Coin Offerings

What is it?

The tradition of coin offerings is a tradition very common in West T@Ö#Ä3. Here, people would leave out two golden coins for blackbirds to take, in order to keep the death away.

Why?

People here in West T@Ö#Ä3 live really close to Haunted Forest, Gates of Hell, and as such, of course, death itself. They are reminded regularly of it by blackbirds lurking around, watching them menacingly, and waiting for their time to come. It is believed that these birds themselves really control death. They can bring it upon you, or keep it away, depending on how much they like you. As such, it is very important to keep them on your good side, to keep the death away.

How?

The rules on this are very specific - the more specific the rules are, the more likely the tradition will work, everyone knows that. So, you can’t just toss two coins on your windowsill and call it a day, this might anger the blackbirds even more, and you don’t want that.

What you have to do is take two 16g golden coins and clean them until they look really new and shiny. Now, you place them on a ceremonial saucer - this can be any kind, as long as it is not shiny. Then, you put the sucer with the coins out on the windowsill early in the morning, exactly at 1.23. Then, you can proceed with your day as usual, and if you’re lucky, next time you return to your window, you will find the coins gone, which means you will keep the death away for a bit longer. You should do this once every 2 weeks or less, on a day of your choosing.

What can be the outcomes?

Ideally, both of the coins will be gone, but that’s not what always happens. If the coins are still there in the evening, then that means trouble. Blackbirds probably didn’t find your coins to be of satisfactory quality, not new and shiny looking enough, or they could be the wrong coins. Bear in mind that you’re supposed to use exactly the 16g coins as the bigger ones might be a bit heavy to carry and blackbirds won’t be too happy with that.

Another reason why the coins might still be there is, if you performed that ritual too early. You have to wait at least two weeks. Any more often and the birds will either think you’re trying too hard and get mad at you, or they will start taking advantage of you, and demanding more coins - now you’re really in trouble.

If you find the saucer to be missing too, tihic could either mean that it was too shiny and the birds took it, or maybe they knocked it on the ground accidentally and it broke. This doesn’t mean anything particularly bad, but it’s still a bit of bad luck because now you’ll have to get a new saucer.

Can you use other things?

It’s no secret that blackbirds love shiny trinkets, and they will take them too, no matter if offered or not. So you are always welcome to leave out something extra for them, but to keep the death away only the payment of two golden 16g coins will do.