DEAD.")

I will look it up the next time I go to the library!

[snacky]

He does say that! But by the end of SC, Drinian's is NOTICEABLY ABSENT.

[bedlamsbard]

This is TRUE.

[juniperphoenix]

Ooooh, I like this a lot.

[bedlamsbard]

I kind of do too. *grins*

[lady_songsmith]

Have now spent morning looking at death customs of people in very cold climates. Not sure whether to hate you or love you.

[bedlamsbard]

...huh. *is now curious*

[lady_songsmith]

Well, apparently some Inuit tribes stick (stuck? oh internet and your semi-reliable sources) them in what amount to doorless igloos. And a fair number of Inca remains have been found that were cold-mummified (like the Iceman, only apparently deliberately).

[bedlamsbard]

*considers mummification* Unlikely for Narnia, I think. For some reason I'm seriously considering ritual cannibalism, at least for some species.

[cofax7]

Not entirely certain what Long Winter funerary practices were

Unlikely to be cremation, unless there are significantly more non-dryad trees than we're led to believe.

Maybe laying out for the elements? Eaten by your Dumb Animal cousins, and return to the cycle of nature!

[bedlamsbard]

That's one of the ideas. I mean, I think there aren't that many trees that are actually dryads (I keep thinking of the tree herding from LotR), but not enough that you'd casually use them for burial purposes. Laying out seems most likely? Or ritualized cannibalism, depending on the species?