Cremation of Care

experimentNo. 0025categoryRituals & ceremoniesrecordingpendingdataCC BY 4.0

The fly joins a torchlit procession in a redwood grove, follows a symbolic Care effigy across a lake by ferry and kindles the pyre at the feet of a large owl sculpture.

Setup

• A redwood grove surrounding a lake, ferry landing, altar and large weathered owl sculpture.
• Nineteen flies: the subject, an officiant, a ferryman, four bearers and twelve robed witnesses.
• Nine stages over 126 seconds: assembly, procession, embarkation, crossing, altar transfer, address, kindling, cremation and closing embers.
• Replay cremation starts at kindling. Fire, smoke and water ripples follow the timeline and reset when seeking.

Measurement

• Retinal-only neural windows during playback. The owl, boat, participating flies, effigy and flames are scene inputs; rendered smoke is excluded from retinal capture.
• Procession, ferry crossing and kindling are pre-programmed.

Limitations

• A condensed sequence based on public descriptions of the ceremony; not a survey of the Grove or a verbatim ritual script.
• The straw Care effigy is an inanimate object, not one of the participating flies.

Sources

• Peter Phillips, The Owls Are... (Jack Latham)
• Cremation of Care, Wikipedia