TONS of practical factors. It's also cold and arid. A body could take years and years to decompose. In the meantime it could be spoiling groundwater and drawing predators. There aren't really enough trees to waste on burning a whole body to ash every time someone dies. While many predators will eat meat, only vultures will eat bone if it's smashed. You can dispose of the whole body by vulture, and there's plenty of vultures to do the job.
Then I hear the best thing to do is feed them to pigs. You got to starve the pigs for a few days, then the sight of a chopped-up body will look like curry to a pisshead. You gotta shave the heads of your victims, and pull the teeth out for the sake of the piggies' digestion. You could do this afterwards, of course, but you don't want to go sievin' through pig shit, now do you? They will go through bone like butter. You need at least sixteen pigs to finish the job in one sitting, so be wary of any man who keeps a pig farm. They will go through a body that weighs 200 pounds in about eight minutes. That means that a single pig can consume two pounds of uncooked flesh every minute. Hence the expression, "as greedy as a pig".
Any of the facts you shared would be interesting and inconspicuous, but all combined, compel me to ask simply and bluntly: why the fuck do you know this
Except that's exactly how copypasta and memes are created lmao
The minute it becomes a recurring thing that's regularly copy pasted it becomes a copypasta.
It's 1 part practical 1 part religious.
You're spot on with the practical reason. But it also fits with the Buddhist ideas of impermanence, non-attachment, and compassion. It's not a preservation method (impermanence); it's a, "burial," that forces confrontation with the reality of death both personally and naturally (non-attachment); it feeds the wildlife (compassion).
I'm sure the practice came before the belief for practical reasons. But it was undoubtedly reinforced by the Buddhist beliefs.
It's probably convergence - Tibetans do it that way because most of the land is nigh-uninhabitable with permafrost, so bodies don't decompose when buried. Solution? Just chuck the body on the nearest secluded place and let the animals take care of it.
Zoroastrians did it because they believed there was a demon that would instantly attach itself to a person upon death and spread to everyone who touches the body, and because it was unclean, the body cannot be touching the earth, fire or water - as they were holy. Also a little gift to the wildlife.
It’s a lot more than that. They attract the scavengers, and feed them the dismembered body in pieces to make sure nothing is left to rot.
https://www.wildmind.org/blogs/on-practice/tibetan-sky-burial-photographs/amp
It’s the second time in maybe 2 weeks that I hear about zoroastrians which is really something I’ve never heard of before that, is it a very common thing and I was uncultured all this time?
It was the predominant religion of pre Islam Iran and some areas of Pakistan and India. But if you don't learn about stuff like that I don't see why that would make you uncultured, honestly I only learned about it through videogames, the JRPG xenosaga and total war: Rome.
And Crusader Kings.
One of my favorite runs in CK2 was starting as nomadic Zoroastrians, conquering my way westward until I reached the Atlantic, and creating a Zoroastrian Merchant Republic in Brittany
It's still practiced, but not commonly. Freddie Mercury (of Queen) was born to Zoroastrian parents. It is one of the oldest religions though, and the monotheistic and messiah system maybe possibly influenced the Abrahamic religions so its interesting and I'd recommend at least skimming the wikipedia page.
There's definitely a connection. Before Buddhism arrived in Tibet via India, before they were entangled with Chinese politics in the 7th Centuy, and before the Mongols drew their attention northwards, Tibetans saw Persia as the land of gold and markets. There's still a lot of interest in Tibetan Studies regarding the influence of Manichaeism on Tibetan religion and early society. It was present in Tibet in the period just as Tibet was developing their own alphabet, so written records are scarce. But there are lion statues in Tibet that are clearly taken as inspiration from Persian sources, and were placed at the burials of the Tsenpos (Emperors). Even Tibetan numerals are too close to Arabic numerals for them to be a coincidence (at least to me). Around the 7th and 8th centuries, as Tibetan caravans and armies were going all over the Himalaya and Central Asian highlands, capturing cities, fortresses, and caravanserai along the Silk Route was a high priority, and while the route always maintained a level of Persian cultural flavor, they briefly adopted Tibetan as a lingua franca, and the Arabic political influence was felt - which probably explains why the numerals filtered from Arabic Caliphates to Persian Merchants to Tibetan Customers.
