Thoxhde is regarded as the indigenous religion of Hwox and as a nature religion. There is no central authority in control of the movement and much diversity exists among practitioners. Thoxhde is polytheistic and revolves around the huta, supernatural entities believed to inhabit all things. The link between the huta and the natural world has led to Thoxhde being considered animistic and pantheistic. The huta are worshiped at household shrines, family shrines, and public shrines. The latter are staffed by priests who oversee offerings to the huta and the provision of religious paraphernalia such as amulets to the religion's adherents. Other common rituals include ritual dances, age specific celebrations, and seasonal festivals. A major conceptual focus in Thoxhde is ensuring purity by cleansing practices of various types including ritual washing or bathing. Thoxhde does not emphasize specific moral codes other than ritual purity, reverence for huta, and regular communion following seasonal practices. Thoxhde has no single creator or specific doctrinal text but exists in a diverse range of localized and regionalized forms.
Beliefs
The beliefs of Thoxhde have mixed only very little through their minor occupation on mainland Marcwith through their uembian slaves.
Thoxhde is a polytheistic belief system involving the veneration of many deities, known as huta. As is often the case in the Hwoxin language, no distinction is made here between singular and plural, and hence the term huta refers both to individual huta and the collective group of huta. This term has varyingly been translated as "god" or "spirit". However, there is no exact equivalent for the word huta, and such translations can be quite unsatisfactory and misleading.
In Hwox, huta have been venerated since prehistory. According to Hwoxin mythology, there are eight million huta, and Thoxhde practitioners believe that they are present everywhere. They are not regarded as omnipotent, omniscient, or necessarily immortal. Some huta are regarded as being essentially malevolent and destructive.
Huta are seen to inhabit both the living and the dead, organic and inorganic matter, and natural disasters like earthquakes, droughts, and plagues; their presence is seen in natural forces such as the wind, rain, fire, and sunshine. Accordingly, Thoxhde regards the actual phenomena of the world itself as being divine. The Thoxhde understanding of huta has also been characterized as being both pantheistic, and animistic.
Huta are often associated with a specific place, often one that is noted as a prominent feature in the landscape such as a waterfall, volcano, large rock, or distinctive tree. The huta is seen as being represented in the shrine by objects commonly chosen for this purpose include mirrors, swords, stones, beads, and inscribed tablets. Many practitioners visiting the shrine never see these objects, which is concealed from their view. Huta are believed to be capable of both benevolent and destructive deeds. Offerings and prayers are given to the huta to gain their blessings and to dissuade them from engaging in destructive actions. Thoxhde seeks to cultivate and ensure a harmonious relationship between Hwoxins and the huta and thus with the natural world. More localized huta may be subject to feelings of intimacy and familiarity from members of the local community that are not directed towards more widespread huta.
In Thoxhde, it is seen as possible for Hwoxins to become huta. Dead Hwoxin are sometimes venerated as huta, being regarded as protector or ancestral figures. One of the most prominent examples is that of the Keisari Arnoon, who on his death was enshrined as the huta Krýndurhoofd, believed to be a protector of Hwox and a huta of war. In some cases, living Hwoxin beings were also viewed as huta, and several Thoxhde sects have viewed their leaders as living huta.
Although some huta are venerated only in a single location; others have shrines devoted to them across many areas of Hwox. Krýndurhoofd for instance has around 300 shrines dedicated to him. The act of establishing a new shrine to a huta involves inviting the huta to enter a new place where it can be venerated. Individual huta are not believed to have their power diminished by their residence in multiple locations, and there is no limit on the number of places a huta can be enshrined. In some periods, fees were charged for the right to enshrine a particular huta in a new place. Shrines are not necessarily always designed as permanent structures.
Many huta are believed to have messengers, known as huta ibenül, and these are generally depicted as taking animal form. The messenger of Alareh, for example, is depicted as a fox, while the messenger of Krýndurhoofd is a dove. Thoxhde cosmology also includes spirits who cause malevolent acts. Hwoxin folklore also incorporates belief in the unquiet or vengeful spirits, particularly of those who have died violently and without appropriate funerary rites. These are believed to inflict suffering on the living, meaning that they must be pacified, usually through funerary rites but sometimes through enshrining them as a huta.
Thoxhde texts attest to the presence of multiple realms in Thoxhde cosmology. These present a universe divided into three parts: Plain of High Heaven, where the huta live; the Phenomenal or Manifested World, where Ka’a’Crede dwell; and the Nether World, where unclean spirits reside. The mythological texts nevertheless do not draw firm boundaries between these realms. Thoxhde places greater emphasis on this life than on any afterlife. A common view among Thoxhde priests is that the dead continue to inhabit our world and work towards the prosperity of their descendants and the land.
A key theme in Thoxhde thought is the importance of ensuring purity. In Hwoxin thought, Hwoxins are seen as fundamentally pure. Impurity is therefore seen as being a temporary condition that can be corrected through achieving purity. Rites of purification are conducted so as to restore an individual to spiritual health and render them useful to society.
