The Blessing of the Sea

Ritual performed to newborns, so the Sea grants them new spirits, intead of givin them to the already departed. This also help to improve the posibilities of the newborn to survive until childhood.

History

This ritual is performed to direct the Sea to give new spirits to newborns, intead of giving them to those who have recently departed, as despicted by The awakening myth.
Unlike The Last Remembrance ritual, it was not forbidden by the royals which found it a very interesting practice. In fact, the practice of use sea water to bath newborns is even extending out of the city, for those weatly enough to export it.

Execution

In the case of an ordinary birth, where the pregnancy has developed normally. The Keeper of the Sea is aware of when the newborn is expected and it has normally come close to the family. If the pregnancy has became problematic, there is a good change, The Keeper has been living with the family for some time.
On any case, once the mother start giving birth, everyone prepares the ingridients to prepare enough stew to feed the family. If The Keeper is also the matron, which is not always the case, they prepare to assist the mother during labour. If they are not, the made space for the matron to work and assist with stew preparation.
On any case, once the baby has been born, their real work begin. The baby is sumerged in the bigger recipients full of sea water and cleaned of any blood, while The Keeper call out to the sea, to give the baby a new and healthy spirit. It is consider a good sign, if the baby start crying, while this is happening as it is a symbol of the new spirit finding its new host and filling it with life.
After this, the mother placenta is removed and cleaned as well. A considerable fraction of it is, which is normally called, The essence is diced and added to the rest of the ingridients for the stew. Which will start cooking, once the placenta preparation is completed. Once the stew is completed, the whole family, The Keeper of the Sea and the matron, if they are different people, will eat it together. This ensure the family accepts the new spirit and help the mother recover from the intensive labour.
If the newborn is born still, the still baby will be kept in the big recipients for as long as 12 or 24 hours, hoping the sea still would grant it a new spirit and new life. The stew will still be prepared with the placenta but it won't be eaten by everyone. Instead a small portion will be separated. This portion will be eaten in private by the mother and The Keeper near where the baby is sumerged in sea water. A desperate last attempt to call the sea to give new life to the still baby. Unless this new life is granted, the rest of the stew will be burn, and the still baby returned to the sea by The Keeper of the Sea themselves.

Components and tools

The Keeper of the Sea will collecta 2 recipients with water, one big enough to bath the newborn and a second small one, to add to the cooking stew

The family will collect and prepare, seasonal vegatables to prepare a family stew, to welcome the baby into the family

Primary Related Location

Serene