Hux Kham funeral

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A Hux Kham funeral encompasses most of the funeral process, particularly the entombment and the cremation. In the funeral process regulated and enforced by the government, certain types of funerals are restricted, while cremation is mandatory upon specific cases.

Regulations

Hux Kham has laws that govern the process of the funeral. There are two types of legal funerals, burial and cremation. Other types of funeral, including mummification and the once-popular sky burial, is considered illegal outside from research purposes and some special cases. There are some groups that are mandated for cremation, which includes:

  • Ethnic Hux Kham
  • People who died of infectious diseases, especially pandemic diseases
  • People belonging to ethnicities that traditionally practice cremation
  • Domesticated non-edible and non-sentient animals, e.g. pets (although edible parts may be taken off first)

The Hux Kham government covers the full cost of the handling of the deceased. Every three years, the grave where the deceased is buried must be opened and checked to ensure that the body has naturally decayed. If the body remained un-decayed, the body will have to be cremated. Because deceased bodies almost always end up in cremation in Hux Kham, burials are a rare sight, as only non-ethnic Hux Kham people, which in total constitutes only 5 percent of the Hux Kham population, initiate burials.

Customs

Wake

In a general Hux Kham funeral, when a person is dead, the body is firstly taken for a wake, often to the dead person's family or other relatives. These last for an average of five nights, but may be delayed as other relatives are unable to immediately attend the wake. On this time, the body is placed in a coffin, which is placed at the host home. The coffins are then surrounded by flowers and funeral lights. During the wake, it is common for the host family and/or the bereaved to serve food and drink to the attending visitors.

Funeral

In a burial, the deceased is sent by either a hearse or with a march to the burial site. The deceased is then entombed with the coffin, to be opened only after three years, abiding to the governmental regulations on funeral as well as ensuring that the body has naturally decayed. If the body remain un-decayed, the body is cremated. Otherwise, the body is immediately re-entombed.

In a cremational funeral, the deceased is sent mostly by a hearse. Upon cremation, the ashes are then either scattered to a certain location, usually a grave or a field of land owned by the bereaved. Traditionally, the ashes are scattered into the waters, however, due to pollution issues, scattering ashes into the waters has been prohibited.

The place of the burial or the scattering is then made into the place where the bereaved offers prayers to the deceased. The prayers are initiated every day until the seventh day since the entombment or the cremation, and then initiated again every one year since the funeral day. In the annual prayer, the funeral site is cleaned from grass, and offered with flowers.