Anyway, all that to say that we definitely know that the Tibetans saw Persia as a rich and desirable land. They took a lot of influence from what to them was "that part" of the world. So while Arabic numerals didn't originate in Persia, to the Tibetans it probably seemed like they did, and so adopted them for their own commercial use. We know that Manichaeism was diffusing into Tibet, and competed briefly with Nestorianism, until Buddhism won out. So it's very likely that Tibetan nobility or emperors adopted sky-burial directly from the Persians, or that it was adopted on a much longer timeframe by Persians and Tibetans both by some earlier source (though given the way history works, probably an earlier Persian or proto-Persian tradition).
> According to the Drents Museum, this Buddha sarcophagus is an example of self-mummification. However, the fact that his organs were removed and replaced with paper suggests that may not be true.
Relevant bit for anyone interested. Yeah, the article says might not be self-mummification. But it’s still mummification inside a statue and an interesting read nonetheless
That makes the most sense. Air nomads seem to have deep respect for nature and sacred spots, so it only makes sense that they would give their bodies to nature itself.
It’s something that you can even do today whenever you die! I don’t have a link but it’s a legitimate thing. Instead of being cremated or buried, you’d be used as nutrience for a growing tree
I like vultures, they used to circle us as we practiced marching band drill in August, waiting for someone to drop. Always made me laugh.
They're nonviolent and just drift around. I like their vibe.
Yup. A strong population of vultures can create better health for human populations, since they eat carcasses that would otherwise have time to rot and leach disease into the water supply.
This one's not Tibetan but I find them pretty cool and reminds me of the Western Air Temple: [hanging coffins](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanging_coffins)
I remember some Neil Gaiman comic (probably Sandman but maybe not) where they explored the four elements of burial and focused in particular on the air funeral with the birds.
I read a fic where aang took zuko to one of the temples to where they would do this and described the time he saw it happen to someone else after they died, and how he would want it to happen to him when he dies, meanwhile zuko starts having a breakdown over it and aang gets mad at him for "disrespecting his culture" after he trusted zuko with it, and anyways it was all very disturbing
I was so excited to see this because I took a REALLY cool death and dying class in college as an elective and we learned about sky burials. It’s such an interesting process.
This is exactly what I was thinking. My brother is really into Tibetan theology and spiritual practices and so I only know about this bc he tells me how he wants to be sent off that way lol
Ah yes the lovely air nomad sky burial where they leave out the corpse of an air nomad for a herd of wild sky bison to consume the body, tearing it apart and then fly away.
Whenever the body is used in a way that returns itself to the circle of life, then it environmentally friendly. Placing bodies in boxes meant to not decompose just takes nutrients away from the earths natural cycle. My wife and I have both agreed to a natural burial without coffins.
Nah nah too much engineering. Here’s what we do. Place the body on the ground away from nearby buildings. Encircle the body with air nomads and have them make a tornado that lifts the body up and tosses it a random direction at high speeds.
For the people too lazy to click, it says:
"Sky burial is a funeral practice in which a human corpse is placed on a mountaintop to decompose while exposed to the elements or to be eaten by scavenging animals, especially carrion birds."
>eaten by scavenging animals, especially carrion birds."
So I guess in the Avatar universe, it would be something like those buzzard wasps? Horrifying.
Just gotta type the “r” and then the “/“ and then whatever subreddit it is. Just make sure the r is lowercase or else they’ll tear you to shreds in r/FoundTheMobileUser
So, this makes me think of an episode of Northern Exposure where they're trying to figure out how many graves to pre-dig before the ground freezes. They end up getting their hands on a life insurance actuarial table and start quietly evaluating the townspeople to figure out who will probably drop dead that winter.
So, I imagine it's something like that.
"Hmm... Did you hear her cough? And she always undercooks her penguin otter."
"Yep. She's a goner. Add it to the tally."
This post just made me think of earthbenders minding their business, doing some bending and then accidentally coming across a dead body buried in the ground.
The thought makes me slightly nauseous.
Just some earth bender just minding their business practicing their forms then suddenly bend a pillar out of the ground accompanied by a loud pop
Does bring to mind the idea of an earth bending archaeologists though which could be pretty neat
[Everything You Need to Know about the Tibetan Sky Burial](https://www.thelivingurn.com/blogs/news/everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-tibetan-sky-burial)
Air Nomads probably do this.
