The ‘Kispu’

It seems to have taken place for preference in the ‘sacred’ part of the house; the wing of the ‘icons’, under the floor of which – in accordance with an ancient custom – the family dead were interred. It was believed that, besides the bones of the dead… there existed what was called the ‘phantom’ (the ‘shade,’ ‘spirit’ or ‘soul’ of our own folklore)… of what the dead person had been like in life, rather as seen in dreams… Placed under the ground by the obligatory rite of burying the body, this phantom reached what would from then on be his own and final ‘home’: Hell, a sort of immense underground cavern covering the same area as our world. All the dead were gathered there, under the rule of the infernal gods, after being governed on earth by the gods of the heavens. There they led a solemn, dull, parsimonious and mournful life. Although they no longer had the same need for daily and plentiful food and drink as they had felt in their prime on earth, they still required a little, now and then, to feed their meager survival. The kispu repast – to which they were invited, their place marked, and in which they mysteriously came to participate – partly provided for that need, and it was a sacred duty of those still living to celebrate it with more or less solemnity and splendor, depending on their individual means. (Everyday Life)