Mageroa is a polytheistic religion that originated in Southwestern Marcwith. With ties to the Echtoan religion, the majority of Mageroa practice is based in what are thought to be concepts from the lost population of Lar Chamlek, more commonly known as the Westerners. Mageroa focuses on the veneration of deities known as Atua. Various myths and stories are told about these Atua which are regarded as subservient to a transcendent creator deity, Ephelele.
Practitioners of Mageroa are primarily found in Southern Marcwith and the islands although communities exist in other parts of the Marcwith and Asiri Asa, especially among the uembian diaspora in Fylan. Both in the islands and abroad it has spread far beyond its origins and is practiced by individuals of various backgrounds.
Beliefs
There is no central liturgical authority within Mageroa, which takes both domestic and communal forms. Much regional variation exists within Mageroa as well, including differences in how it is practiced in rural and urban areas and in how it is practiced both in the islands and among the international uembian diaspora. Practices vary between congregations, mostly revolving around interactions with the Atua. Practitioners gather together for services in which they commune with the Atua. The religion operates through a system of graded induction or initiation. The mastery of ritual forms is considered imperative. Mageroa has a strong oral culture, and its teachings are primarily disseminated through oral transmission.
Mageroa venerates one true God known as Ephelele. This God is the result of battling forces called alephek and esskimánci, more commonly known as X and Y. For Mageroa practitioners, Ephelele is regarded as a remote and transcendent figure, one which does not involve itself in everyday affairs, and thus there is little point in approaching it directly. Despite acknowledging a single supreme deity, Mageroa is usually characterized as a polytheistic religion. It teaches the existence of a broader range of deities, known as the Atua, a term has varyingly been translated as "gods", "spirits", or "guardians". The Atua can offer help, protection, and counsel to practitioners.
The Atua are regarded as the intermediaries of the transcendent creator deity, although they are not seen as moral exemplars which practitioners should imitate. Each Atua is viewed as having its own personality and is associated with specific colors, days of the week, objects, and even taboos. When angered, the Atua are believed to remove their protection from their devotees or to inflict misfortune; hence the naming of certain historic events like Kol’s Melancholy. Atua can also communicate with humans through dreams and through the possession of human beings.
In Mageroan belief, an individual who turns to the Atua to harm others is known as a Rōvōduša or Rovo. These practitioners deal in malevolent spirits contained in the form of various animals. They are also believed to work with jụAtua (false or fallen Atua) because the good Atua have rejected them as being unworthy. According to popular belief, these rovo engage in expeditions, setting the dead against an individual in a manner that leads to the sudden illness and death of the latter. It is commonly believed that an object can be imbued with supernatural qualities which then generates misfortune and illness. In the islands, there is much suspicion and censure toward those suspected of being rovo.
The curses of the rovo are believed to be countered by the actions of the ariki, who can revert the curse through an exorcism that incorporates invocations of protective Atua, massages, and baths. In a few areas, some ariki have been accused of actively working with rovo, organizing for the latter to curse individuals so that they can financially profit from removing these curses.
Practitioners of Mageroa revere death, and believe it is a great transition from one life to another, or to the afterlife. Some Mageroa families believe that a person's spirit leaves the body but is trapped for one year and one day. After then, a ceremonial celebration commemorates the deceased for being released into the world to live again. After the soul of the deceased leaves its resting place, it can occupy trees, and even become a hushed voice on the wind. Other practitioners believe there is an afterlife in paradise in the realm of Ephelele, similar in concept to the ‘final death’ in many other world religions.
Practices
The nocturnal gatherings of Mageroans are often referred to as the menari. The proceedings can last for the entirety of the night. The shaking of shell or nut rattles is said to summon the Atua to join the rite. Songs may then be sung lasting from minutes to an hour. The main Atua are then saluted, individually, in a specific order. Each Atua may be offered either three or seven songs, which are specific to them.
The rites employed to call upon the Atua vary. During large-scale ceremonies, the Atua are invited to appear through the drawing of patterns by akiri or xhoosai. Also used to call down the spirits is a process of drumming, singing, prayers, and dances.
“Feeding” the Atua is of great importance in Mageroa. Offering food and drink to the Atua is the most common ritual within the religion, conducted both communally and in the home. The choice of food and drink offered varies depending on the Atua in question.
