Religion Overview

Basic Information

Name

Staracesta
The Old Ways

Adjective

Staracesti

Holy Texts

Prowiec Sagas, Nul Stones,
Keptine Calendar, and the Bal Brunok

Age

3,600 - 4,200 years old

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Staracesta is the overarching term for the ancient polytheistic/animistic religion practiced by the cultures of the eastern and southern Koprekian Mountains, as well as those of the Greater Pravesh River Basin. While variations of the faith were evident across such a vast geographic area, the same proto-indo-Koprekian deities--Pronus, Kepti, Losha, and Koprek--were worshipped by all at some point during the 1st and 2nd Ages. Staracesti--those who worshipped the Staracesta pantheon of deities--also worshipped their ancestors, as well as minor gods of rivers, hills, trees, groves, cities, etc. that were recognized and honored on a local, or even familial scale. In fact, divine entities were seen to inhabit all things that were found in nature, all of which were referred to by the ancient proto-Vallic word for "god." Therefore, divinity was found in forms big and small, ranging from the sun itself to a mere pebble reflecting in a stream. Though the major gods of the Staracesta pantheon all have widely accepted associations and domains, those listed below are only the most commonly worshipped deities and the most common aspects associated with each deity due to their mythology and worship.

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The Gods

Pronus

The Sun, Battle, Justice, Conquest, Rulers, Capital Punishment, Fertility, Purity, Wrath, Drought. (He/Him)

Losha

Harvest, Warriors, Death in Battle, Revenge, Trickery, Civic Protection, Farmers, Livestock. (She/Her)

Früm

All the Beasts of the Forest, Ruins, Weeds, Hunting, Foraging, Death (the neutrality of), Natural Reclamation. (He/Him)

Valsha

Spring, Sacrifice, Rebirth, Flowers, Lost Love. Through her death and rebirth, she is seen as the one who instigates both winter and spring. (She/Her)

Julattan

The Ocean, Chaos, Wrath, Storms, Shipwrecks. (He/Him)

Maguun

Metallurgy, Dwarves, Ingenuity, Physical Strength, Melee Combat, Mercy. Daughter of Koprek. Honored by both dwarves and humans. (She/Her)

Pravesh

Rivers, Ancestors, Agriculture, Female Fertility, Barriers (between life and death), Pravesh River. (She/Her)

Matash

Wine, Spoken Word, Songs, Storytelling, Indulgence, Trickery, Knowledge. (They/Them)

Aaransiul

Magic ("light"), High Elves, Arcane Study, Waxing Moon, Rebirth, Sisterhood. Daughter of Kepti and Laduin; twin sister of Myrvat. Though recognized by human cultures, she is only worshipped among high elves. (She/Her)

Kepti

The Moon, Prophesy, Calendar, “Madness,” Dancing, Mothers, Protection. (She/Her)

Landaga

Home, Hearth, Childbirth, Fire (domestic), Cats, Medicine, Weaving, Pottery, Basketry, Livestock, Fences, Homesteading, Home Defense, Warding, Wisewomen/Wisemen. (She/Her)

Koprek

Mountains, Thunder, Earthquakes, Volcanos, Giants, Jealousy, Wrath. (He/Him)

Goran

Winter, the Dead, Death (not on the battlefield), Illness. Spawned from Valsha's dead body. (They/Them)

Laduin

The Faerie Sun, Realm of Faerie, Magic, Sylvan Creatures, Seduction, Chaos. (They/Them)

Hassia

Knowledge, Writing, Truth, Medicine, Diplomacy, Espionage, Crossroads. (She/Her)

Voldek

Hatred, Lies, Murder, Poison. (He/Him)

Valan

War, Nobility, Courage, Command, Kings/Queens (who claim to have descended from the goddess), Sacrifice, Revenge, Gutdal River (carved with her axe). Daughter of Pronus and Losha. (She/Her)

Myrvat

Magic ("dark"), Drow Elves, Shadows, Arcane Secrets, Prophesy, Arcane Dissemination, Seduction, Waning Moon, Sisterhood, Resurrection Magic. Daughter of Kepti and Laduin; twin sister of Aaransiul. Honored by both drow and humans.