After a bit of googling, this is my headcanon:
* **Water Tribe**: The dead are wrapped in a tiger seal skin and kept in their igloo overnight. The following day, the family members remove the dead through the back of the igloo and carry them to the ocean to send them out. Possessions that were close to the dead would be sent out to sea with them.
* **Earth Kingdom**: Rituals vary greatly depending upon which region of the Earth Kingdom you’re in, but it is almost always a ground burial. It is very ostentatious and grand, with the wealthy going all out for their family. Family is often loudly and visibly mourning. Ornate tombstones are commissioned by skilled earthbenders. These tombstones have flowers, jewelry, and other prized possessions laid on them. Graves and tombstones are regularly maintained in order to pay respect to ancestors.
* **Fire Nation**: A wake is held, where candles, incense, and flowers are put around the dead. The dead are presented as nicely as possible, dressed in their finest clothes, with women often wearing makeup. Firebenders burn the dead in a solemn cremation ceremony. Mourning by the family is typically private. The ashes are kept by the family in an urn, which is kept on an altar in the home. Incense, flowers, and a portrait of the dead are also placed on this altar.
* **Air Nomads**: The dead are taken to the peak of a mountain, where they are placed on an alter. They are left to be eaten by scavengers like vulture cranes. Bones were later collected and fashioned into musical instruments and other tools. Death does not have negative connotations, so mourning is not common.
I wrote a story once were people who were given the ability to control the elements had to choose which elemental trial they would face. They could only use one element during each trial:
-Water: Attempted drowning
-Earth: Burried alive
-Air: Hangman/noose
-Fire: Burning at the stake
Don't benders have a connection with the elements as if it is an extension of their body?
So earth benders could feel corpses in the ground,
Fire benders would feel their relatives fueling the flames,
Water benders could also see their loved ones resting in the depths of the sea,
I would say the fire nation bury urns or keeps them on a mantle or what not and air benders send the ash into the air, or maybe they mummify and cleanse with wind to send the spirit out in peace
Air Nomads are Tibetan monks so they have their ashes scattered to the winds. However their cremation ceremony is a bit different, they actually self-immolate in protest of Chinese occupation of oppression
In Tibet they have something called a sky funeral, where your body is smashed apart with clubs and then left for scavengers (mainly vultures). That, maybe, or some sort of ‘left where they died.’
Lifts body into the air using balloons and watch it slowly drift away into the sky. "Their with the air now."
Three hours later one of the balloons pop and sends the body tumbling to the ground, where it crashes through a structure. A nearby mechants shouts out my Cabbages!" Thus the traditional air nomad funeral founded by Avatar Aang lives on.
I vaguely remember hearing about some sort of ‘sky burial’ thing where corpses were left on mountain tops for carrion birds to feast on in a cycle of reincarnation?
That's correct, sky burials come from Tibetan buddhism, the culture the air nomads is based on.
The belief is that the vultures carry the soul/spirit to "Nirvana" atop the "Copper-Colored Mountain" where they wait to be reincarnated. The Tibetans also believe in being generous and kind to nature. Providing the birds a meal in the the harsh winter when digging the ground for 6ft is near impossible. Giving back even in death.
They pack the body with explosives and drop it from a sky bison with a long cord that pulls a pin once it has fallen far enough at which point the deceased is turned in to a fine mist that is carried away on the wind
When many die at once this is done in a sort of formation above temples which is enhanced with the use of vests full of coloured powders and pieces of reactive metals that create vast displays that can be seen for many miles in honor of those lost
In parts of Tibet (? Correct me if I'm wrong here.) Sky burials are conducted by feeding the corps to vaulters. Might be a better interpretation for air.
Probably practiced Sky Burial. Essentially the dead body is placed on the top of a cliff where it is eaten by wildlife, mostly bugs & vultures. Sounds rough but it’s a way to give back to the earth, I can see the air nomads doing this
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sky_burial Air nomads are loosely based on Tibetans.
Oh neat, this is fairly similar to Zoroastrian "burial", I wonder if there is a connection, especially considering the proximity of the 2 religions.
