In Lirbexper belief, the afterlife begins as a member of a war party in the battle against various supernatural entities. Some parts of the ritual praxis and religious literature in part is meant to prepare the members for this battle. However, as mentioned, this is a party. Not just one person.
Upon death, a person undergoes a short primary temporary interment, waiting for a full party to be assembled. At this interment, ritual symbolic weapons and devices for resting are given. The actual ritualized part of it is very short. The afterlife is not considered to have begun yet - this is a gray zone between dead and alive, and for certain types of religious observances, one is considered alive. (So, for instance, the family should still mention their recently dead in certain rituals.)
After this, the body is left to wait until a sufficiently large group of dead is assembled - usually 8 or more, depending partially on ages and status of the dead - preferably, someone who has achieved certain religious ranks should be included, in order to be able to ensure the strength of the party. Once a sufficient group is assembled, the actual funeral is performed for the entire party, and the families of the dead will arrange a celebration where the whole community together wish the dead luck in their raids, and also reminisce about them.
The date for the funeral is decided based on several types of divination, including astrology. Certain communities may also decide the burial place depending on the results of divination. Usually, a shared monument is raised at the place of burial.
Rituals
There are fairly standardized liturgies used at the first and second funeral; the bodies are clothed and equipped after a standardized manner. Symbolic weapons - and sometimes real weapons - are given to the dead at the second funeral. At the first funeral, the gifts are meant to give the dead person rest until the challenges ahead.
Complications - found bodies, lost bodies
Certain kinds of accidents or injuries may cause the body to be lost, and may sometimes even leave mourners unsure as to whether a person even has died. This may especially be the case with travelers who die far away. After a certain time, an effigy of the lost person may be buried with a group, but is not counted towards the full number - in the case of a mistake, the effigy would otherwise reduce the actual number of participants, and this must be avoided.
An unknown, found body is likewise sometimes buried with a group, but not counted: the body may already have been included in effigy elsewhere. Also, in case he is not a member of the community, it is assumed he will not be participating in the party, as the afterlife is assumed to work differently for other communities. If the body seems to be very recently dead, it will be left to wait at least a month. This can be cause for postponing a burial of an established group.
During this month, inquiries may also be done to other communities, to identify the corpse, in which case the originating community may take care of the body instead.
In both of the cases where the corpse is buried with a group, the officiant will also read a petition for forgiveness - in case the ritual causes additional bother to one who already has undergone it or in case the ritual causes irrelevant bother to someone who is not meant to participate in it. In case an effigy is present, an invitation to any non-buried dead of the faith is also extended in case the intended addressee does not need it.
Controversies
In more modern times, the question of whether you really have to be buried together with someone who you fear appeared. Especially people who had been abused by certain other members of the community may fear having to endure a considerable chunk of their afterlife with their abusers. Originally, clergy opposed such considerations, as it was against tradition, as well as against the will of God: had he chosen that you should die near the time of another person's death, he clearly wanted the two of you in the same team.
However, the undeniable evidence that noblemen, clergy, and even just generally rich people always had been able to get their wishes respected, including wishes such as not to be buried with commoners, or to be buried with particular types of people - to the point where people sometimes were killed in order to accommodate such wishes, medium-conservative clergy would over time start accepting such requests from commoners as well.
Conservative clergy, however, would reject these concerns. Radical clergy held that the afterlife was a myth, and the burial ceremonies were just a way of illustrating very clearly that we are all the same in the face of death, regardless of behavior or achievements, and for this reason worked hard to remove the privilege of choice from the upper classes instead.