This notion of purity is present in many facets of Hwoxin culture, such as the focus it places on bathing. Among the things regarded as particular pollutants in Thoxhde are death, disease, witchcraft, incest, bestiality, and excrement. To avoid impurity, priests and other practitioners may engage in abstinence and avoid various activities prior to a festival or ritual. Full immersion in the sea is often regarded as the most ancient and efficacious form of purification. An alternative is immersion beneath a waterfall. Salt is often regarded as a purifying substance; some Thoxhde practitioners will for instance sprinkle salt on themselves after a funeral, while those running restaurants may put a small pile of salt outside before business commences each day. Fire, also, is perceived as a source of purification.
In Thoxhde, the way of the huta describes the law of the natural order. Thoxhde incorporates morality tales and myths but no overarching, codified ethical doctrine; however, the way of the huta influence certain ethical views focused on sincerity and honesty. Thoxhde's flexibility regarding morality and ethics has been a source of frequent criticism..
Practices
Individual worship is often conducted at a shrine. A visit to a shrine typically takes only a few minutes. These rituals usually take place not inside the tane (temple) itself but in front of it. The general procedure entails an individual approaching the tane where the practitioners place a monetary offering in a box before ringing a bell to call the attention of the huta. Then, they stand while silently offering a prayer. When at the shrine, individuals offering prayers are not necessarily praying to a specific huta. A worshipper may not know the name of a huta residing at the shrine nor how many huta are believed to dwell there. Thoxhde shrines do not have weekly services that practitioners are expected to attend.
Some Thoxhde practitioners do not offer their prayers to the huta directly, but rather request that a priest offer them on their behalf. Many individuals approach the huta asking for pragmatic requests. Before a building is constructed, for example, it is common for either private individuals or the construction company to employ a Thoxhde priest to come to the land being developed and perform an earth sanctification ritual. This purifies the site and asks the huta to bless it.
Thoxhde rituals begin with a process of purification, or purity. This entails an individual sprinkling water on the face and hands. Another form of purification at the start of a Thoxhde rite entails waving a white knife or wand known as the Sèvitè. When not in use, the Sèvitè is usually kept in a stand. The priest waves the Sèvitè horizontally over a person or object being purified in a movement known as left-right-left. Sometimes, instead of a Sèvitè, the purification is carried out with a branch of evergreen.
Following the purification procedure, offerings are presented to the huta by being placed on a table. Historically, the offerings given the huta included food, cloth, and hand-crafted weapons, although blood was considered the greatest offering. In the contemporary period, lay worshipers usually give gifts of money to the huta while priests generally offer them food, drink, and sprigs of the sacred trees. Animal sacrifices are not considered appropriate offerings as only Hwoxin blood is pure enough to be accepted by the huta. The offerings presented are sometimes simple and sometimes more elaborate.
After the offerings have been given, people often sip rice wine or honey wine. Drinking the wine is seen as a form of communion with the huta. On important occasions, a feast is then held inside a banquet hall attached to the shrine complex. The huta are believed to enjoy music, so these events are often accompanied by musicians.
Many Thoxhde practitioners also have a family shrine in their home. These usually consist of shelves placed at an elevated position in the living room. The popularity of family shrine increased greatly during the Warring era. Family shrines can also be found in workplaces, restaurants, shops, and ocean-going ships. Some public shrines sell entire family shrines, as ancestral reverence remains an important aspect of Hwoxin religious and secular tradition.
Family shrines often hallow the huta of a nearby public shrine as well as huta associated with the house's occupants or their profession. They can be decorated with amulets obtained from public shrines. They often contain a stand on which to place offerings; daily offerings of rice, salt, and water are placed there, with sake and other items also offered on special days. Prior to giving these offerings, practitioners often bathe, rinse their mouth, or wash their hands as a form of purification.
The use of amulets is widely sanctioned and popular in Hwox. Some act as amulets to keep off misfortune and also serve as talismans to bring benefits and good luck. Another type of amulet provided at shrines and temples are small, brightly colored drawstring bags with the name of the shrine written on it.
Thoxhde priests are known in Hwoxin as Însoţi. Many Însoţi take on the role in a line of hereditary succession traced down specific families. In contemporary Hwox, there are two main training universities for those wishing to become Thoxhde priests. The number of priests at a particular shrine can vary; some shrines can have over 20 priests and others have none. Some priests earn a living administering to multiple small shrines, sometimes over ten or more.
Priests are free to marry and have children. At smaller shrines, priests often have other full-time jobs, and serve only as priests during special occasions. Before certain major festivals, priests may undergo a period of abstinence from sexual relations. Some of those involved in festivals also abstain from a range of other things, such as consuming tea, coffee, or alcohol, immediately prior to the events.