An offering of grains, fruit, and vegetables often precedes a simple ceremony. An ariki will also organize an annual feast for their congregation in which animal sacrifices to various Atua will be made. Once selected, the food is then placed on special bowls of shell, nut, or sacred wood, which are located on the altar. Some foodstuffs are alternatively left at certain places in the landscape, such as at a crossroads, or buried. Libations might be poured into the ground.
Occasionally, Mageroan culture dictates animal sacrifice. The intent and emphasis of sacrifice is not upon the death of the animal, but upon the transfusion of its life to the Atua; restoring the divine energy of the god.
Spirit possession constitutes an important element of Mageroa and is at the heart of many of its rituals. Mageroans believe that the Atua renews itself by drawing on the vitality of the people taking part in the dance.
Mageroa practitioners believe that during this process, the Atua takes individual and displaces their consciousness. The length of the possession varies, often lasting a few hours but in some instances several days. It may end with the individual collapsing in a semi-conscious state. The possessed individual is typically left physically exhausted by the experience.
Once the Atua appears and possesses an individual, it is greeted by a burst of song and dance by the congregation. The individual is often escorted into an adjacent room where they are dressed in clothing associated with the possessing Atua. Once the individual has been dressed, congregants kiss the floor before them. The individual will often then join in with the dances, dancing with anyone whom they wish to, or sometimes eating and drinking. It is believed that in some instances a succession of Atua can possess the same individual, one after the other.
Possession facilitates direct communication between the Atua and its followers; through the individual, the Atua communicates with their devotees, offering counsel, chastisement, blessings, warnings about the future, and healing. Atua possession has a healing function in Mageroa, with the possessed individual expected to reveal possible cures to the ailments of those assembled. Any clothing that the individual touches is regarded as bringing luck. The Atua may also offer advice to the individual they are possessing; because the latter is not believed to retain any memory of the events, it is expected that other members of the congregation will pass along the Atua's message at a later point.
Healing practices play an important role in Mageroa. In the islands, ariki may advise their clients to seek assistance from medical professionals or may also send their patients to see a Tesh. Amid the spread of the viruses in the islands during contemporary times, health care professionals raised concerns that Mageroa was contributing to the spread of disease, both by sanctioning sexual activity among a range of partners and by having individuals consult ariki for medical advice rather than doctors. These claims have been overwhelmingly found to be based on religious and cultural bias, although may be a true concern in remote areas with little or no access to professional healthcare.
Hierarchy
Priests are referred to as ariki. The ariki are tasked with organizing liturgies, preparing initiations, offering consultations with clients using divination, and preparing remedies for the sick. There is no established priestly hierarchy, with the various ariki being largely self-sufficient. In many cases, the role is hereditary.
Mageroa teaches that the Atua call an individual to become an ariki. If an individual refuses this call misfortune may befall them. A prospective ariki must normally rise through the other roles in a Mageroa congregation before undergoing an apprenticeship with a pre-existing ariki lasting several months or years. After this apprenticeship, they undergo an initiation ceremony, the details of which are kept secret from non-initiates.
Ranked below these figures are the xhoosai, individuals who make a lifetime commitment to serving the Atua. Members of either sex can join the xhoosai, although the majority of people who do so are female. The xhoosai have many duties, such as cleaning the temple, carrying out animal sacrifices, and taking part in the dances at which they must be prepared to be possessed by an Atua. The ariki are responsible for overseeing initiatory ceremonies whereby people become xhoosai, for training the xhoosai more broadly, and for acting as a counselor, healer, and protector of the xhoosai. In turn, the xhoosai are expected to be obedient to their ariki.
Initiation
Practitioners may be encouraged to undertake stages of initiation into a state of mind called sakhalava. Successive initiations are required to move through the various sakhalavas. However, it is not a requirement to be an initiate to serve one's spirits.
There are typically four levels of initiation, the fourth of which makes someone an ariki. There is much variation in what these initiation ceremonies entail. Initiation is generally complex and requires significant preparation.
The first part of the initiation rite begins with a ceremony in which palm leaves are frayed, after which they are worn by the initiate, either in front of their face or over their shoulder. During the rite, the initiate comes to be regarded as the child of a particular Atua.
