This nifty little ceremony is an addition to the other Sea Season rituals i mentioned in the Calendar article.
I wonder why nobody has yet commented upon it. Was it *that* bad? If i don't get any comments on it i might be so disappointed i won't post the other Season Calendar. Or, perhaps i'll do it just to annoy you ;).
BOUNDARY STONES: THE LANDNAMA OF THE ORLANTHI
The Orlanthi make a distinction between the Wilds and the Clan Lands [or
'clands' for short], the boundaries of which they mark with special stones. The
Wilds is unclaimed land where dangerous spirits and critters roam freely. It
belongs to the Lady of the Wilds. The Clands on the other hand are 'civilized'
[=inhabited] and thus warded [in a way] from free-roaming denizens of the
Wilds.
This is done by Planting the Boundary Stones [large enough to be easily
noticed,
small enough to be transported by a culturally dependent number of men, usually
two].
It is a quite elaborate process involving Recital of Claims to the Land by the
Power of the Storm, Recognition of the Power of the Lady of the Wilds over her
own Lands, and a lot of other oaths, memorised by the Lawspeakers. Under every
stone is buried bones of predators. The stones are ceremonially painted with a
mixture of red ochre, milk and blood, and blessed by an Ernalda Priestess and a
Storm Voice [preferrably married to each other]. Orlanthi never claim more land
than they could possibly use. If the clan grows unexpectedly large, the
boundary
stones is moved to claim the needed land.
Planting of the Stones is not done often in a clan's history, fortunately,
as it
involves the whole clan. When the boundary stones mark the border between
different Clands, as when a clan splits in two, or a new clan is founded, the
ceremony is a little different and involves lot of Eternal Kinship and
Brotherly
Peace oaths.
The Walking of the Boundary is done every Sea Season though. It involves a
quick
blessing and repainting of the stones. Claims to the Land is recited by the
families' representatives as is the The Oath to the Lady of the Wilds, or, if
the boundary is between Clands, the Oath of Kinship. It is a communal ceremony
but only a single member of every family need be there, usually the family
elder.
Notes:
The Walking of the Boundaries is closely connected with the Plough Day of Barntar, which it should precede. The relation of the rituals is something like this:
The Ritual of Walking the Boundaries of the Clands is in a way a renewal of the clands, which must be ritually awakened and presented to Ernalda, before the fields may be ploughed.
If they are not 'readied' in this manner the soil will be barren during the year as it doesn't get to be reaffirmed with the Goddess or infused with the return-to-life-energies coalescing within the earth.
The ceremony is based on Orlanth's/Umath's Land Claiming - a myth i haven't really written yet.
--oooOOOOooo--
Spiralling ever onwards...
End of Glorantha Digest V2 #42
WWW material at http://hops.wharton.upenn.edu/~loren/rolegame.html
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