Ossecrássió

General introduction

In Tarrabaenian religion calling to the gods for help, luck, support or success is called ossecrássió (pl.: ossecrássióvés). These ossecrássióves are widespread and are performed in different ways, depending on who asks on behalf of whom and to what end. While an ossecrássio is, in the strictest sense, only the prayer formulated for the individual situation, but the term also became an umbrella term for the accompanying steps of the prayers and how they are conveyed to the gods.

Kinds of ossecrássió

Petitús

Private people perform ossecrássióvés in different situations in which they assume to require help or guidance by the gods. Farmers for examples make petitús (sg.: petitus) to agricultural deities to ask for a boon to help grow crops. When pests ravage fruit or harvest, the gods are implored as well. Pregnant women or their husbands formulate a petitus to ask for a healthy development of the child, the mothers well-being or an easy birth. Merchants may direct a petitus to deities of wealth to ask for good business or to deities of woods, mountains or the sea to effect safe passage for their caravans.

Petitús are generally quite simple in nature and are performed without the aid of religious specialists. Commoners go to temples or shrines or sacred sites like Cassa (pl.: cassé) and make a small sacrifice, mostly food items or small handycraft items. It has become a fashion for pregnant women for example to make small knitted dolls called línes (pl.: línés) as a sacrifice when formulating a petitus for their own or their childs health. Sometimes people ask priests of the deity they want to adress for help with choosing the sacrifice.

Festivia

A festivió is always bound to a holiday and exclusively performed by religious specialists in honour of the deity the holiday is connected to. These ossecrássióvés are more general and adress the needs of the public, but often with a more local colouration, as most of these holidays are only regionally celebrated. It is common to have festivia connected to Pompé, but not necessarily.

A well known example is the Persullásió in the city of Tegetta, which is held annually in autumn to pray to the mountain god to not send too cold and harsh winds down in the winter. Here the festivió is held by one priest and one carúspétor out on an altar in the wilderness, while the public feast starts on their return to the city in the evening without any pompa.

Prómnia

A prómnió is a public, officially held ossecrássió on behalf of the whole Tarrabaenian people. Prómnia are almost exclusively performed in Savína and involve one or a number of the major temples of the capital. A prómnió is a major event, of course, which is often held either in connection with a special event, like a military campaign or an attack suffered. There are also regular prómnia, which fall on certain days of the calendar. One of those is connected to the Pompa revoris and is adressed to the Triparié to ask for a good growing season and a good harvest for all of Tarrabaenia in early spring.

Cultural significance

Ossecrássióvés play a role in private as well as public religious life in Tarrabaenia and can thus be seen as a major cultural trait of Tarrabaenian culture. The ossecrássióvés of the prómnia and festivia-type structure the year of the Tarrabaenians and as such also give orientation and guidance for events and scheduling unrelated to religion.

While prayers and sacrifices to the gods are performed in various different religious systems, the ossecrássió is special as it has a democratic element and can - in one form or another - performed or whitnessed by every member of the society, unless parts of it take place in the forbidden areas of the temples. This also lends the role of an activity overarching all strata of society to the ossecrássióvés.