presents...
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The traditional religion of the Glamour Isles involves the worship of a pantheon of hero-gods. These mythic figures are tied closely to the cycle of the year and to the cycle of life. The tendency in the Isles to cast events in terms of archtypical stories that are told and told again is reflected here in the religion as well. The religion is generally referred to as "the old ways," both by its adherents and by followers of the Church of the Prophets. To those who follow "the old ways," it's a preservation of an ancient tradition, a link to those cycles Avalonians hold so dear. To the Church of Avalon, the Objectionists, and the Vaticines, it's an old, supertitious series of rites and rituals that do nothing but perpetuate old fears and misunderstandings of Theus's natural world.
Priests and Druids
Mainland Theah usually misunderstands the relationship between the priests of the old ways and the druids. Some priests are druids, which further confuses the matter.
Priests are consecrated to one of the hero-gods celebrated by the traditional faith. They serve as that god's special representatives in the Isles. They are most common in Inismore and Breg, where most of the populace still follows the old ways.
Druids are mystics. They are not necessarily all that concerned with the rites of the gods (although they usually know them quite well). They seek to penetrate the mystery of the patterns found in life, to understand the truths behind them, and to aid others down this path if they desire it.
In the celebration of the old rites, neither priests nor druids are strictly necessary! These are folk ways, after all. A lack of a priest is not going to keep an Inish farming village from lighting its Boltan fires on Quartus 30. However, the priests are considered to have special links to the hero-gods they serve. They add supernatural punch to the rituals they perform, making them more efficacious. An Inish chieftan (or the High King of Breg) will be sure to have priests on-call for the most important celebrations, and probably a wise druid to offer advice and to read the omens.
Unlike the pagan priests of Numa, the heathen priests of the Isles will readily perform the rites for other gods (occassionally including Theus, to the scandal of the Church). If the common folk can oversee such a celebration, surely a priest can as well, even if he's a priest of another god. There are exceptions. First, it's very impolite to trample the domain of the god's proper priest, if one is in the area. Second, High Priests may be so devoted to their diety that they will not perform the rites of others. Third, some of the god-heroes violently oppose each other, and it's bad luck for a priest of one of them to perform the rites of the other.
Note that New Year's Day, Midsummer, Harvestide and World's Death are celebrated from dawn til dawn. Boltan, Lammas, Sowhan, and Embol begin at sunset the day before and go til sunset of the day listed.
New Year's Day is celebrated at the spring equinox, Teritus 15. Danu, a goddess embodying the planet Terra, is reborn. All babies born the previous year are blessed.
Boltan, on Quintus 1, comes midway between New Year's and Midsummer and heralds the start of the planting season, after the frosts. Celebrations honoring Danu, now a grown woman, and the Summer King, a sun god of vigor, power, and possibility, begin the evening before with symbolic bonfires. Feasting (a display of plenty to encourage more prosperity), music and dancing follows the next day.
Midsummer falls on the summer solstice, Sextus 15. It is a feast of youth, beauty and love. Fairs are held where artisans display their wares, and many young couples pledge their troths.
Lammas, Corantine 1, marks the start of the harvest season. Prayers are offered for a good harvest, and contests of skill and strength are staged. Originally, these would have been harvest-related (running with hay bales, pig wrestling) but have become more gentrified in some places (plain footraces, wrestling with other people).
Harvestide, Septimus 15, is the autumnal equinox. The harvest is largely in at this point, and the feast is very much like other similar celebrations all over Theah. Generosity and thanksgiving are the themes, and the hardworking adults of the community lauded for their skill and energy.
Sowhan, Nonus 1, marks the death of the Summer King at the hands of the Winter King. His passing thins the veil between this world and the Shadowlands (the land of the dead, not Bryn Bresail). This is generally observed as a feast of the dead.
World's Death, Decimus 16, is the winter solstice. Decimus 16 is a day of mourning, reflection, and solemnity. Decimus 17 is a celebration of light and hope as the days begin to lengthen. The elderly are honored for their wisdom.