This is followed by a period of seclusion within the temple known as the icyumba. The icyumba is meant to be an uncomfortable experience for the initiate. Mageroans believe that one of the two parts of the soul is removed from the initiate, thus making space for the Atua to enter and reside there.
After the period of seclusion in the temple, the new initiate is brought out and presented to the congregation; they are now referred to as xhoosai. The initiation process is seen to have ended when the new initiate is first possessed by an Atua.
Festivals
Festival of Masks – Holiday for Maithah. A mid-fall ceremony that includes celebration of the harvest and of community. Performances depicting the lives of other Magoran and Echtoan gods are extravagantly costumed; the day is an offering of life and joy to the god Maith-ah, who represents a cyclical nature as well as a hidden nature, masks are her common element, so many masks are worn. They are often frightening because the holiday is celebrated at the end of the year when death is more common, but these masks are celebratory – they protect from evil spirits who wish to prevent or retard the cycle. It is almost a mash-up of carnival, Halloween, and that cadomble/African festival I can’t recall the name of currently. Although few places give a day off for this holiday, it is widely accepted and attended.
Dahm Als Day – Two Lovers Day. An early spring ceremony celebrating King Giagara’s departure from the world. The original holiday is a complicated one full of mourning as well as joy; the Lord has left the land once again melancholic, for his lovers never stay, but the destruction he causes is also gone. It is as if he has taken all the passion and all of the rage out of the world at once. It is similar to Fat Tuesday, although most modern people celebrate it like Valentine’s Day because of the romantic associations of Giagara.
Given - Month of Sacrifice to honor ancestors. This holiday is a strange mix-up of Hwoxin-born Uembians and not strictly Mageroan. This 40-day long ‘holiday’ is marked at the end with a day of mourning and fasting. Anyone born in the month of Given is meant to lead a life of service, although this is not strictly enforced. Anyone born of the final day of mourning during Given is meant to wear black or gray for the rest of their lives as a tribute to their ancestors and may be considered re-incarnations depending on the practitioner’s faith. Valentine, who was born on the day of Mourning, comes from a family with traditional Hwoxin ideals. Thus, he was not seen as a reincarnation but rather a martyr – a representation of his ancestors suffering moreso than a person in his own right.
Institutions
A Mageroan religious building is referred to as the temple, church, or temple home. Most communal activities center around this temple, forming what is called "temple Mageroa". The size and shape of these temple can vary, from basic shacks to more lavish structures; their designs are dependent on the resources and tastes of the ariki who run them. Temples are autonomous of one another and may have customs that are unique to them.
The main ceremonial space within the temple is known as the great room. The great room ideally has an earthen floor, allowing libations to the Atua to drain directly into the soil. This is often not possible, however, with libations instead being poured into an enamel basin on the floor. Some great rooms feature a range of seats around the edge of the room.
Adjacent rooms in the temple include altars where a number of stonework altars stand against the wall or are arranged in tiers. The alters rooms are also used to store ritual clothing. Many alters also have a sink which is sacred to the Atua. If space is available, the temple may also have a room set aside for the patron Atua of that temple. Many temples have a room known as the icyumba, in which the initiate is confined during their initiatory ceremony. Some temple will also have additional rooms in which the ariki live.
The area around the temple often contains a range of sacred objects. These for instance include a pool of water for Lothes Kol. Sacred trees sometimes mark the external boundary of the temple and are encircled by stone-work edging. Hanging from these trees can be found straw sacks, strips of material, and animal skulls. A range of animals, particularly birds but also some mammal species such as goats, are sometimes kept within the perimeter of the temple for use as pets and sacrifices.
Various spaces other than the temple are used for Mageroa ritual. Cemeteries are seen as places where various spirits reside, making them suitable for certain rituals. Crossroads are also ritual locations, selected as they are believed to be points of access to the spirit world. Other spaces used for Mageroa rituals include rivers, the sea, fields, and markets. In Mageroa, various trees are regarded as having spirits resident in them and are used as natural altars.
Spaces for ritual also appear in the homes of many Mageroans. These may vary from complex altars to more simple variants including only images of Atua alongside candles. The creation of sacred works plays an important role in Mageroa.
History
Demographics