From: Jerome Blondel (bwbfc@hotmail.com)
Date: Fri 26 Oct 2001 - 17:56:20 EEST
Hi
Alex Ferguson on idol-worshippers:
me>> Well, i guess i've learned a new thing about spirit worship.
>>Now, it's been said the folk of the Genjera Tales used to be
>>animists but their conquerors forced them to sacrifice to gods.
>>In their great rituals, they undoubtedly go to the Godplane.
>They could even still _be_ animists, and simply sacrificing to
>the "foreign gods" by (gasp) misapplied worship.
I'm sorry, I juxtaposed two statements in a confusing way. The rituals are
not sacrifice to the old gods of the conquerors. All IMO, but in Sacred
Time, they re-enact their mythic past: the Artmali take them to Dakaputlo
Elamle, or they sail with Miirdek, etc. OTOH perhaps the Earth Lizard, the
Sun Bird, the Sea Serpent and the Wind Fish (just invented) are worshipped
in their respective seasons during special festivals which would look like
spirit ceremonies, and maybe are so. (In such occasions the Sun spirits (or)
daimons etc come on earth and the folk commune with them). Debaday is kept
asleep in dark season with bloody sacrifices to protective idols. Other
ceremonies I referred to are the Fishing Rites, etc, during which the people
celebrate their learning of such and such activity.
>Key question is, did their _practices_ change (and if so how
>much), or simply their notional object?
I think at the Dawn their practices had changed. The Artmali made them into
OTOH, the entities they contacted, well, who could that be if not their own
Thus, the core practice is the sacrifice, which feeds the daimon so that it
In some cases, extatic cult would be performed as part of the ritual (just
an urban culture. IMO idolatry was started by the Artmali, whose sacrifices
to giant golden statues made a strong impression on the natives. I fancy the
Artmali's celestial gods spoke through the mouths of the statues, some of
which were topped with big blue balls, very Egyptian-like. The Sharzu folk
didn't like to sacrifice to the Artmali's gods, who were very scary and
inhuman, and began to make small statues they kept in their houses, to which
they made their own sacrifices. When they migrated, they took their puny
idols with them, whereas the Artmali's Babylon sank and their big statues
fell. The practices were theist worship.
spirit friends of old? To explain that, I fancy at some point a whole part
of the spirit world toppled into the god world, causing the local spirits to
'fall asleep' (in other words, they no longer answered the people's calls).
That would be due to the Artmali changing the land with their own magic and
cities. Maybe a local folk hero got the idea to contact the sleeping spirits
with the new practices they'd learned. (Bob the Idol-Maker, who learned us
how to worship the spirits when the Blue-skins ruled). There are evil
spirits, now ruled by Debaday, who are kept asleep as much as possible.
doesn't sleep. But the daimons are still somehow dealt with as if they were
spirits. In order to attract the entity into the idol, the worshippers must
summon it from the Otherworld.
as sacrifices are part of some extatic cult rituals), in the form of
'comedy'. The priest would mark a sacred ground (the 'temple'). Some people
disguise as the Bad Guys and run about the place howling, and some people
disguise as the Good Guys and make as if they're afraid and scream, and all
of this is making a lot of noise. Then the priest summons the helper and
guts a dog provided by the community, and the idol is activated and gives a
sign (speaks, moves, etc). The Bad Guys run away in panick, the Good Guys
prosternate and ask the idol what it requires in return for its help.
In other cases, there wouldn't be any sign of extatic cult at all, the folk
would carry the idol around the streets with solemn faces and come to the
seaside, where the priest is, and a guy provided by the community is tied up
to the altar. The idol speaks, ritually bargains with the priest (they all
know what's going to happen), and says good luck to the poor guy. Finally,
the priest guts the victim, his blood is poured on the idol and his
dismembered body is thrown away for the fish. The idol stays here and
everyone has dinner, and the next day they take the idol on their boat for
that emergency dark season trip to get some rare cure for the chieftain's
daughter.
it all depends on the clan/region etc. And some clans are animists but
I like the way you describe the relationship with the guardian being, so
they've different origin myths.
it's noted.
Jerome
_________________________________________________________________
Téléchargez MSN Explorer gratuitement à l'adresse
http://explorer.msn.fr/intl.asp
------------------------------
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.7 : Fri 13 Jun 2003 - 18:31:53 EEST