"WHAT HAPPENS ON A HOLY DAY No mortal can live with gods.
The ordinary world is separate from the Immortal Worlds. They have been separated ever since Orlanth, the Great God, rescued the world and began Time. Since that moment, people have been spared the misery of living close to hostile demons who want to kill or indifferent gods and spirits who can destroy them by accident. The realms of humankind and immortality are, thusly, separate.
The world of the gods has many names: cosmic realm, Other Side, Over There, Heaven and Hell, Underworld, Faerie, Hero Plane, and many others which are much more specific: Karulinoran, which is Orlanth's tula; Daleel, where Ernalda lives; the Six Stones and Daka Fal's Bench. All those places are in the cosmic, unchanging realm of myth and divinity.
Here, we are in the world of men. People are born and die here, raising crops from dirt and spilling blood into soil. Everything changes here, with wars and art, with cultures and crises, ecology and emergency all combining with weather and woe, health and horror, love and loss, tides and trembling. And together these things, and more, make the world of humanity.
Certain people naturally bridge between the divine and mortal. They can channel that energy into the world of men. They are transformers, changing the world. They are priests, storm lords, and other such powerful holy people. When they channel the cosmic powers to transform the world of men, it is called magic.
At certain times the two worlds come closer together, threatening to merge as they were before Time began. Such events are usually bad, because people are often drawn into that world, or demons loosed into this one. Our priests and warriors are always on guard against these incursions. Our wise men have recorded their appearances, and because they are bound within the restrictions of Time we are rarely surprised by them any more.
Some of these incursions are good, too, because the good gods at that time come into the world of men to bless and protect. They show humans their stories, and in that telling reveal their powers so that the spirits and souls of mortals feed and are replenished.
These are Holy Days. Every deity of power has at least one, and some have several. Every person who's been initiated into those secrets partakes of their god that day. Ceremonies are the preferred method of interaction. The people all gather at places where the god performed some great deed and share in it.
Such deeds made the world, and a part of the god is in that time and place. Great deeds give easier access to the god, and allow the deity a much greater presence. Here, too, the spiritual transformers perform their ritual magic. The god and his worshippers meet, merge, and are sanctified. Thus on a holy day even the merest initiate partakes in the glory and danger of the mythic world. Worshippers who are prepared usually reap great benefits when the worlds intrude.
Annual celebrations celebrate some or another victory, birth, creation, or other success of their deity A god's high holy day is even more powerful. If the number of participants is large enough then the intersection of divine and human world is easier and includes a larger territory, and may very likely draw nearby friends or even strangers to interact in the divine action.
As these special dates approach, the leaders of these events consult with each other, or their deity, or whatever is required for proper worship. They determine details of the next ceremony.
Details often vary even for the same ceremony each year. The desired results often determine these details. Thus on Motherhood day, the same opening and blessing ceremonies are always used, but the deity who is born is almost always a free choice from among the many deities which Esrola has brought to humankind. Of course, the closing rites are the same too, to make sure that he opening between worlds is properly closed.
So the initial mythic acts determine the human ceremonies. The rites vitalize the word with the mythical act and give the world power. In the ceremony the deities again take their places in this world, and once again perform their immortal actions. By this interaction between humans and gods that mythic action occurs again, and its results in the human world have a better chance to happen as the priests wished. It is a Holy Day for the god, because the Other World and Our World are not separated. The gods are present. The reverent gather. They remember the god."
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