Baptism

Baptism (洗礼式, senrei-shiki) is a religious ceremony in Yurgenschmidt. It is held when a child turns seven, marking the beginning of their life as a full-fledged member of society and conferring the rights of citizenship.

Both commoner and noble children are baptized, although the details of the ceremony differ between the two. Among the commonalities are:


 * Citizenship Registration . To become a citizen, a child registers their mana on a small silver disk that is then entrusted to the highest-ranking local authority. Commoners who cannot channel their mana do this using a blood fingerprint.
 * Clothing. On the day of the baptism, a child dresses in white clothes embroidered in the divine colour of the season they were born, as well as a sash around their waist, also in the seasonal divine colour.
 * Prayer and Scripture Readings. During the ceremony, children are read the tales of the gods out of the bible and taught how to pray.
 * Blessing. At the conclusion of the ceremony, the priest will bless the newly baptised children. This can either take the form of just a purely verbal blessing, or a true blessing.

Unlike commoners, nobles do not visit the temple for their baptism.

There are two way in which nobles can be baptised, either in a private ceremony at their parents' estate or in a combined ceremony at the archduke's castle in winter.

Noble parents of children born in spring, summer, or autumn have the option to commission a priest to come to their estate to hold the baptism ceremony there. The precise cost of a visit by a priest depends on how high-ranking said priest is. To be baptised by the High Bishop or High Priest is a very prestigious affair, and accordingly quite costly.

Apart from the immediate family, noble parents also invite a number of guests in accordance to their standing, with the number of guests in archnoble baptisms potentially reaching into the hundreds.

Noble children born in winter all have their baptism in a combined ceremony at the archduke's castle. This even includes the Aub's own children.

Noble families, who either lived too far away from the capital, and thus the temple, to get any priest to visit them at the proper time or who are unable to afford the hiring of a priest to come to their estate, can also have their children baptised in winter at the archduke's castle, alongside the winter-born children.

At this occasion, the priest assigned to the task at the castle will baptise all the candidates in order of their family's status, going from lowest to highest.

The baptism ceremony for each child starts with the child being called up by the priest, who will then hand over a magic tool that allows the child to register their mana on the citizenship medal. This doubles as a final test. Should the child be unable to fill the tool with their mana, they will not be allowed to became a true noble, though it is exceedingly rare for such children to not be weeded out long before their baptism. Once a child touches the mana-filled magic tool to the medal, it will light up in all the colours that the child as elemental affinities for.

With the citizenship registration done, the parents of the child will gift him or her a magic ring, symbolizing their elevation into the ranks of the nobility. To finalize the ceremony, the priest will bless the child, and with their new ring, the child will in return bless the priest to show their gratitude.

In private ceremonies, this is followed by the guests introducing themselves to the child in order of rank. This part is omitted for the winter ceremony, where all the children are baptised in order and the event moves directly into the winter debut.

Following right after the winter baptism, all noble children baptised in this year have their formal debut in noble society on the same stage that the baptism itself took place. In the presence of all of Ehrenfest's nobles, save for the absolute minimum of knights that are required to keep the duchy safe during winter, the children are called to the stage one by one in order of rank from lowest to highest. Once up at the stage, they are introduced to the gathered nobles and then have to perform a song dedicated to their birth season's patron deity. They will sing and play the harspiel completely on their own.

If a noble child has been adopted into another noble family, this is also announced at this occasion.

In the capital city of a duchy, where the temple is located, baptisms are held on the first seasonal day of each season.

Processions begin in the main streets at the edge of the city and progress to the central plaza. Once all the processions have gathered, they then move on to the temple. While moving, the wealthy children walk in the front, while the poor children walk in the back. Only the children themselves may enter the temple for the ceremony, while the adults wait outside. Once in the temple, they are registered by blue priests using blood to mark the silver disks and then are sat on carpets. To keep the noise down and suppress the screams of the more squeamish children having their finger pricked, the temple employs magic tools that dampen any sound from the children to a mere whisper. Once all the children are registered, the High Bishop then arrives and tells the children the shortened version of the story of the gods and seasons after which they are taught how to pray. Finally the Temple Hierarchy blesses the children with the relevant god's blessing.

For all other commoners, the baptism ceremony is held during the Harvest Festival. Since everyone is baptised at the same time of the year, clothes can be handed down no matter when in the year they were born. The ritual is the same as the capital city, where the children are registered, read the story of the gods and seasons, taught to pray, and then blessed.


 * Since under Bezewanst the blessings spoken over commoners were mere words, without any mana in them, and due to his long reign as High Bishop, Rozemyne's true blessings are seen as an unusual novelty.
 * Rozemyne's baptism was performed by Ferdinand. To help solidify her title of Saint of Ehrenfest, her guardians instructed her to bless every person present. This caused great surprise among the nobles, which in turn caught Rozemyne off guard, since she had assumed that such big blessings were the norm in noble baptisms, until she witnessed the stunned reaction of the audience.