Runic Funeral Rite
It is not so that funerals are mostly for the living.
Of course this is a factor, for the living to say their farewells and come to grips with the finality of of death.
Our ancestors did these rites mostly for the dead themselves. To aid their souls or spirits in their journey towards the afterlife and make sure that journey goes as smooth as possible.
That is why until this very day we find ancient burials filled with tools, food, animals, weapons and sometimes even other people who have joined them. This was especially true in the case of rulers and people with high social ranking. A servant (usually voluntarily) followed them in death so they could be of service beyond Midgard.
And because recently we had to say our farewells to a beloved family member of ours, I wanted to write about it in a separate article. Which runes are useful for such rites and rituals and why. In this article I am going to assume we are talking about a loved one, because obviously, if we were to be talking about someone you absolutely hated it would be entirely different.
That kind of funeral rite would be more akin to a postmortem curse with the intent to condemn the soul and shatter it on the tenth aether, forever preventing it from reincarnation. That is not the point of this article so I am going to avoid talking about it in this one. Or when talking about Norse-Germanic belief systems: To be eaten and shredded by Nidhogg in Niflheim.
Perhaps in another article, one day.