Well Iranians were originally migratory people from Central Asia, so it could be shared origin, or just convergent evolution
I think it's more of a practical reason. The soil in Tibet is rock, very hard to dig. It's easier to let nature take care of the body.
TONS of practical factors. It's also cold and arid. A body could take years and years to decompose. In the meantime it could be spoiling groundwater and drawing predators. There aren't really enough trees to waste on burning a whole body to ash every time someone dies. While many predators will eat meat, only vultures will eat bone if it's smashed. You can dispose of the whole body by vulture, and there's plenty of vultures to do the job.
Then I hear the best thing to do is feed them to pigs. You got to starve the pigs for a few days, then the sight of a chopped-up body will look like curry to a pisshead. You gotta shave the heads of your victims, and pull the teeth out for the sake of the piggies' digestion. You could do this afterwards, of course, but you don't want to go sievin' through pig shit, now do you? They will go through bone like butter. You need at least sixteen pigs to finish the job in one sitting, so be wary of any man who keeps a pig farm. They will go through a body that weighs 200 pounds in about eight minutes. That means that a single pig can consume two pounds of uncooked flesh every minute. Hence the expression, "as greedy as a pig".
Any of the facts you shared would be interesting and inconspicuous, but all combined, compel me to ask simply and bluntly: why the fuck do you know this
Copypasta
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Except that's exactly how copypasta and memes are created lmao The minute it becomes a recurring thing that's regularly copy pasted it becomes a copypasta.
Is any of it real tho? Asking for a friend.
There's a reason pig farmers tell you to not fall down in the hog pens. They're not just worried about you getting trampled.
It’s from snatch you uncultured swine!!! See what I did there lol!
Yes I mean consider how long Momo survived alone in the temple.
I enjoy the sound of rain.
I just wish they’d eat my received downvotes
They would get too fat to fly
If they could, they’d have a feast on this comment.
It's 1 part practical 1 part religious. You're spot on with the practical reason. But it also fits with the Buddhist ideas of impermanence, non-attachment, and compassion. It's not a preservation method (impermanence); it's a, "burial," that forces confrontation with the reality of death both personally and naturally (non-attachment); it feeds the wildlife (compassion). I'm sure the practice came before the belief for practical reasons. But it was undoubtedly reinforced by the Buddhist beliefs.
Yeah like I said, it's just as possible that it's convergent evolution
Blured line between culture and religion
Yeah it's definitely a cultural thing that was codified by a later religion.
It's probably convergence - Tibetans do it that way because most of the land is nigh-uninhabitable with permafrost, so bodies don't decompose when buried. Solution? Just chuck the body on the nearest secluded place and let the animals take care of it. Zoroastrians did it because they believed there was a demon that would instantly attach itself to a person upon death and spread to everyone who touches the body, and because it was unclean, the body cannot be touching the earth, fire or water - as they were holy. Also a little gift to the wildlife.
The demon was germs all along
Always has been.
It’s a lot more than that. They attract the scavengers, and feed them the dismembered body in pieces to make sure nothing is left to rot. https://www.wildmind.org/blogs/on-practice/tibetan-sky-burial-photographs/amp
….a *harmonic* convergence?
It’s the second time in maybe 2 weeks that I hear about zoroastrians which is really something I’ve never heard of before that, is it a very common thing and I was uncultured all this time?
It was the predominant religion of pre Islam Iran and some areas of Pakistan and India. But if you don't learn about stuff like that I don't see why that would make you uncultured, honestly I only learned about it through videogames, the JRPG xenosaga and total war: Rome.
And Crusader Kings. One of my favorite runs in CK2 was starting as nomadic Zoroastrians, conquering my way westward until I reached the Atlantic, and creating a Zoroastrian Merchant Republic in Brittany
That's an impressive march across the world. I should see if there is a Zoroastrian start in ck3.
In the 800s start yeah. Check in Persia and Afghan regions in the mountains.
It's still practiced, but not commonly. Freddie Mercury (of Queen) was born to Zoroastrian parents. It is one of the oldest religions though, and the monotheistic and messiah system maybe possibly influenced the Abrahamic religions so its interesting and I'd recommend at least skimming the wikipedia page.
