Soooo, here I come with another Vulcan culture ask! This time I'm curious about Vulcan perception of death. Like, I know katras and kaiidth play a big role in it, but I was hoping for some more in-depth explanations and details. Thank you!
Na'Shaya! Thank you for your question.
Vulcans tend to be really secretive about their rituals, so not much is known by outworlders regarding something as intimate as mourning and funerary customs. As you mentioned, the stoic philosophy behind the concept of Kaiidth probably influences their view of mourning (@mayapleiades wrote an incredible post about the meaning of Kaiidth by the way!). I think the following quote by Spock also expands on this worldview: Accepting death - by understanding that every life comes to an end, when time demands it. Loss of life is to be mourned, but only if the life was wasted.
Tuvok also mentions an interesting Vulcan funerary prayer: May your death bring you the peace you never found in life. We can extrapolate from this that death is viewed (not unlike in many Terran cultures) as something not necessarily negative, but rather a state of rest, free from all suffering.
We also know that Vulcan religion recognizes a figure called Kal-ap-ton, the personification of necessary grief, depicted as a tall, gaunt young man in mourning attire who carries a small pouch full of tears. Like all figures in Vulcan polytheism, he has a darker counterpart: Tyr-al-tep, the Unforgiver, who makes Vulcans forget about what is and brood only in the past, in the possibilities of what might have been, and in the ways they should have treated the deceased differently before their departure. (I am currently putting together a post on Vulcan polytheism as well, so keep your eyes peeled if you're interested in learning more!).
Vulcan legends also speak of ghosts that haunt certain locations seeped in tragedy. For example, the area of Golgatya in the L-Langon Mountains is said to be haunted by the souls of warriors killed centuries ago by the warlord Tokar, who used his mind powers to scatter their katras upon the wind. The veracity of these claims has never been confirmed.
What we do know for sure, of course, is that it is possible for Vulcans to preserve their katra (a combination of their soul and their memories) in a vessel called a katric arc, or to pass them directly to another person. This is culturally used for important figures in Vulcan culture or politics to designate a successor, as the keeper would have access to the knowledge and experience of their predecessor. More than a way of cheating death, it plays an important part in the preservation of tradition and the development of different disciplines.
We also know it is technically possible for Vulcans to re-unite a preserved katra with the corresponding deceased body to bring a Vulcan back to life in a ritual called fal-tor-pan (“refusion”), but it is worth noting that this ritual is so dangerous and rare that some Vulcans do not believe it can be performed at all.
Regarding Vulcan funerary customs specifically, we know that mummification was historically performed in the monasteries and sanctuaries up until the Age of Expansion, presumably only for the priestesses, masters and other important figures. The mummies were normally kept in the catacombs. Here are some pictures of them:
Modern Vulcan funerary services, however, are also a tradition dating back to the Time of the Beginning. They are usually performed at their respective clan's ancestral lands (much like other ceremonies such as marriages and child bonding). The ceremonies are short and simple, attended only by about a dozen of the closest family members, and the body is not present. The espouse of the deceased might say a few words about them, and they then use a bucket of water to extinguish a circle of burning coals, which represent the deceased Vulcan's life and mental connection to their family. After this, the traditional gong is struck to signify the end of the ceremony. Tadition dictates that the espouse and children of the deceased return to their home on foot together after the ceremony.
Vulcans who die in service at Starfleet seem to receive a military funeral very similar to that of non-Vulcans to dispose of their bodies. However, the traditional ceremony in their clan's grounds might be performed by their family in addition to the Starfleet funeral.
To finish, I leave you with some words you might hear at a Vulcan funerary service. This may, of course, vary from individual to individual and from clan to clan:
- Dor-tor etek nash-gad vokaya t'XXX - sa-fu t'YYY.
Nam-tor ek'etek nelauk k'tevakh hi vesht tvidonik k'ha'kiv t'osa-veh. (Today we honor the memory of XXX, son of YYY. We are all diminished by his death but we were enriched by his life.)
- Dor-tor etek nash-gad o'ish-veh -- doran sa-telsu - doran sa-mekh -
doran sa-kai - doran ek'talsu. Noshau ha'kiv t'o'ish-veh wuhkuh
t'dan-fudaya eh t'dan-vam (Today we honor him: We honor the husband, the father, the brother, the scientist. His life is one to be held in the highest regard and esteem.) (NOTE: this section may, of course, be altered to reflect the appropriate gender, relationships and profession of the deceased, this is just an example).
- Pi'maat heh t'hai'lu -- sochya eh dif. (My family and friends . . . peace and long life.)
-(reply): Dif-tor heh smusma. (Live long and prosper.)
Sources: The Fire and the Rose by David R. George III, Spock's World by Diane Duane, VLI, Memory Alpha, ENT, TAS, VOY, The Wrath of Khan, The Search for Spock.
