Mid-summer/winter

From: Michael Raaterova <michael.raaterova.7033_at_student.uu.se>
Date: Thu, 25 Jul 1996 12:42:13 +0100

Mark comments:
>>I don't think midsummer and midwinter are communal
>>festivals as the orlanthi are out warring or raiding during the summer, and
>>stay indoors during winter.
>
>Hmm, part of that IMO would depend on how long the raiding season actually
>is; war and raiding seasons in many RW cultures can actually be really short
>- -- frex, if the point of the raid is to gather booty (read: supplies), then
>raids might actually only occur in the brief period _after_ the harvest and
>before the coming of winter (esp. before the wintering of target herds). A
>"midsummer" festival strikes me as a pretty good time for widespread marriage
>festivities, modelled a bit after A Midsummer Night's Dream, perhaps --
>bachelors and maidens frolicking in the woods under the auspices of Orlanth's
>bride and the occasional influence of mischievous spirits (PCs waking up the
>next day and saying "Hey wait a minute, who'd I marry?") while their anxious
>parents prepare feasts in the town square.

Of course the orlanthi have ceremonies and rituals during the summer, but i don't see them as major festivals. The Elmal Honey ceremonies take place sometime during summer, as Mahome's Ash Day and the SwordSpearShield Dance.

The major marriage festivities IMG take place during the (beltane) Sacred Tree festival, where is celebrated the hieros gamos of Orlanth and Ernalda/Barntar and Mahome under the auspices of that most exalted goddess, Uleria.

Regarding the celticness of the calendar: i use the celtic names to mark the time of year, not to signify what rituals and ceremonies take place.

>A midwinter festival, at least one that's yule-fire-based, would in fact
>probably be less communal, but the Yule Fire festivities described, IIRC, by
>Frazer in the _Golden Bough_ make an interesting model and had a communal
>element. IIRC, the individual hearth fires of the community were allowed to
>go out, and then were relit with torches brought from a central bon fire.
> This makes, IMO, an excellent festival to celebrate both Mahome and the
>dutiful actions of either Elmal as the loyal thane, perhaps as the guardian
>of the hearth?, or Yelmalio as the Winter Sun, who preserved light during the
>Darkness.

IMG there's a string of related rituals during winter, beginning with the Mourning of Ernalda during the (samain) Smallfire Festival and ending with Victory Day during the Orlanth HHD in the (imbolc) Thunder Festival.

IMG midwinter is the HHD or a HD of most Darkness deities, including Ty Kora Tek, Babs and Maran Gor and Asrelia. To the orlanthi it signifies the nadir of Ernalda's descent into hell (a la the Inanna cycle).

• ------- Michael Raaterova <.sig omitted on legal advice>

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End of Glorantha Digest V3 #68

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