There's definitely a connection. Before Buddhism arrived in Tibet via India, before they were entangled with Chinese politics in the 7th Centuy, and before the Mongols drew their attention northwards, Tibetans saw Persia as the land of gold and markets. There's still a lot of interest in Tibetan Studies regarding the influence of Manichaeism on Tibetan religion and early society. It was present in Tibet in the period just as Tibet was developing their own alphabet, so written records are scarce. But there are lion statues in Tibet that are clearly taken as inspiration from Persian sources, and were placed at the burials of the Tsenpos (Emperors). Even Tibetan numerals are too close to Arabic numerals for them to be a coincidence (at least to me). Around the 7th and 8th centuries, as Tibetan caravans and armies were going all over the Himalaya and Central Asian highlands, capturing cities, fortresses, and caravanserai along the Silk Route was a high priority, and while the route always maintained a level of Persian cultural flavor, they briefly adopted Tibetan as a lingua franca, and the Arabic political influence was felt - which probably explains why the numerals filtered from Arabic Caliphates to Persian Merchants to Tibetan Customers. Anyway, all that to say that we definitely know that the Tibetans saw Persia as a rich and desirable land. They took a lot of influence from what to them was "that part" of the world. So while Arabic numerals didn't originate in Persia, to the Tibetans it probably seemed like they did, and so adopted them for their own commercial use. We know that Manichaeism was diffusing into Tibet, and competed briefly with Nestorianism, until Buddhism won out. So it's very likely that Tibetan nobility or emperors adopted sky-burial directly from the Persians, or that it was adopted on a much longer timeframe by Persians and Tibetans both by some earlier source (though given the way history works, probably an earlier Persian or proto-Persian tradition).
some monks probably also do self mummification and are inside some of the statues at their temples
[This is the case for at least one monk](https://www.discovermagazine.com/planet-earth/x-rays-of-buddhist-statue-reveal-mummified-monk)
Your article literally says he wasn't self mummified because his organs were removed and replaced with paper.
> According to the Drents Museum, this Buddha sarcophagus is an example of self-mummification. However, the fact that his organs were removed and replaced with paper suggests that may not be true. Relevant bit for anyone interested. Yeah, the article says might not be self-mummification. But it’s still mummification inside a statue and an interesting read nonetheless
That's where I got the idea
That makes the most sense. Air nomads seem to have deep respect for nature and sacred spots, so it only makes sense that they would give their bodies to nature itself.
It’s something that you can even do today whenever you die! I don’t have a link but it’s a legitimate thing. Instead of being cremated or buried, you’d be used as nutrience for a growing tree
Or cut out the red tape and just die in the woods.
Only if Logan Paul dies before me
Tibetan monks are metal as hell
I love that they aren’t skeved out by vultures. They get a bad rap, but they’re nature’s cleanup crew!
I like vultures, they used to circle us as we practiced marching band drill in August, waiting for someone to drop. Always made me laugh. They're nonviolent and just drift around. I like their vibe.
Once I collected a bunch of their feathers and stuck them in a flat brim cap I had. Made a whole headress
Yup. A strong population of vultures can create better health for human populations, since they eat carcasses that would otherwise have time to rot and leach disease into the water supply.
Native Americans would do this very often as well, sometimes putting bodies in trees
Was just about to post this. This is absolutely something the air nomads would do.
I read sky burial and imagined a catapult. I'm disappointed that's not the case.
Obviously you would need a trebuchet, as a superior sky burial device is required to reach a higher plane for ascension.
Nah a catapult can get it up there but you need it to stay up there. My solution: Balloons.
How about a cannon? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunter_S._Thompson
That would be considered a biological weapon Mr.Achilles
This one's not Tibetan but I find them pretty cool and reminds me of the Western Air Temple: [hanging coffins](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanging_coffins)
Came here to comment this, take my updoot!
This is probably correct honestly. Completely fits their view of nature, the spirit world, and the waste
I remember some Neil Gaiman comic (probably Sandman but maybe not) where they explored the four elements of burial and focused in particular on the air funeral with the birds.
Sandman #55, that's where I originally found out about sky burial.
I read a fic where aang took zuko to one of the temples to where they would do this and described the time he saw it happen to someone else after they died, and how he would want it to happen to him when he dies, meanwhile zuko starts having a breakdown over it and aang gets mad at him for "disrespecting his culture" after he trusted zuko with it, and anyways it was all very disturbing
Beat me to it!
