"Priestesses of Ernalda also preside over the ritual with which any new child is welcomed into the clan. Unmentioned, because it is taken for granted, this ritual also cures the child of any congenital deformities such as short sight and hare lips. Rarely, such deformities cannot be cured, and are then viewed as a mark of fate. Such a child, while handicapped, is also marked as special and cared for. The similar ritual used in sun-worshipping lands tends to 'cure' diversity as well as defects, which is why sun-worshippers tend to all have the same colour hair and eyes."
Was that the sort of thing you were after?
I'd add to that, that the HQ required of a candidate for Ernalda priestess-hood is an attempt to re-enact Ernalda's early fecundity. The standard account (written by a bloke!), that says giving birth to a healthy child is a prerequisite, is missing the point as usual: if the HQ is successful, a child will be born, with no need for a father. Of course, men try to play down this idea, since it tends to diminish their importance :)
I gather from scraps in KoS that "the Three" tend to make pronoucements at the child's birth: fate, geases, that kind of stuff. I've never yet managed to fit "the Three" into Orlanthi myth to my satisfaction: could they be three of the Earth goddesses? The three dark ones, who otherwise have no place in the child-birth cycle?
Jane Williams jane_at_williams.nildram.co.uk http://homepages.nildram.co.uk/~janewill/gloranth/
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