moon talisman

A polished white stone is the centerpiece of every village along the river, a talisman of the moon women worship as the world's mother.  Because of its resemblance to the moon it is used as a talisman in religious ceremonies.  The stone is kept by the village's Woman Woman, displayed in her business house.

Manufacturing process

Talismans are rarely in the ideal shape when found, but close is good enough.  A toolmaker grinds the stone into a flattened sphere and polishes it to smoothness to make it ready for ceremonial use.

History

The first moon talisman is hand-sized, perfectly round, and perfectly smooth, with some dark veins crisscrossing it. It was discovered in the stream by the scouting party looking to establish a site for the third of the river villages.  The stone's uncanny resemblance to the face of the moon was taken as an omen of blessing for the new village, and the first house was built around it.
Many generations later when the village outgrew itself and another one was needed, there was a brief argument over whether the stone should stay in the village where it was first found, or go to serve as a blessing for the new village.  The boys on the scouting team resolved the dispute by hunting the stream and river at the new site until they found a similar stone.
Shortly after the village was founded around the second talisman, the existing villages both discovered round white rocks that had certainly been there the whole time.  From then on it became tradition that a village site could not be considered acceptable until a moon talisman was found there.

Significance

Most of the time the talisman serves as a reminder to Woman Woman's guests of her authority.  It serves as a surrogate moon during the monthly wishing ceremony when it is too cloudy to see the real moon, and in initiating candidates into the Moon Women by blood-bonding them to the moon.

Dimensions

The talisman's size may vary, but it must be small enough to be held up one hand, and large enough to be seen by an assembly.

View from the future

The practice of keeping moon talismans as village tokens was carried over into the settlements in the lower river basin, but more out of habit than ritual.  Even though Vastlanders stopping worshipping the moon early on, such stones are still used today as architectural elaboration.