Funeral of Emperor Sk'ên' of Themiclesia
The funeral of Emperor Sk′ên′ of Themiclesia (Shinasthana: 顯皇帝喪; sk′ên′-gwang-têgh-smang) was conducted under ritualistic requirements of the State Cult and encompassed a four-year period following his death on Dec. 3, 2016 and ending at the dêm ceremony conducted on March 18, 2021.
Death
Emperor Sk′ên′ was born in 1916, celebrating his centenery in May 2016, and had spent a record 94 regnal years on the throne. A committee anticipating his death had been set up as early as 1980, while his future tumulus was already completed in the 1930s, so there was comparatively little chaos when he eventually died of pulmonary failure in late 2016. According to statements by close attendants, the Emperor had finished his meal and stayed in his private drawing room when he collapsed. Though medical attention was immediately summoned, he could not be resuscitated successfully and was declared dead at 8:30 PM.
While resuscitation was being attempted, his heir, Prince La, was immediately notified and retrieved from a social occasion at the Sapphire Dining Club. The committee anticipating for the Emperor's death had directed that a secret codeword be used to communicate the Emperor's passing to close members of the Royal Family without inviting public suspicion. The Prince, his brothers, and several other members of the Royal Family arrived at the ward after the Emperor was declared dead. In short order, senior members of the Government and the speakers of the Houses of Parliament appeared. A group of six physicians officially informed these individuals of the monarch's passing. The late Emperor's funeral committee was called into session to oversee the smooth conduct of the initial rites.
Funeral
Funerary rites, as prescribed by the State Cult, was particularly complex and protracted. While many of these ceremonies would have been common to funerals of all high-ranking individuals in Antiquity, they have for the most part been extensively rationalized or simplified, remaining most intact in royal funerals where the requirements of mystique and solemnity overrode considerations of economy and modernization.
Early ceremonies
The first funerary rites began immediately after the funerary committee was called into session. The Prime Minister nominally chaired the committee, but this duty devolved upon the First Deputy Cabinet Secretary while he was expected to attend to affairs of state. The late Emperor's body was removed from the medical ward into the Front Hall and laid upon the throne displayed there. The Front Hall was, during the season, open to tourists, but the Palace Department cancelled all tours forthwith.
In the early morning of Dec. 4, a larger group of royals, government ministers, and representatives from government departments met in the court of the Front Hall for the pjuk ceremony. The late Emperor's coat was removed from his body by the Crown Prince, with his brother assisting. Several silver bells were attached to the coat by thread. It was handed to the High Priest (大祝), who mounted it on a cinnebar pole and carried it out of the hall and into the courtyard, moving the pole so as to wave the coat, and its bells, in the air. The High Priest shouted 12 times, "O Snur, return!" After this, the coat was retrieved and placed upon his body. Cinnebar, lapis lazuli, and wormwood bark was laid out before his body. Snur was the Emperor's personal name, and while it would have been culturally offensive to his spirit to utter it, this very spiritual connection permitted its use to summon his spirit in a ritualistic effort to resurrect him. From Dec. 4 to 9, this ceremony was repeated twice a day, though usually only to members of the Royal Family.
A bonfire was ignited in the courtyard, and a constant supply of meats was fed into the flames over the next six days. These meats came from the Emperor's private flocks.
On Dec. 9, the ceremony of the Sixth Night occurred. After dusk, the High Priest led twelve men, masked and holding axes and shields, to commence the Dance of Mjanh. A chorus of 40 accompanied the dancers and sang the Song of Mjanh. At the same time, the Bell of the Elephant and Chime of the Rhinoceros were continually sounded. The High Priest then ground ambergris, musk, and frankincense, sprinkling half of the portion over the late Emperor's body and tossing the other half into a bonfire lit in the courtyard. As the dance, song, and music progressed, the High Priest cast several spells over the body, to ward off corporeal decay. The precise verbal formulation of the spells are not publicly known, considered a secret to every family that practices more elaborate funerary rites. The casting of the spells occurred over several hours, while the High Priest regularly emerged from the hall to suspend the late Emperor's coat over the bonfire, catching the censed smoke.