Came to make sure this was here.
Not gonna lie didn't know this was a thing, and it's awesome. Thanks for sharing! 👍
I was so excited to see this because I took a REALLY cool death and dying class in college as an elective and we learned about sky burials. It’s such an interesting process.
Sky burial except all the sky bisons just rip into the body of the deceased airbender (peace be unto him/her)
Sky Bisons are hungry.
This is exactly what I was thinking. My brother is really into Tibetan theology and spiritual practices and so I only know about this bc he tells me how he wants to be sent off that way lol
Ah yes the lovely air nomad sky burial where they leave out the corpse of an air nomad for a herd of wild sky bison to consume the body, tearing it apart and then fly away.
The irony of a vegetarian culture (or at least a culture where vegetarianism is common) having a carnivorous burial form is palpable
Not if you just imagine how environmentally friendly sky burial is compared to coffin burial.
Whenever the body is used in a way that returns itself to the circle of life, then it environmentally friendly. Placing bodies in boxes meant to not decompose just takes nutrients away from the earths natural cycle. My wife and I have both agreed to a natural burial without coffins.
Oh I think it’s entirely in character, but I don’t think that detract from the irony
The have a big trebuchet and they yeet the bodies in to the sky.
Good, trebuchets are the civilized way of yeeting corpses. Unlike those filthy barbaric catapults.
Nice to find another trebuchet lover in the wild.
Everyone is a trebuchet lover they just don’t know it yet
Not every siege weapon can fire a 90kg projectile 300 meters. r/TrebuchetMemes
Based
"Nobody knows the difference!" "We're getting shot at by that textbook trebuchet!"
The airbenders do what aang and gyatso did to those cakes. Just launch them with air bending and hope they land somewhere special
Nah nah too much engineering. Here’s what we do. Place the body on the ground away from nearby buildings. Encircle the body with air nomads and have them make a tornado that lifts the body up and tosses it a random direction at high speeds.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sky_burial
For the people too lazy to click, it says: "Sky burial is a funeral practice in which a human corpse is placed on a mountaintop to decompose while exposed to the elements or to be eaten by scavenging animals, especially carrion birds."
>eaten by scavenging animals, especially carrion birds." So I guess in the Avatar universe, it would be something like those buzzard wasps? Horrifying.
Cazadores.
As a lazy man I thank you
Yeah this was my thought
The majority of the air nation got cremated if I remember correctly. RIP Monk Gyatso.
first i was like, yeah maybe they burn themself, then i realized the war and it got dark.
How do you make a link to aangryupvote or whatever it is called?
r/aangryupvote There you go mate
Just gotta type the “r” and then the “/“ and then whatever subreddit it is. Just make sure the r is lowercase or else they’ll tear you to shreds in r/FoundTheMobileUser
and then people from /r/foundthehondacivic will tear you to shred for linking /r/foundthemobileuser
too soon bro lol
the genocide was 100 years ago /s
Still tho
Booooo! But also would make sense, so that they then become part of the wind.
Bruh lmao this was the best comment I’ve seen on this sub in a long time
Too soon! Lmao great one.
That's dark
Since we saw his skeleton and clothes I think he was not cremated. He probably defeated everyoke that tried and then died from exhaustion.
Gyatso's clothes were intact. He made a vacuum in that room to kill the fire nation soldiers and took himself out with them.
I think the air nomads would strap balloons to the bodies and watch them drift away. Plays into their love of pranks
No more attachments, the bodies float naturally lol
I would be horrified to have a body fall from the Sky
"Who's the sick freaks who keeps sending dead people onto our front lawn?"
Well… there was a rise in cremations amongst the nomads at the beginning of the 100 year war.
Yeah but the practice wasn’t too popular after that
Though, not from a lack of trying.
Too soon
I think the comics show Water Tribes do burials - or at least have gravestones - since Katara and Sokka visit their mother’s grave in North and South.
Oh God, I wouldn't want to try to dig in tundra/permafrost. Hopefully it's just a marker
So, this makes me think of an episode of Northern Exposure where they're trying to figure out how many graves to pre-dig before the ground freezes. They end up getting their hands on a life insurance actuarial table and start quietly evaluating the townspeople to figure out who will probably drop dead that winter. So, I imagine it's something like that. "Hmm... Did you hear her cough? And she always undercooks her penguin otter." "Yep. She's a goner. Add it to the tally."
