John Hughes
>I believe that if a clan is small, bloodlines may be
little more than
>conceptual categories for things like exogamy and
communal rights and
>responsibilities. However, if a clan is large, or
dispersed geographically,
>then bloodlines become more important, and in some
cases may in fact almost
>be 'mini-clans'.
Agreed. I have some trouble with all marriages be exogamous to the clan not bloodline (or even household) as suggested in KoS. The 7 types of marriage are drawn from Celtic not Germanic society and in Celtic society marriage tended to be within the bloodline (much to the disgust of Christian missionaries). Much of this was the corporate fine's (bloodline) attempt to ensure property remained within the bloodline (source: Nerys Patterson - Cattle Lords and Clansmen). Although land may be odal there is sufficient personal property that this would be an issue for Orlanthi clans too, though I suspect marriage would quite be outside of the household (I equate this with the Celtic derhfine or Norse stead) as incest is the primary taboo.
I suspect notions of exogamous marriages occurring not to other bloodlines but clans may be mythically related to Orlanth of the Storm tribe marrying Enrnalda of the Earth tribe. This may well represent an ideal state of marriage (similar to the way that there are 7 types of marriage and not all are an Ernalda-Orlanth equal union). While this is great for alliances etc and probably seen as 'virtuous' I don't expect everyone follows it in the same way that the don't all have equal and for life marriages.
The early settlers of Dragon Pass were of course religious conservatives and with their clans being smaller and probably consisting initially of few bloodlines, and the need to make alliances they may have had more exogamous marriages. Contemporary (1620's) Orlanthi from larger clans and bloodlines may well not be so 'strict' in their observance.
John Hughes
>Marriage in itself does not affect your clan
membership, though it does
>affect the clan membership of your children. Women
don't change clans on
>marriage, just the place where they live.
Again I suspect this depends on the type of marriage - see CL&C for descriptions of how property/inheritance was affected (I can dig out my copy if yours is still in storage John).
But for example Year marriages produced children that belonged to whoever 's kin they were living amongst (often year husbands/wives were labour for a household that did not have sufficient resources to work its land perhaps quite a few in those tribes that supported Starbrow's rebellion).
John Hughes
>What do earth temples look like? What are the more
common layouts? What
>would you find inside? What sort of statues,
tapestries, urns? Name one
>thing you'd find in an earth temple that isn't
bleedingly obvious, but which
>upon hearing will make most Digesters go "Hmmm,
yeah.. that makes sense".
These might be 'bleedlingy obvious' but I'll try some suggestions anyway:
Earth Temples:
Sowing as the male plough penetrates the female earth probably results in orgiastic ceremonies amidst the fields (I suspect the Bless Crops and the like are not just reciting a few incarnations...)
3: Fire: The fields are probably the focus of worship as life shows it vigour.
4: Earth - The harvest is celebration of life leads and death (the bountiful harvest is reaped). It probably begins in the fields and ends inside buildings or under the earth.
5: Dark, Storm Underground - reflecting the journey into the Underworld and also into the sacred body of the goddess herself. Caves are probably favoured over artificial diggings or buildings though both probably are combined. The deeper levels are probably more sacred as are sites where gaseous vapours issue forth leading to visions/hallucinations.
Of course caves symbolically allow female worshippers to penetrate the body of the mother goddess (perhaps worshippers wear/carry phallus when entering - maybe BG use the real thing <shudders>). The journey ibnto Death may be worshipped as being ceremonially buried (i.e paint faces white, daubed in ashes, mud earth). This is probably also the symbolic place of storage of grain etc. Asrelia hides the wealth of the earth and amphora's and pots are probably formed in her shape or image. Granaries and storage pits are proably sacred to Asrelia and covered in her images or symbols.
6: The sacred time ceremonies are probably a procession from the caves to the sacred gorves carrying an image of the goddess on a litter to its new place of resting for the spring.
In addition Snakes are established as guardians so they would probably be throughout these sites and form a common lietmotif throughout temples.
hope you like some of them
Ian
End of The Glorantha Digest V7 #813
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