Fecharese people

The Fecharese people (Fecharese: Fecaricow ) are an ethnic group native to Fechara, who speak the Fecharese language.

Social organisation
In every community, metro area or citystate, there is an assemly, a council and a matriarch.

The assembly is made up by the public. Anyone part of a trade house and currently living in the area may cast an opinion, a vote or submit members of council. Priests are not allowed to vote as part of the assembly.

Council members are elected randomly from a list of names submitted by the assembly. People are not allowed to campaign to join the council. Anyone above a certain age (on average around 25–30 years old, varies between regions) who is not a criminal and has lived in the are for a certain amount of years can join the council.

Matriarchs are the highest authority in a community. They are given the status of a divine mother, becoming the universal mother of the everyone in the community. Because of this, matriarchs are expected to remain celibate and childless.

Potential matriachs are scouted by the matriarch's sisters when the current one has reached old age. A group of matriachs are selected at a young age and, afterwards, trained to become caring matriarchs. Once a matriarch dies or renounces, the local council elects a new marchiarch and the other trainees become sisters. Sisters get automatic membership in the coucil. Occasionally a boy is selected to become a matriarch in training if they meet the criteria the sisters are looking for. More rarely is that the boy is elected by the council to become the matriarch.

Hair
Hair is an important part of Fecharese culture. Fecharese people believe that hair traps negative energy in the form of pain, suffering, illness and negative thoughts and said negative energy causes hair damage and hair loss. Godgodtefimaswe, an evil spirit made of hair, is believed to bring bad luck, filth and laziness.

Pregnancy rituals
When a Fecharese person is pregnant, they take a strand of their hair, braid it and tie it around an egg. When the baby is born, the top of the egg is be broken, a couple seeds are placed inside and the egg is buried in a place of significance for the mother. The seeds represent a special quality the mother wishes to give to the baby. For example, mint represents inner peace, guava represent happiness and tamarind represents assertiveness.

In the case of a miscarriage, the egg is emptied, cleaned and filled with dried up aromatic leaves and duck duvet. Then, the egg is encased in clay, cooked and put in a funeral niche.

Funerals


When a Fecharese person dies, their body is prepared. A thick tuft of the hair is braided, cut off and coated with a layer of wax. The rest of the hair is cut off and burried. After cutting the hair off, the body is cremated and its ashes are put in an urn which are later deposited into funeral niches.

The family may choose to put the niche in either a public graveyard tree or in the mausoleum in the deceased's home. Public niches are birdhouse shaped, with a hole, a door and the deceased's name engraved in the front. Their insides contain the funeral urn with the deceased's braid coiled around it. Private niches hang from a rope in between a tablet engraved with the deceased’s name and the braid. These niches have a door in the back to access the chamber that contains the funeral urn.