Religion of the Picts
Thousands of years of prowling darkly fantastic forests and reeking black swamps creates a rather sinister outlook on the gods and the spirit world. Religion and dark spirituality infuse everything the Picts do. Hunting and war are spiritual activities for the Picts. The building of cities and the making of clothing are spiritual exercises. Minor ceremonial gestures accompany some of the most routine of activities and deeds. There is no separation of state and religion for the Pict, no such thing as secular and spiritual divisions. Thus, religious activities are an important focus for tribal life. Many of the dire festivals and appalling ceremonies held by the savage Picts focus around the cycles of the growing and hunting seasons. Singing, dancing and feasting, along with elaborate, darksome ceremonies conducted by shamans, generate unity and co-operation among the Picts. Like any religion, the dark beliefs of the Picts provide them with inner strength, purpose and a sense of belonging. Devilish rites for birth, marriage, death, harvest, the hunt, war and even unfulfilled wants and desires are important to the tribes.
Dark Rites in the Dim Forests and Daunting Swamps The Picts are renowned for their particularly bloodthirsty rites to satisfy unsavoury gods and horrible black spirits. Although not all of their ceremonies are as gruesome and gory as might otherwise be inferred, a great many are. Some ceremonies involve human sacrifice; others involve animal sacrifice, such as dogs or deer. Some sample rituals are discussed below. The Games Master is encouraged to create additional rites and ceremonies to suit his needs for the campaign.
‘Who knows what gods are worshipped under the shadows of that heathen forest, or what devils crawl out of the black ooze of the swamps?’ Robert E. Howard, Beyond the Black River
The Feast of Souls When a Pict dies the shaman calls for the Feast of Souls, an elaborate burial ritual. Burial customs vary from tribe to tribe, but most either bury their dead with stakes or an earthen mound to mark the site or they place the corpse in a bark coffin on a platform raised eight to ten feet off the ground. Everyone in the village prepares food for the deceased’s family and it is eaten by the tribe in a barbaric feast as villagers give gifts either to the family or to the corpse. This ceremony is to help the soul of the deceased make a successful journey to the afterlife. The Picts, however, differentiate the soul from the ghost, and the ghost of the deceased wanders the homes of the Picts until the Feast of the Dead is performed every decade or so.
Pictland
Dark Rites in Pictland
The Feast of the Dead When a village is moved to a new location the final ritual performed at the location of the old village is the feast of the dead. The women gather the bones of all the Picts who have died, strip the bones of any remaining flesh and wrap them in beaver pelts. The men dig a common grave as the putrid remains are gathered and stripped. The bundles of skeletons are draped over long poles and mingled into the communal pit. Gifts are exchanged, usually beaver robes, and a general celebration is held as the ghosts of the dead are relieved from haunting the location further.
Sacred Places of Sinister Signs and Shadowy Portents The world is alive and teeming with benevolent and malevolent spirits, many of whom resent the intrusions of man upon their damp woodland. Many of these spirits exist in greater concentrations or closer to this realm in certain places of strange aspect. Each tribe has at least one holy site, sacred to their village and their shaman. Rarely, however, do more than one tribe share the same sacred ground, and the tribes do not often respect the hallowed sites of other tribes. These sites might be places of great beauty, past tragedy or incredible weirdness. All of these grounds are tainted with power, however. The Picts also believe that underwater
63
