If the "exta" were abnormal in any way, this was a sign of divine dissatisfaction with the offering or an error made during the rites, in which case the rites must be repeated correctly and with a fresh victim. If all seemed satisfactory, the sacrificial victim was cut up, and distributed. Most of the flesh was given to the mourners, and presumably roasted and eaten by them. A small portion of flesh for the deceased was cremated on a spit with the body or, if a burial, placed alongside it. The "exta" were burned on the portable altar, consumed by the flames as Ceres' portion. This was the last time the deceased could share a meal with the living. Once the pyre had been lit and the corpse consumed in the pyre (or simply buried and entombed), the spirit of the deceased was thought to have begun their separation from the world of the living. They could no longer share meals with the living. The separation was completed nine days later, at the "Novemdialis" ceremony.