The Ten Schools of Buddhism followed the High Priest and sat in a circle around the throne, each reading incantations in Old Maverican to ward off corporeal decay. The Metropolitan Bishop of Themiclesia next followed and used holy water to draw a circle around the throne. He and several other assistant bishops then read prayers for exorcism, charging whatever spirit or demon to have occupied the late Emperor's body to depart, such that his spirit may return before the body begins to decay visibly. They then knelt and said a brief prayer for the Emperor's body. The High Priest then read spells onto three pottery jars held over the late Emperor's head, chest, and abdomen. The jars were then smashed before the courtyard.
The ceremony of the Sixth Night lasted until the early morning of Dec. 10, the seventh day following the Emperor's biological death. At daybreak, the axes, shields, and masks worn by the dancers were tossed into the bonfire, while each attending guest lit a torch and threw it into the bonfire as well. The High Priest hoists the late Emperor's coat for the final time over the bonfire and returns the coat over the body. He and Assistant Priests knelt over the body and begins wailing in a rhythmic pattern. The Crown Prince followed him and was joined by his siblings, his uncles and aunts, great uncles and aunts, and other members of the Royal Family. The dancers, singers, and musicians genuflected to the body in turn. After three turns of wailing, the High Priest emerges at the hall and declares, "The Emperor is lost" (皇帝亡). The assembly of government ministers, members of parliament, judges, distant royal relatives and other dignitaries bowed to the hall as they heard this message.
Crown Prince La was greeted by the Prime Minister, the Lord Speaker, and the Speaker of the House of Commons at the foot of the throne. He was instructed to sit upon the throne that still contained his great-grandfather's body and to place his hand upon it. The assembly of courtiers each took their turn to bow or genuflect to the new occupant of the throne. The throne was then moved from the western end of the hall to its centre, "the place between two eaves". The High Priest, the Lord Speaker, and the Speaker of the House of Commons proceeded to the Tor Gate and repeated the same proclamation, "The Emperor has been lost; Crown Prince La has succeeded in position" (皇帝既亡帝子涂即立).
The body was then transferred into five successively larger coffins and enclosed in a shrine, prepared in the 1980s. The inner coffin was embedded with cinnabar to postpone the deterioration of the body, while more lumps of cinnabar were covered in fabrics and placed over his orifices. The Emperor's coffins were laquered wood and decorated in relief, while the outer shrine was covered in gold foil and studded with lapis lazuli, so chiseled to give the appearance of a stone sarcophagus.
Later ceremonies
After the shroud had been set up in the Tor Gate on Dec. 10, the royal court entered a period of mourning. Male members of the court were to wear plain black frock coats and black ties, while women were to wear black dresses during daytime; entertainment was suspended or curtailed to acknowledge the sovereign's loss. On the night of Dec. 10, the first funerary feast was held in honour of the sovereign under the Tor Gate, with members of the royal family and senior officials attending. The High Priest began each feast by ritualistic wailing, joined by other participants.
On Dec. 11, Cabinet ministers and other senior officials delivered their funerary gifts to the Royal Family before the Tor Gate. Most of the gifts are small, meaningful objects limited in monetary value. The Prime Minister presented an inkwell, the first object he received when he entered public service. The presentation of funerary gifts was opened to progressively broader groups as the early mourning period progressed, and about 8,000 private citizens eventually made contributions to the Emperor's funeral, gifts piled around the shroud. The Royal Family did not accept funerary gifts of gold, silver, or gemstones, or other objects worth more than $100 on the market. On the night of Dec. 11, the second funerary feast was held in honour of the sovereign, and eight more feasts were held at every night in like fashion.
During the funerary feasts, one of the Emperor's descendants sat at the head of the table as l′ji, or the Emperor's corporeal apparition. Prior to commencing the role as apparition, each descendant was given a ritualistic wine to consume. The apparition then consumed food at the table but could not be touched or spoken to. While there was no firm rule that other participants could not speak amongst themselves, the feast was consumed in silence to distinguish it from feasts enjoyed at other times. On days without feasts, food was laid before the Emperor's shrines.
After the tenth night, the funeral was opened to the public, and the funerary feasts receded in frequency to once every ten days.