The priests are assisted by mažainţi. These mažainţi are typically unmarried. In many cases they are the children of a priest or a practitioner. They are subordinate to the priests in the shrine hierarchy. Mažainţi receive only a small salary but gain respect from members of the local community and learn skills such as cooking, calligraphy, painting, and etiquette. They generally do not live at the shrines. Sometimes they fill other roles, such as being secretaries in the shrine offices, clerks at the information desks, or serving at feasts. They also assist Însoţi in ceremonial rites.
Another type of priest are the specialized körältere. The körältere are blind practitioners who train to become spiritual mediums in the northern region of Hwox. Körältere train in the role from childhood, memorizing sacred texts and prayers, fasting, and undertaking acts of severe asceticism, through which they are believed to cultivate supernatural powers. In an initiation ceremony, a huta is believed to possess the person, and the two are then ritually "married". After this, the huta becomes their tutelary spirit and they will henceforth be able to call upon it, and a range of other spirits, in future. Through contacting these spirits, they are able to convey their messages to the living. Körältere usually carry out their rituals independent of the shrine system.
The formal recognition of events is given great importance in Hwoxin culture. A common ritual entails a child's first visit to a Thoxhde shrine. Another is a coming-of-age ritual marking the transition to adulthood and occurs when an individual is around twenty. Wedding ceremonies are also often carried out at Thoxhde shrines. In Hwox, funerals tend to take place at Tamashp or Ectoan temples with Thoxhde funerals being rare outside of initiated Însoţi, körältere, or mažainţi. In cases when dead Hwoxins are enshrined as huta, the physical remains of the dead are not stored at the shrine.
Shrines
The architectural styles of Thoxhde shrines have not largely changed since becoming permanent structures. The inner sanctuary in which the huta is believed to live is usually off-limits with prayers and visits taking place just outside. Subsidiary shrines to another huta may exist nearby, though the huta inhabiting these shrines are not necessarily perceived as being inferior. At some places, halls of worship have been erected. On a lower level can be found the hall of offerings. In some shrines, there is a separate building in which to conduct additional ceremonies such as weddings.
Shrine entrances are marked by a two-post gateway with either one or two crossbeams atop it. These are regarded as defining the area where the huta resides; passing under them is often viewed as a form of purification. More broadly, these gateways are internationally recognized symbols of Hwox.
Shrines are often set within gardens, even in cities. Others are surrounded by wooded groves. These vary in size, from just a few trees to sizeable areas of woodland stretching over mountain slopes. Larger shrines often have an office and other buildings such as a priests' quarters and a storehouse. Various kiosks often sell amulets to visitors. In the past 200 years shrines have had to be financially self-sufficient, relying on the donations of worshippers and visitors.
Shrines may be cared for by priests, by local communities, or by families on whose property the shrine is found. In Thoxhde, it is seen as important that the places in which huta are venerated be kept clean and not neglected. It was common for Thoxhde shrines to be demolished and rebuilt at a nearby location so as to remove any pollutants and ensure purity. This has continued into recent times at certain sites with some being moved to an adjacent site every two decades.
Festivals
Festivals are the central act of Thoxhde worship because Thoxhde is a community and family-based religion. According to a traditional view of the lunar calendar, Thoxhde shrines should hold their festival celebrations on the days of the new, full, and half-moons.
Spring festivals often incorporate prayers for a good harvest. They sometimes include ritual planting ceremonies and primarily focus on thanking the huta for the rice or other harvest. Winter festivals often feature on welcoming in the spring, expelling evil, and calling in good influences for the future. There is little difference between winter festivals and specific new year festivals.
Many people visit shrines to celebrate new year. There, they buy amulets and talismans to bring them good fortune over the coming year. To celebrate this festival, many Hwoxin put up rope on their homes and places of business. Some also put up an arrangement of pine branches. In many places, new year celebrations incorporate “honor festivals” in which participants dressed only in a special undergarment resembling a loincloth meant to display scars from previous offerings to the huta. These may also involve feats of strength and endurance. Both sexes may participate without restrictions.
Processions or parades during Thoxhde festivals are common. During public processions, the huta travel in portable shrines. The processions can be raucous, with many of the participants being drunk. They are often understood as having a regenerative effect on both the participants and the community. In various cases the portable shrines undergo a process by which they are carried to the seashore and sometimes into the sea, either by bearers or a boat. They are placed in a shrine there for several days before being paraded back to a tane.
History
Hwox religion has been looked down upon since their first arrival in Vinumera. Body modification and ritual bloodletting were common practice at the same time the Deerless population were exploring major surgery; to them the Hwoxin practice would appear unsanitary and thus low-class. Although the Arnoon family briefly held control over the northern empires of Marcwith, their eventual retreat to the west and the North Island (Hwox) saw the removal of their culture from the development of modern Marcwith. With few practitioners outside of Hwox and rampant misinformation, Thoxhde is left unappreciated by the majority of the population.
Demographics