>Alex Ferguson
>Well, I don't! I think this is very much a matter that different
>Gloranthan cultures will (probably heatedly) disagree on, so I
>think having one definitive answer would be altogether less interesting.
While this is undoubtably true (the fact that different cultures will
approach the
issue differently) that doesn't mean that the underlying "mechanics" aren't
the same. And knowing "how" things work neither prevents cultures from
approaching the matter in different fashions (or not at all) nor does it
make
it less interesting to some.
Alex Ferguson again:
>I believe it's already been Sandied that "civilised" butchers don't
>use a herder-type Peaceful Cut; similarly I think there's every reason
>to suspect that Hunters have a different "take" on the matter too.
I'll bet Shamans from less "civilised" areas hate going anywhere near a civilised abattoir. The sheer lack of respect those civilised people pay to animals is appalling.
Owen Jones again:
>> The Balazarings use a version of the Peaceful Cut, yet (most) are
>> hunter/gatherers. I don't think Peaceful Cut requires a live animal,
> >just an animal spirit that needs reassurance.
Alex Ferguson
>Ah, an RQ2 die-hard, mark me. ;-) The GoG version of PC is fairly
>live-animal specific, if I recall correctly, as it's done together with
>a Butchery test to slaughter the poor beastie. Besides, don't you know
>that Bazalar is Officially Blank? (Greg didn't, the time I mentioned it
>to him!)
The hunters must use a different spell. Surely not everything in print
sources
is gospel? As I said before I can't believe that hunters would need a
live animal to perform PC IF (that's a big if) they performed it every time
they killed an animal.
>Or as Hugh McVicker suggests:
>> Every Year at HHD we preform the major Peace Cut
> >ritual to free all the spirits caught in agony since their death.
Alex Ferguson:
>I'd just question whether it's useful to regard this as the same thing
>as Peaceful Cut, or more to the point, whether either type of culture,
>Herder or Hunter, sees them as being magically (never mind morally)
>interchangeable. It may be a considerable generalisation, but I suspect
>hunters, particularly the more primitive hunters, are more likely to go
>in for this sort of mass ritual. ("Dear God, can we have some more
>antelope, please. Regards, Zong and the Boys. P.S., that last one was
>a bit on the sharp side, steady on.") Cave Paintings, Sacred Time
>rites, yadda-yadda, as opposed to a per-animal individual spell, or
>worrying about one particular spirit, as opposed to the Collective
>Antelope.
Hmm, that's a good point. My impression of most RW hunter cultures (based on six years or so of anthropology courses ten years ago so my memory could very well be faulty) is that they don't actually kill that many
animals in a given year. Here I'm talking about hunter-gatherers like the
Aborigines and the Khoi-San (formerly known as the Kalahari bushmen).
In the case of the Khoi-San most of the food is gathered by the women.
If the hunters don't kill that many animals then using a PC-type spell on
each
animal wouldn't be all that onerous.
I do think Alex and Hugh make a good point though. Hunters may very well
use these sorts of mass rituals. Perhaps they use them in conjunction with
individual ceremonies to ensure that at the end of the year that all the
animal
spirits have been appeased and sent on. There's bound to be instances
throughout the year where animals are killed but the bodies are never found.
It happens often enough with rifles never mind spears or bows and arrows.
I wonder if hunter-gatherer types use PC-type spells on insects and reptiles
as
well since that form at least part of their food. IMO they probably use
mass rituals
for such small prey.
Oliver D. Bernuetz
bernuetz.oliver_at_cbsc.ic.gc.ca
End of Glorantha Digest V4 #464
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