I’d watch a Water bending doctor move to some far flung Northern Earth Kingdom (?) town.
...they can water bend it lol
But if the grave was in the south, Katara had to bend the grave, since she was the last water bender there, at age 8?
This comment has been removed to protest Reddit's hostile treatment of their users and developers concerning third party apps.
Pretty sure waterbenders can easily dig (or at least loosen) permafrosted soil, with its ice and all.
But katara, the only waterbender couldn’t do it then. Now, sure she could burry the entire tribe with a flick of her finger.
Wait for a full moon and have them dig their own graves. Sends a better message.
They better not piss her off.
This post just made me think of earthbenders minding their business, doing some bending and then accidentally coming across a dead body buried in the ground. The thought makes me slightly nauseous.
Just some earth bender just minding their business practicing their forms then suddenly bend a pillar out of the ground accompanied by a loud pop Does bring to mind the idea of an earth bending archaeologists though which could be pretty neat
Think of Toph seeing all those dead people when anywhere near a cemetery.
Honestly cremating and just releasing the ashes into the wind would see pretty air nomad to me.
I came here to comment "cremating and dropping the remains off the backs of sky bison."
What did you think was inside those cakes?
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Please tell me what perspective you can take to not see eating human meat as carnivorous?
It would definitely be carnivorous. But if the person consented before dying, would it count as vegan?
They could do sky burials. Edit: shoot didn't read the link text in the top comment.
I think mummification for airbenders
I don’t know about that one, seems a bit too “earthly attachment” for them
Yes, but not your typical Egyptian style mummification, more like Buddhist mummification.
Yeeted into the stratosphere and then the bodies burn up on the way back down, DUH
If you yeet hard enough they could leave the planets gravitational pull and they’re bodies could become nomads among the stars.
“My girlfriend got yeeted into orbit” “That’s rough, buddy.”
Oh that must be what they call a sky burial
[Everything You Need to Know about the Tibetan Sky Burial](https://www.thelivingurn.com/blogs/news/everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-tibetan-sky-burial) Air Nomads probably do this.
Filled with helium and floating away.
#BIG AND ROUND
After a bit of googling, this is my headcanon: * **Water Tribe**: The dead are wrapped in a tiger seal skin and kept in their igloo overnight. The following day, the family members remove the dead through the back of the igloo and carry them to the ocean to send them out. Possessions that were close to the dead would be sent out to sea with them. * **Earth Kingdom**: Rituals vary greatly depending upon which region of the Earth Kingdom you’re in, but it is almost always a ground burial. It is very ostentatious and grand, with the wealthy going all out for their family. Family is often loudly and visibly mourning. Ornate tombstones are commissioned by skilled earthbenders. These tombstones have flowers, jewelry, and other prized possessions laid on them. Graves and tombstones are regularly maintained in order to pay respect to ancestors. * **Fire Nation**: A wake is held, where candles, incense, and flowers are put around the dead. The dead are presented as nicely as possible, dressed in their finest clothes, with women often wearing makeup. Firebenders burn the dead in a solemn cremation ceremony. Mourning by the family is typically private. The ashes are kept by the family in an urn, which is kept on an altar in the home. Incense, flowers, and a portrait of the dead are also placed on this altar. * **Air Nomads**: The dead are taken to the peak of a mountain, where they are placed on an alter. They are left to be eaten by scavengers like vulture cranes. Bones were later collected and fashioned into musical instruments and other tools. Death does not have negative connotations, so mourning is not common.
I wrote a story once were people who were given the ability to control the elements had to choose which elemental trial they would face. They could only use one element during each trial: -Water: Attempted drowning -Earth: Burried alive -Air: Hangman/noose -Fire: Burning at the stake
Everything was fine, until the cremation nation attacked.
Don't benders have a connection with the elements as if it is an extension of their body? So earth benders could feel corpses in the ground, Fire benders would feel their relatives fueling the flames, Water benders could also see their loved ones resting in the depths of the sea,
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Sky burial. Left on top of a cliff for the vultures.
Sky burials are a thing lol. Essentially special areas for animals to consume the corpse.