Myth of Creation

(Coming Soon)

Rituals of Life

Birth

While the birth of a child is certainly a cause for celebration (a simple feast among family and friends/neighbors), babies were only given temporary names due to a high infant/child mortality rate. During labor, the midwife and female relatives chant prayers and offer honey-sweetened rose water to Landaga to aid in the birthing process.

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Coming of Age

At the age of 12 (the same amount of lunar cycles in a non-leap year), a youth is considered to have entered adulthood. On the first full moon after their 12th birthday, a youth undergoes the “Svitanie” ritual (or the “Svit”), which proceeds as follows:
After three days of fasting, the youth sets off at dawn on the full moon and treks to their ancestral mound (a subterranean memorial to a family’s collective ancestors containing active and inactive altars to the dead), or Elder Mound. After they enter the dark mound/cave, they conduct a ritual asking their ancestors to name them in the presence of the gods. A hallucinogen is ingested, the youth receives visions of their destiny and are given their adult name by their ancestors (usually a family name). The trance is said to take a youth into the spirit realm—a perilous journey that potentially can claim their soul, thus killing the youth (or possibly just an overdose). After they awaken from their trance—which can take days—the youth exits the mound and takes a ritual bath in the River Pravec. The family witnesses this final step and ushers the young adult back home in jovial procession, throwing a great feast upon their return simply called the Return Feast, or “Navrát” (some youths do not return, therefore it is seen as significant).
The Navrát is often an occasion at which a young adult’s marital engagement is formally announced, usually marking the political or economic unification of two families. It is not uncommon among wealthy or influential families to invite their future in-laws to their child’s Navrát, thus establishing their alliance before the actual wedding ceremony. Everything mentioned above applies to youths of any gender.

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Marriage

Like the Svit, marriages take place on nights of the full moon (or certain liminal days like solstices and equinoxes) on the stretch of land between the river and the Elder Mounds, called the Crossing. It is believed that the ancestors—who have been properly honored in death—are able to mingle among the living at Crossings on full moons, when the veil is thinnest. Therefore, certain ancestors are ritually invited to attend wedding ceremonies. In fact, the “guests of honor” are always the great-grandparents of the betrothed, dead or alive. The ceremony begins with a raucous choreographed dance between chosen members of both families, first simulating swordplay between the two clans and climaxing with a spinning routine that highlights their newly formed partnership in arms (even though many such arrangements were economic rather than militaristic).
As the attendees congregate in a large circle, the bride and groom are processed from opposite directions (east and west), the groom surrounded by nine warriors (Pronus) and the bride by nine mothers (Losha), all dancing a traditional synchronized dance. The betrothed are “escorted” to the center of the large circle where they both enter a smaller circle of evergreens. A wise man/woman, or Vidiaci, calls upon the ancestors present to bless the union or to make their displeasure known, before they anoint the couple with ash and blood. The ash is made into a paste to draw a circle/moon on the chin, and blood is used to draw a circle/moon on the forehead representing the cycle of life and death and the central position of marriage within that cycle. Bound together around their waists with braided chord, the couple then exit the small circle and process clockwise around the circumference of the larger circle in a simple traditional dance, during which the attendees may drape them with crowns and sashes of flowers, berries, evergreens, or colorful cloth, imparting their good wishes on the newlyweds. The completion of this rotation ends the ceremony and begins the after-party.
The wedding feast is celebrated somewhere in the Crossing, near to where the ceremony took place. In winter, a simple impermanent longhouse is constructed (or repaired) to house the feast, where toasts are made, gifts are offered (both between families and to the newlyweds), and often a bull and/or male goat are presented as a gift, sacrificed to Valsha, and roasted for the feast (the testicles served to the couple for fertility). The feast often lasts until dawn, when the couple are processed to their new home, or to the home of the groom’s family, where a “honeymoon suite” has usually been prepared for them. They are expected to couple together on every full moon until a child is conceived. If a child is not conceived within twenty moons of the marriage, either party is eligible to divorce the other with the permission of the Mothers’ Council.

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Death

(Coming Soon)

Type

Religious, Organised Religion