Embol, Secondus 1, comes at a time when the very first signs of spring are arriving, but winter has not yet departed. This day of "Spring in Winter" is dedicated to the Three Queens and their courts in Bryn Bresail.
The list of gods is hardly fixed. Local heroes may be worshipped only in certain areas. Cathubodualhann, for instance, is an Inish warrior's god not much celebrated outside of Inismore. Even the major hero-gods may change shape or name from island to island, even as they maintain certain key attributes. The following are some of the major hero-gods, but the list is by no means exhaustive.
The gods were all thought to have been mortals at some point, and the goal of many an island hero is to achieve sufficient fame that he or she will join their ranks in the hereafter. For some, the link to a historical person is clearer than for others.
Danu is a personification of the land; the Numans identified her with their goddess Terra. Her life, from birth to womanhood to old age and to death, is seen every year in the cycle of the seasons. Danu was thought to be the First Woman in the world. Her life set the pattern for all life thereafter.
The Summer King (Cerronus in Breg, Jack o'the Green in Avalon) is a principle of vital male power. He is associated with warmth and light, summer forests, potency and kingship. He is often a hunter as well. In some traditions, the Summer King was the First Man. In others, he was the first man to rally his people to fight againsts the monsters that dwelled in the world then - the first king or leader.
The Winter King is an underworld god, privy to secrets. In life, he was thought to be a druid of the deepest insight, perhaps the first druid ever. He is called Mathonwy in Breg, Madon in Avalon, Aed in Inismore, Aengus in the Highlands.
Maeve was an ancient warrior-queen; she may be an Inish historical figure from the old, old days when the Inish were conquering Inismore. Beautiful and terrible, her army left fields of corpses behind it and the land was bathed in blood. She is a goddess of war and of death. (Morrigu in Breg and Avalon; Macha in the Highlands.)
Lir was a great fisherman (Inismore), selkie (Highlands), swimmer and sea-monster hunter (Breg), or sailor (Avalon). He is always associated with mastery of the sea. His worship has fallen off sharply since Elaine took the throne and the Three Queens of Bryn Bresail have made their presence more widely felt. The Queen of the Sea does not care to be said to be mastered by anyone.
Bride was the first smith, says Avalon and Breg. Inismore calls her Brigid and credits her with the invention of many other useful crafts as well. But in the Highlands, she is a goddess of healing. The god of smiths there is MacEachern, founder of the Sidhe-killed clan.
Ogmios was a bard of such wit and skill that he once tricked the Winter King into returning to the Shadowlands on Embolc instead of at New Year's. His harping once made fierce Maeve cry, for which she has never forgiven him.
The hero-gods of the islands are all men and women whose legends have grown to the point where they embody certain ideas that are key to life as lived there. Even in godhood, they maintain certain mortal characteristics, and the living can relate to them.
The Goodly Folke are beyond time and beyond knowing. They cannot represent anything other than an alien yet alluring Other. All the same, they are powerful and prone to interferring with mortals. They are not worshipped, but they are honored in the islands. (Although in practice, an Inish peasant would have as much trouble articulating the distinction as a Castillian farmer would have explaining to a learned Objectionist why veneration of the saints isn't idolatry.) They are ritually invited to all important events, and an entire code of etiquette has developed to deal with them. They prize good manners, and mortals who follow the proper forms can expect to escape their ire.
Many islanders don't resent the Sidhe, any more than they resent the storms which sometimes lash the coastline and upset their ships. They're just an unavoidable fact of life, practically a force of nature, and not something to take personally. The other camp tries to apply human principles to them - they clearly have intelligence, and so should know right from wrong and act accordingly. Some (including most Glamour mages) think that Seelie support of the Triple Kingdom is a sign of overall benevolence and that people should be grateful. Individual bad behavior from the Folke shouldn't obscure that key fact. Others (most definitely including the remainders of Clan MacEachern) don't trust the whole amoral lot farther than they could throw the O'Bannon.
Regardless of opinion, the folkways that govern interaction with the Sidhe are real and pervasive in the islands, even in lands converted to the Church of the Prophets.
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