Spring Prayer

Spring Prayer (祈念式, kinen-shiki) is a religious ceremony held annually in early spring. During the ceremony, blue priests and shrine maidens travel around the duchy to fill the land with mana and make it fertile, increasing the annual harvest.

Over Ehrenfest's harsh winter, farmers leave their homes and move into local winter mansions, which house all the citizens of a village until spring arrives. Just before the farmers return to begin tilling and planting the soil, Spring Prayer takes place.

The blue priests and shrine maidens leave the temple in the city of Ehrenfest to travel all around the duchy. They take with them all the small chalices which were filled with mana over the winter during the Dedication Ritual, and deliver them into the care of each province's giebe. The chalices remain there until they are collected, along with the year's taxes, during the Harvest Festival.

In the Ehrenfest Central District, which does not have a giebe, the priests have to transfer the chalices' mana into useable form and distribute it to the local village chiefs.

Whether or not Spring Prayer is conducted has a serious, measurable impact on the year's harvest. If the ceremony does not take place, it will still be possible to farm for a few years, but the land will quickly become barren.

Because the Ehrenfest Central District does not have local nobles governing the farming villages, a collective ceremony is held at major towns where the mana is transferred from the sacred chalices into a liquid stored in buckets, making it usable by commoners.

During the ceremony, the highest-ranking blue priest present (or, less commonly, a noble volunteer such as Wilfried or Charlotte) stands on a stage covered in red cloth. The stage is usually located in the village's main plaza or other open field, and citizens of the town gather around to watch.

One of the priests says: "The Spring Prayer will now begin. Chiefs of this town and its neighbors, come forth."

The town's chief officials assemble on the stage, carrying lidded buckets about ten liters in size. The officiating priest holds the small chalice and pours mana into it, reciting the following prayer:

"'O Goddess of Water Flutrane, bringer of healing and change. O twelve goddesses who serve by her side. The Goddess of Earth Geduldh has been freed from the God of Life Ewigeliebe. I pray that you grant your younger sister the power to birth new life. I offer to you our joy and songs of glee. I offer to you our prayers and gratitude, so that we may be blessed with your purifying protection. I ask that you fill the thousand lives upon the wide mortal realm with your divine color.' "

As the prayer is spoken, the chalice begins to glow with golden light and fills with a shining green liquid (green being the divine color of Flutrane.) One of the priests present pours out the liquid into the buckets prepared on stage.

In some provinces, the residents of each village call out a prayer when their respective town's bucket is filled: "Praise be to Geduldh the Goddess of Earth and Flutrane the Goddess of Water!"

In areas governed by nobles, there is no need for blue priests to activate and distribute the mana stored in the chalices; the giebes of each province are capable of doing it themselves. Accordingly, the blue priest only delivers the chalice to the local giebe. When the chalices are handed over, the priest and giebe both recite traditional blessings.

First, the priest offers a prayer:

"'Thanks to the efforts of Flutrane the Goddess of Water, the bringer of healing and change, and the twelve goddesses who serve by her side, Geduldh the Goddess of Earth has been granted the power to birth new life. I pray from the bottom of my heart that the thousands of lives upon this mortal realm are filled with Flutrane's divine color.'"

To which the giebe replies:

"'Indeed, Geduldh the Goddess of Earth is filled with Flutrane the Goddess of Water's mana. Blessed be the melting of the snow. Blessed be the coming of spring.'"

The next day, the giebe performs the ceremony where mana is distributed from the chalice to farming villages, and the priests do not have any further involvement. In most provinces, commoners play music, dance and sing while the nobles hold a feast. Once the nobles have finished their meal, they join the festivities by performing sword dances, dedication whirls and songs to praise the gods.

How many chalices are given to a Giebe, depends on the status of the province. Counts receive three chalices, Viscounts two and Barons a single one.

Spring Prayer was originally a ceremony during which citizens would offer their mana, pray to the gods, and summon a true spring. While the knowledge of the ritual was lost, some of Ehrenfest's provinces (notably Haldenzel) still have ceremonial stages inscribed with magic circles for the purpose of conducting the ritual. It is also referred to as the Spring-Summoning Ceremony.

During the ancient ceremony, a religious song was performed that prayed for the melting of the snow and the arrival of Flutrane, the Goddess of Water. According to Rozemyne, the subordinate goddesses of Geduldh sang the song when seeking aid from the Goddess of Water after the God of Life tore them from Geduldh. The goddesses offered their power to the Goddess of Light and the Goddess of Water, praying for the Goddess of Earth to be saved.

The song begins:

"'I am the one who offers prayer and gratitude to the gods who have created the world. Grant an end to this world of pure white. Smash the all-consuming ice and free our Goddess of Earth...'"

The full lyrics of the song are recorded in the bible entrusted to the High Bishop of the Ehrenfest temple.

After the song is completed, the performers pray to the gods, which activates the magic circle. It drains the mana held in the small chalices as well as that of the participants, to such a severe degree that it can knock laynobles unconscious and cause mednobles to collapse.

When Rozemyne inadvertently causes the ritual to be revived in Haldenzel, a true spring appears overnight. A loud thunderstorm (said to herald the arrival of Verdrenner, the Goddess of Thunder and one of the Goddesses of Spring) is followed by sunny weather typically not seen in Haldenzel until summer. Snow melts and flowers bloom across the province. The effects are strictly limited to the borders of Haldenzel; the neighboring province remains covered in snow.