In many Orthodox Christian countries - primarily in Eastern Europe and parts of the Middle East - kollyva is made following the death of a loved one to be blessed at the funeral and at the memorials held over the first forty days following the death, at the 6 and 12-month anniversary memorials, and thereafter at the memorials held on the yearly anniversaries of the death. There are certain other holidays and events it is prepared for, but in our culture it is generally associated with funerals and the dead, a bittersweet reminder that when "a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies...it produces much grain" (John 12:24).