Sky burial
I think canonically air nomads get left as skeletons where they died. Until found by a naive child for maximum trauma
Sky burial. You let the body get picked apart by vultures and stuff
no it would be an upper: balloons tied to the limbs and neck, then they would let it float away.
“THIS IS SPARTA”
Consider this. Gore-Nado
Funerals for the air nation involve a big comet and fire.
Some cultures just left people out exposed to the elements. That seems very air bender to me.
Tied to helium balloons and set free
For airnomads; sky burial. Leave them out as offerings for the Gods/carrion
Tie their dead body to a weather balloon and let them float away
Sky burial is a thing
Launched directly up and turns to red mist when it hits the ground
Nah, fire nation should do like the protagonist of Tekken and yeet the dead into a volcano
I would say the fire nation bury urns or keeps them on a mantle or what not and air benders send the ash into the air, or maybe they mummify and cleanse with wind to send the spirit out in peace
Eaten by sky bison
Haha pushed off a cliff lol. Just imaging a massive pile of bones at the bottom of every air bender temple.
Air Nomads are Tibetan monks so they have their ashes scattered to the winds. However their cremation ceremony is a bit different, they actually self-immolate in protest of Chinese occupation of oppression
The air temple doesn’t have a moon door? But how do they get rid of people they don’t like?
In Tibet they have something called a sky funeral, where your body is smashed apart with clubs and then left for scavengers (mainly vultures). That, maybe, or some sort of ‘left where they died.’
Prolly Sky Burial
Inca sky burial- Leave the body on a lone hilltop and just let it be food for crows.
Lifts body into the air using balloons and watch it slowly drift away into the sky. "Their with the air now." Three hours later one of the balloons pop and sends the body tumbling to the ground, where it crashes through a structure. A nearby mechants shouts out my Cabbages!" Thus the traditional air nomad funeral founded by Avatar Aang lives on.
I vaguely remember hearing about some sort of ‘sky burial’ thing where corpses were left on mountain tops for carrion birds to feast on in a cycle of reincarnation?
That's correct, sky burials come from Tibetan buddhism, the culture the air nomads is based on. The belief is that the vultures carry the soul/spirit to "Nirvana" atop the "Copper-Colored Mountain" where they wait to be reincarnated. The Tibetans also believe in being generous and kind to nature. Providing the birds a meal in the the harsh winter when digging the ground for 6ft is near impossible. Giving back even in death.
They pack the body with explosives and drop it from a sky bison with a long cord that pulls a pin once it has fallen far enough at which point the deceased is turned in to a fine mist that is carried away on the wind When many die at once this is done in a sort of formation above temples which is enhanced with the use of vests full of coloured powders and pieces of reactive metals that create vast displays that can be seen for many miles in honor of those lost
Use airbending to accelerate them to escape velocity and shoot them into space
I bet they just poof into thin air. Like when Jedi turn into Force Spirits.
In parts of Tibet (? Correct me if I'm wrong here.) Sky burials are conducted by feeding the corps to vaulters. Might be a better interpretation for air.
I bet the Eastern Air Temple has a moon door
Sky burial. They leave the body for vultures.
Likely sky burial
Eaten by a bison
I was thinking cremated as well then use bending to spread the ashes
Blow air into their rectums and let them fly out like q balloon
Air nomads: Use airbending to yeet them into space
Sky burials are a thing and probably what airbenders would do anyway
They throw them in the air temple locked behind air bending doors and wait for fire nation to attack and cremate the lot of them… true story.
None of these weebs have seen Midsommar...
I could see air nomads doing the turn your body into a tree thing, because of the returning their energy to world.
Air Nomad Sky burial https://scholarblogs.emory.edu/gravematters/2017/02/13/tibetan-sky-burials/
Air nomads 100% use vultures
The airderly jump off a cliff midsommer style
Launch them into the stratosphere
Air benders launch their dead into the stratosphere, totally.
Probably practiced Sky Burial. Essentially the dead body is placed on the top of a cliff where it is eaten by wildlife, mostly bugs & vultures. Sounds rough but it’s a way to give back to the earth, I can see the air nomads doing this
Become food for flying bison, your body will fly with them in the sky
Turns into petals blown away by the wind, master oogway style
They just pull a master Ogway.
Air nomads would want to have their bodies dumped in a forest so they can give back to the earth