Giving Back to the Sea
"I, Arte, come to your dominion, Great God Tinia. I come as your humble guest. I come to return what is yours. I beseech you, Great God Tinia, for the safe passage of my ship for I have returned what belongs to you."The Tescarana believe that the sea and the sky belong to the god Tinia, and thus the bounty of the sea is used only by his sufferance and the sea is traversed only by his permission. A man on the open sea is a guest of the sea god, and any goods of the sea are on loan. In remembrance of this fact, before embarking on a voyage the Tescarana customarily toss something into the sea that originally came from the sea, symbolically returning to Tinia what was his and accepting his dominion over the open sea.
Execution
Performed whenever a Tescarana vessel embarks on a "voyage", this rite is not performed each time the vessel is set on water, but only at the beginning of each journey as understood by the sailor. A simple ritual taught to every Tescarana, the rite does not require a Nethvis to perform. The sailor will speak a short prayer, acknowledging the sea god's dominion and stating that he comes to return to the sea god what belongs to him. Then, the sailor will toss an offering into the sea, most traditionally a carved fishbone but potentially anything that came from the sea, and asks the sea god to accept the offering. Then, he may set sail.
Related Ethnicities
I love this. It's such a small ritual but it brings so much life into your world. <3