Mortuary preparation involved ritual wailing and other ceremonies, building a fire, removing the visceral organs, and finally roasting the body. The decedent's closest kin would not consume the body, but they urged the attendant relatives to eat. Consumption of the flesh would assuage the family's grief, as it meant that the soul of the deceased would be kept in the living bodies of relatives instead of being abandoned to wander the forest alone. The practice was considered equally an act of compassion, affinal love, and grief. The relatives were encouraged to eat what they could, but this sometimes amounted to little more than small tokens of the spoiled meat. Even this consumption often caused the mourners great gastric distress. The heart and liver were eaten, but much of the body and hair was burned.