>For what it is worth, I think that these daily activities are wrought with
>ritual significance and certainly can be acts of worship. Fer instance,
>Barntar and/or Durev showed men the rites of plowing - when men plow in
>accordance to the Barntar Rites, they are performing an act of devotion to
>Barntar or Durev. Weaving as well - for what it is worth, in much of small
>town America, church weaving groups are commonplace.
Additionally, it seems to me like many daily evens would be, in essence, prayers and devotions. When you leave the stead, you offer a prayer to the Hearth. When you light a fire, you sing the fire-lighting song that pleases Mahome. If you are up to greet the dawn, you should cry "Elmal, Elmal, friendly sun, guide my day 'til day is doone." (If you're hunting or on a raid, you can mumble it; Elmal likes his praise, but he's not a pig about it. A good heart counts for a lot.) It's all part of Worship Storm Tribe, although I'd lthink there might be significant differences in practice between clans maybe even between bloodlines. Initiates and devotees would know more elaborate and secret chants and rites: Raiders spit through a bone needle before a cattle raid, for example. Every carl knows the Plowing Song, but the Initiates of Barntar learn all 47 verses (containing the names of all the clods and clumps), and the Devotees have heard the true form of the song at Barntarsstead on the Holy Day. Everyone praises Ernalda when leaving the tula and Orlanth when returning (except the clans that do it the other way around), but the followers of Orlanth Adventurous know songs and rites to make them safer, to go farther, to come back.
Peter Larsen
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