Here's an addition to the Sea Season Calendar. I found an old version of Plough Day and expanded a bit upon it.
The ceremony that precedes Plough Day is the Boundary Day, when the clands are walked and reaffirmed with the neighboring clans, the Lady of the Wilds and the reawakened Ernalda. Plough Day reconnects the fields to the Grain Goddess, making them fit for cultivation.
The plough must be a special one, to be used only in this ritual. And it must be drawn by a cow and a bull. The field is not ploughed as usual but in a circular fashion starting with the boundaries of the field spiralling into the middle, where the Mahome/Ernalda/Giver of Life stands (his wife).
In the evening the myths about Barntar and Mahome are told around the communal fire, and the life-blood of a cow and a bull are sacrificed to the Earth. The meat is shared among the celebrants, and the bones are ritually buried. The skulls are stored in the Earth Temple.
Notes:
Any objects found when ploughing are held to be sacred to Barntar but belongs to the farmer who found it. There is a myth about Barntar and Asrelia concerning the finding of buried treasures and to whom it belongs. It's propably based on a law suit, but was heroquested into the myths.
I'm not an agriculturalist myself so i don't have a clue
about the amount of land to be ploughed. Either it's a
communal ritual and the whole of the clan's fields are
summarily ploughed, or it's a family ceremony and every
household plough their own fields.
- -------
Hope you liked it. I'll post my Dark Season Calendar next.
If you have any cultural ceremonies written down, collecting digital dust on your disc, post them to the digest! Or send them to me!
Spiralling out of summer...
Powered by hypermail