Tiltroeðit

General introduction

In the society of the Skaura Orohlen, the sexes are strictly segregated. Until the age of six or seven, boys and girls are brought up together, first by both of their parents in nursing villages until they are 14 months old, after that by their mothers in their home villages. Then, while boys are given to the Men, the girls stay with the women. Nonetheless the girls are considered as children until their 'Oiskenríð', which means childhood or growing-up ends somewhere between the ages 17 and 22. At that age the tiltroeðit is held, where each man is assigned a life-partner, a sister-in-arms, called 'Sambandssystir'. This marks the entry into being a full-grown adult and a full member of the society. The ritual takes place just south of the Saks promontory of the Central Erana Mountain Range. Like with the Nautarsíðit, the Tiltroeðit was established by the Striðkunnandi Skirrgerr and Fjölpúg. It was meant to be the second half of coming-to-age, this time for the women of the Skaura Orohlen. With this they followed the visions, which advised them to see and treat the people as made up of respective parts complimenting one another. In accordance to their dualistic world view, they drew the line between male and female with these rituals. Their keen decision granted the people the boon of their gods and with this they thrive and prosper.

Process of the event

Adolescents of the female groups of Skaura Orohlen who are at the right age gather on a meadow at the foothills south of the Saks promontory, two days before the last full moon before the autumn equinox or the second to last, if the full moon is less than a (ten days) week before the equinox. The Striðkunnandi - that are the religio-military leaders of the entire people of the Skaura Orohlen - then come to that place, too. They supervise the cleaning and preparation of the area, where the ritual is supposed to take place. in the meantime, all the adolescents are observed, while the Striðkunnandi perform a spiritual ambulation to harmonise with the place and to perceive all the individuals energies.
Like the young males, the females also hold competitions, show their strengths and abilities. First they thow axes and run, later on they engage in boxing matches. The Striðkunnandi watch and assess the participants. On the evening of the first day a feast is held, where the food everybody brought from their homes is shared. This is the first communal meal, while all meals before were taken alone. During this feast, the Striðkunnandi walk around again and examine the participants.

The second day is used for resting and recreation. There are recitations of deeds and accomplishments of the ancestors. Also the area is foraged for mushrooms and berries and animals are hunted. Some also gather firewood for the second communal meal that evening. Later that night bonfires are lit which have been set up in a special pattern across the clearing during that day, too. The adolescents sit together and chant a hymn in honour of Arvadrak, the 'first born fighter', who the Orohlen believe to be their first-born. Like the males, the females also bring a self-made cast-iron amulett which they already prepared at home during this chant. The Striðkunnandi join the chant, and again walk through the area. This time, the amulets from every one of them are collected in a bag, the 'Roekapungr', the 'bag of the threads of fate'.

Up to this point it was the Striðkunnandis task to assess their individual strengths, weaknesses and their personalities, alone as well as in social interaction; their indvidual make-up of elemental energies and how they relate to the elements around them have all been observed by the Striðkunnandi: fire as they contended and how they stoked the bonfires, their shimmer in how they chanted and breathed and also in their amulets, the element of earth in how they prepared the venue and dealt with the new surroundings, also growth in their bodies and faces and how they fought and worked and lastly water as they shed it as sweat and gathered it in the small rivulets around.

On the third day, they are put to test by the Striðkunnandi. A ritual like that of the young males is performed, where the collected amulets are sprinkled with morning dew, mixed with the bonfires' ashes, earth from the area, herbs from the nearby forests and fanned with the fresh mountain air. In the middle of the meadow, a bundle of amulets is bound and the Striðkunnandi whisper a spell on it. The bundle is smashed to the ground facing to the East, while the young Orohlen stand around them and chant the first stanza of 'Arvadraks Soemdin', a spiritual song called 'Arvadraks Honorary Gift'. Then the Striðkunnandi pick it up again, whispering one more spell onto it. Turning to the West, they smash it on the ground again and the young Orohlen turn to the West as well, chanting the songs second stanza. They repeat this, also facing north as the third cardinal direction and lastly south. The bundle gets then opened up again. The Striðkunnandi are now in a deep trance. As with the males, shards of broken amulets are picked out and their owners sent away as the breakage is a divine sign to mark them as still immature. Those individuals will have to come back later and go through the ritual again. After the immature have left, the ritual continues. The Striðkunnandi now pick up the amulets which are sticking together in pairs. Sticking together means that have have been decided to stay together. This process goes on until every pair has been identified and placed together. As the gods guide the process, there is never anyone left alone.

When the pairs are assigned, the Striðkunnandi awake from their trance and give blessings to each pair. The pairs then swear an oath to be bound to each other until they die. This bond is sealed with blood, so the Striðkunnandi merge the pairs' amulets to return them in the evening. Water is then boiled in pots over a communal fire by each of the pairs. The young Orohlen use the merges amulets to cut their right thumb and drip a drop of blood into their pot. The Striðkunnandi add some specially prepared Telva to the water and each pair shares their Telva and their blood, thus completing the bond. The last step is the 'doem', where a decision is made by the Striðkunnandi, in which partner's group the pairs shall live henceforth.

Cultural significance

The Tiltroeðit is, like the male Nautarsíðit, the most important ritual in the life of a Skaura Orohlen. The bond the two partners form is not only a ritualistic bond. The two women start forming a symbiotic relationship with each other and live together, like the Men do in their communities. This bond goes so far as that the pairs also don't part ways as their health will slowly fail and they will die without one another. If one of the two dies, this mostly spells doom for the one remaining. But sometimes they remain and are called 'ekkjarvíf'. They can survive even without their Sambandssystir. Albeit there not being any social pressure, the ekkjarvíf often leave their village to start a new life outside of their society.

The Tiltroedit is a compulsory rite of passage, that all female Skaura Orohlen have to go through. This renders them - in a special way - a strictly pair-bonding ethnicity. The Tiltroeðit, like the Nautarsíðit, also guarantees the Skaura Orohlens overall fitness, as only the weakest are not able to form a bond. They can thus never become a full member of society and don't have the right to reproduce. These individuals are not excluded, though. They may stay in their group or freely move to other groups of their sex and perform regular, non specialised tasks and jobs in society. They are also allowed to leave and seeks fortune somewhere else, should they want to. They are called 'seinr'. The ritual-concluding 'doem' ensures that the individual groups are effectively stengthened and close relatives get more separated as to prevent inbreeding. Yet the danger of inbreeding is very limited due to complex ritualistic mechanisms preventing that from happening.