Tinels Prayer,Holy Days and Saints

Common Prayers

The Tinelites believe the mind, when open, can perceive many things the naked eye cannot, including visions, portents, and symbols in the landscape. The opening of the mind’s eye is a lengthy process, and involves the chanting of a daily meditative prayer. The following is one of many variations, as Tinelites tailor the words to their personal outlook:

“I walk the road of light and shadow, I see the blossom grow and die, I hear the wind and feel the stillness. I feel joyous and desolate, I know everything and nothing, I am open to all things. My eye is open to all things.”

Holy Days

The Tinelites have a calendar filled with holy days, many of them so minor most people, even the most orthodox Tinelites, do not bother to observe them. As a faith, they observe occasions of great historical importance, and moments of profound learning. For example, the birthdate of a great teacher who discovered a new method for preserving food is a holy day for Tinelites. Not all holy days are so minor. The Festival of the Word and the Festival of Magic are the faith’s greatest sacred events.C
The Festival of the Word
More than any other faith of the gods of the tree, Tinelites revere the written word, books, scholarship, and learning. In the Festival of the Word, which takes place every year at the height of summer, they honor and reward the greatest scholars of the day. The event lasts eight days, during which there are great feasts, lectures, recitals, and other celebrations of the written word. Usually, the Festival takes place on a national scale, so all the scriptoriums in a single country band together to name the worthiest works of scholarship of that year, and bestow kingly gifts on the scholars who made them.
In places where neighboring countries have friendly relations and cultural ties, the scriptoriums of all those nations might band together to issue only one set of awards.
The Festival of Magic
At the height of winter every year, the council of Five Hierophants decrees a single location where the greatest wizards and sorcerers of the world convene for a great celebration of the gift of magic. They arrive from all around the world for five days of festivities. Only those who practice the arcane arts can participate in the festival, which involves much debate about arcane pursuits, the relations between those who use magic and those who do not, the policies of the Council of the Five (see below), and other matters of interest to powerful magic users. Celebrants gather for a great competition, where powerful and rare magic items are offered as prizes. The Council of the Five determines the competition’s challenges in the days before the festival, so the nature of the contests change every year. However, there are always at least one in which contestants demonstrate raw magical skill, and one in which they show cleverness and creativity in the use of magic. Sometimes there is even a contest for apprentices, but that is at the whim of the Five.

Saints

Almost anyone who has contributed to the furtherance of knowledge and magic might be named a saint, and recorded in Tinelite annals. Sainthood is always awarded posthumously, and carries little weight, due to how often the faith awards it—for inventing new food preservation techniques, as noted previously, or a host of other accomplishments, of petty or grand import.

Type

Religious, Organised Religion