His Fiery Hand, A Poem by Aliisa Kaikki Current Head Priest of the Church of Hormus
Brilliant globe of loving flame
Brought by our beloved
Laid to rest in our firmament
Our guiding light, on this day
Is most strong.In return we bring our love
To communal flame
We spend the night most short
Lighting divine soil
With mortal goods
Each year during the summer solstice thousands of villages, towns, neighborhoods and cities come together to burn a pyre through the shortest night of the year. The Fellowship of Flame and Sacrifice, or as it was first known among the people of Zoher “Liekin ja Uhrauksen Toveruus” is now a tradition with more than a millennia of observance. Other cultures have their own practices for the summer solstice, but few are conducted by as many each year as the Fellowship of Flame and Sacrifice.
History and Mythology
It is said that Hormus took from his own heart a beating, burning ember, and placed it in the sky to warm Attovia when it was naught but frozen ocean. On the 1st of Minui every year (Except leap years when it takes place on the 2nd) it is at its most powerful. In honor of this the warmth of the day is symbolically continued through the burning of a great bonfire through the following night.
Details
Each family unit or individual in a community is expected to bring some amount of fuel for the burning, as well as food or cooking supplies. Even the smallest amount is respected so long as it is was your own.
In the late evening the cooking begins, it is around this time that much storytelling and reading from Hormus’ Works and Wonders of Power and Sacrifice. When the first courses are finished the feasting begins, it often lasts several hours into the night before drinks are brought out and dancing begins. Finally in the earliest hours of the morning, those who have volunteered to do so tend the fire till dawn, dousing it with water when the sun first crests the horizon so as to not belittle its presence with their poor imitation.