Chapter 1573 — After the Celebration
Blade of Dawn · Page 2 of 4
The one before Virodai was none other than the Saintess of Abundance who had presided over the daytime rites. But now she had no accompanying priests, nor was she wearing clerical robes. She stood there like an ordinary citizen, looking entirely like someone enjoying the festival. Hearing Virodai's question, she spread her hands: "Didn't you say so yourself? The grand sacrificial rite is over—my work is done. The assistant priests and clerics in the temple will handle what follows."
"I see—that is rather different from the Sunstar Sect. When I was still a saintess in the Northern Church, I was much busier than you," Virodai said, as if in passing. "So it seems you are here enjoying the festival?"
"Is that so strange? The gods bless the earth, so enjoying the joys of this earth is the best way to answer the gods," the Saintess of Abundance said matter-of-factly. "Tonight, everyone may enjoy themselves here to the fullest—including you and me."
For a moment Virodai did not answer. She only raised her head to watch the dancing girl spinning on the wooden platform, and after a long while she said softly, as if to herself: "There is a Rebirth Festival every year. There was one before the Theocratic Council was founded, and there still is one after. For the followers of the God of Harvest, this is the day the Three Goddesses bless the earth, but for most nonbelievers, the Rebirth Festival is merely a celebration."
"I agree with you," the Saintess of Abundance said calmly. "For nonbelievers, today is only a celebration. But this celebration has been passed down for thousands of years, and it cannot be denied that the influence of the Three Gods of Abundance has become an indispensable part of it. When the Rebirth Festival comes, people hang dried wheat ears at their doors, regard the dew on the grass that day as a good omen for the beginning of the year, and eat sweet pies. These customs are found in several countries, whether or not the people of those regions believe in the Three Goddesses—but as an executor of the Council, you must know that these so-called customs are in fact variants of certain articles of the ancient Abundance doctrine."
Virodai listened quietly. She knew the other spoke the truth, and she had acknowledged these facts from the beginning. As Gao Yang had once told her—the power of faith had grown on this land for tens of thousands of years, running through the history of Loren civilization from beginning to end. It was not an impurity that could be excised from culture, nor a "disease" that could be "cured" in a short time. The rituals, norms, and dogmas derived from faith had imperceptibly become essential links in the operation of the mortal world; they had become habits in ordinary people's speech, courtesies in social intercourse, and even the standards by which people judged fortune and misfortune in daily life.
The Theocratic Council could reshape the churches, adjust the currents of thought, and loosen faith into a harmless force, but in the end, certain things that had evolved into social customs were extremely difficult to eradicate completely, because these things... were already part of civilization.
Like tonight's celebration, like the dancing girl spinning in the cold wind, like the children in new clothes weaving through the crowd, and like the parents who could only fret helplessly no matter how much their children ran wild—
The gods have said that on the night of the Rebirth Festival one should be lenient with one's children, for the gods are displeased by children's crying. Ordinary people outside the Church of Abundance might not know this precept existed at all, but almost everyone knew that one must not beat one's children on the Rebirth Festival.