History; Lunar holy days

From: Nick Brooke <Nick_Brooke_at_compuserve.com>
Date: Fri, 14 Feb 1997 05:16:33 -0500



HOW LONG IS A HISTORY?
> Gloranthan history is a lot shorter than Earth's, at least since
> the Dawn.

Erm... I'd like to weigh in against this odd interpretation, which seems to rely on comparing the 20th-century modern, literate, global society we live in today with the "Bronze Age" (read: ancient through mediaeval) world of Glorantha. Here's a few examples of what I'm on about.

When the Mycenean Greeks were camped outside Troy, we don't know how much "history" they had. They could look back to the previous "end of an Age" (Theseus overthrowing the Cretan Minotaur and destroying the Minoan middle sea empire), but probably saw this in mythical/heroic terms. The heroes traced their ancestry back a few generations to the gods, and were content with that.

When Augustus Caesar made himself the first Roman Emperor, the Romans had roughly 750 years of their own "history" (the earlier half of which was at least partly mythical, since the "end of an Age" when the Gauls sacked Rome and burnt the annals), and an indeterminate chunk of mythic "pre-history" borrowed from the Greeks (mostly to do with Trojan heroes escaping from the "Iliad" to Latium).

When Charlemagne was crowned Holy Roman Emperor on Christmas Day 800 AD, none of the Dark Age Frankish nobles and bishops "remembered" the Roman Empire. It was a bygone Golden Age: although Latin history books survived in monastic libraries, they had been unread for centuries. The Frankish sense of history derived largely from the Old Testament: righteous anointed kings smote their foes with the aid of the Lord God. What had happened before them in Gaul was not really relevant to their world-view.

The start of the "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle" is a wonderful confusion of names and dates: some bits are Biblical, others are Classical, Christian, or even derived from the legendary pagan genealogies of the Migration period. It's beautifully incoherent, and represents the finest scholarship of the period. Later, we have Geoffrey of Monmouth's account of the origins of Britain (named, of course, for Brutus the Trojan), another farrago of jumbled myth and invention, again written to prove a point (that Brits are better than Romans), rather than to make much coherent sense.

Mediaeval illustrators saw the heroes of the Matter of Troy and the Old Testament as knights in shining armour; books on heraldry included the coats of arms of such diverse persons as Hector the Trojan and Judas Maccabeus.

History for ancient/mediaeval people (like myself) is *not* about how many continuous years of events we can piece together from different annalistic sources, or about how accurate our vision of the past is: it's about how we see our place in the world, what we think of as important in determining our ancestry, our faith and our rule.

It seems to me that our poster is saying, "Because I know there have been five thousand or so years of recorded history, I am better informed than Gloranthans who can only look back for 1620 or so years before history is replaced by myth". Frankly, I find this rather silly: the Dara Happans, Malkioni, Kralorelans etc. *know* that they can trace back histories for thousands of generations, while for the Sartarites the Dragonkill War was "before our time" and history begins with King Sartar, just six or seven generations back. Apart from the *really* long-running feuds, that is...

Besides, 1700 years is a *LONG* time. Things change. One of my favourite things about Glorantha (as compared to other fantasy settings) is that the history is hectic, confusing and changeable. Societies evolve and decline; belief systems change; there is a vast difference between the different Ages of history. There's none of this "the Second Age lasted for three thousand years, after which the Evil Dark Lord attacked the Good Kingdom again and the ancient alliance between Men and Trees was invoked once more" rubbish. If history worked that way, the Gulf War would have been fought as revenge for the Battle of Kadesh...

History is a *very* busy place at times. "Only 1700 years", my foot! There are serious people around today who think our world was created just 6000 years ago (and will shortly be wound up), while the Dara Happans can trace over a hundred thousand years of glorious Imperial rule. Who's got a short history now, eh?



Cory asks:

> Does anyone have the holy days for Deezola, Etyries, Irrippi Ontor
> and Black Fang? If so could they please tell me?

This is what I'm using in my work on the ritual calendar of Moonbroth Oasis (a Lunar holy place in Prax): it's unofficial, but no "official" days have been published for the individual cults of the Seven Mothers. Etyries' High Holy Day is given in GoG as coinciding with Issaries on both the Wilddays of Sacred Time, FWIW.

Jakaleel the Witch      Clayday (Black Moon), Disorder week
Teelo Norri             Windsday (Crescent Coming), Harmony week
Yanafal Tarnils         Godsday (Full Half), Death week
Queen Deezola           Fireday (Empty Half), Fertility week
Danfive Xaron           Waterday (Dying Moon), Stasis week
Etyries                 Wildday (Full Moon), Motion week
Red Goddess             Wildday (Full Moon), Illusion week
Irrippi Ontor           Freezeday (Crescent Going), Truth week

NB: GoG has the Red Goddess' HHD on Wildday of Motion week, and not (as one might expect, given the known Lunar runic associations) in Illusion week. I have changed this IMG, but can reconcile it to the printed version by having a week of ceremonies leading up to the Red Goddess's *real* Holy Day.

The week between Etyries' Holy Day and that of the Red Goddess is Holy Week in Moonbroth Oasis, when a ritual relating to each of the *previous* seven Lunar goddesses is held daily, in accordance with the phase of the moon, and assisted by the appropriate priests of the Seven Mothers' cult, thus:

Verithurusa     TN      Godsday (Full Half), Motion week
Lesilla         JW      Freezeday (Crescent Going), Illusion week
Gerra           QD      Waterday (Dying Moon), Illusion week
Rashorana       DX      Clayday (Black Moon), Illusion week
Orogeria        YT      Windsday (Crescent Coming), Illusion week
Natha           IO      Fireday (Empty Half), Illusion week
Zaytenara       RG      Wildday (Full Moon), Illusion week

If you're thinking of going to Moonbroth on a pilgrimage, I'd recommend Dark Season: travel in Prax is relatively pleasant, the Seven Mothers' High Holy Day (celebrating the rebirth of the Red Goddess) is on Godsday (Full Half) of Disorder Week in Dark Season, and the Holy Week of Dark Season is the most lavishly produced and the best attended. (The Nathan Ritual falls on the winter solstice, Fireday of Illusion Week in Dark Season, and is followed by a rather impressive Midwinter's Night bonfire festival, before the Triumphant Return of the Red Goddess, Radiant with Glory and Mounted upon the Crimson Bat, is celebrated at dawn the next day).

Black Fang's holy day is a closely-guarded secret: if you learn when it's held (and where), try to tell the authorities before their assassins can get you.

BTW, doting mothers throughout the Lunar Empire make animal costumes for their small children, so they can sing along with the Chorus of Beasts as part of the Seven Mothers' High Holy Day ritual. Think of Nativity Plays... and try not to massacre too many innocents next time you plan a temple raid.



Nick

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