Baba Laska

Baba Laska (which loosely translates to "Grandmother Mercy") is an otherworldly being from Hegyem folklore who serves as an intermediary for the dead. According to legend, she accompanies the souls of the dead when they stand before Argalak, the Weigher of Souls. Specifically, her role is to provide an accounting of sins that have been forgiven and should not be placed upon the Weigher's balance.   Baba Laska is represented by a wooden statue of an old woman with orange eyes wearing traditional mourning garb. The statue spends most of the year occupying some central location within the community (Little Hegyembi's statue of Baba Laska stands in a small gazebo-like structure atop Lamplighters Hall). On the final night of Vualmara, the festival of the dead, the statue of Baba Laska is paraded through the streets to a central bonfire.   Once Baba Laska is positioned in front of the bonfire, those who wish to absolve those who died in the previous year of their trespasses against them signal their forgiveness by casting a token (often a piece of parchment with words of absolution) representing their animosity into the bonfire. At the end of the night, the statue of Baba Laska is cast into the fire to carry the forgivenesss of the living into the land of the dead. In the following weeks, a new statue is prepared and placed in its position of honor.