JEYRIALL,
SANTHARIAN
GODDESS
OF HARVEST |
Jeyriall is
the Santharian goddess responsible
for sentient, animal, and plant fruitfulness and increase. She rules over all areas
of reproduction (although not coupling itself) and was the Goddess who breathed
life into the created earth and its occupants.
Names. Jeyriall is also known as
the Lady of the Cup, the Fruitful One, Goddess of Increase, Jeyriall of the Harvest,
and the Wombmistress.
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Appearance.
The Fruitful One, as Jeyriall is also called, is inevitably depicted as a lovely,
amply-bosomed female with rounded white limbs and long auburn hair. Fruits and
flowers frame her face or deck her body, and the fall colours of reds, golds,
and browns are commonly used to suggest the richness of the harvest. Jeyriall’s
full red lips are often shown closed in a mysterious smile, enigmatic in its
promise of bounty. She is clothed in brocades of the same colours, often
patterned with leaves or tendrils, and sometimes crowned with a wreath of
braided grain. Her hands are always full: sometimes she holds a cup, sometimes a
basket, sometimes fruit, vegetables, or even a baby animal. Most recently she
has been painted as young and slender, but the oldest versions (some flaking
ochre frescos deep in the Noarian caves, dating from the time of
Myths) seem
to suggest a more mature, maternal figure, and sculptural depictions of a
pregnant Jeyriall discovered in the Voldar area bear this guess out. The tiny,
fist-sized statue that graces the altar at the lovely Jeyriallene Temple in the
Vale of Kalir (near Nyermersys) is of unknown antiquity and shows a female of more
than generous breasts and thighs, almost spherical in her amplitude.
Mythology.
Jeyriall is one of the Twelve Gods or High Spirits (Aeolía) who sprang from the
Dream of Avá the Beautiful according to the
elven myth as related in the
Cárpa'dosía. Together with
Baveras (Goddess of the Sea) and Seyella (the
Goddess of Destiny), Jeyriall is one of the three Goddesses dedicated to the
Element of Water.
The eighth month of the
Santharian Calendar, Sleeping
Dreameress, (or Maáh'valannía,
Maáh'valannía, in Styrásh) is associated with Jeyriall.
Lore.
Jeyriall was a primary part of the creation of
Caelereth, particularly responsible for
the actual beings that emerged as reflections of Avá’s Dream. As
Urtengor and
the other Gods had finished their designing of Caelereth, Jeyriall breathed
life into the Earth and so plants, vines and flowers emerged (consisting of
Earth, Water,
Fire - meaning will - and
Wind as the idea of its completeness
every living being targets for). Finally Jeyriall made the birds, the fish and
the animals, which could view the results of creation themselves, and
Arvins,
Armeros and Queprur
instructed the newly formed beings in hunting and killing and Jeyriall revealed
to them the secret of loving and giving birth in order to maintain the
circle of life.
Jeyriall and Armeros coupled and bore offsprings, the Titans: In the so called
Great Year when all the other Gods made the skies, the stars, the mountains and
the seas, Jeyriall and Armeros had to wait until they could begin their assigned
tasks of giving life and war, harmony and contradiction to
the designed world. So together they withdrew to a beautiful green valley on an
isle surrounded by high mountains which
Urtengor had made for their rest. As they were all
alone with themselves and thought about the deeds of the other
Gods the will to create overwhelmed them and they lay
together. And eventually their
secret love produced four children with divine qualities:
Avásh'estár (Avásh'estár), the Titan of the Wind, Mód'estár
(Mód'estár), the Titan of Earth,
Már'estár (Már'estár), the Titan of Water and finally Efér'estár
(Efér'estár),
the Titan of Fire.
Importance.
Jeyriall, as can be seen from her many names, is the Goddess of
Growth and
Increase (although she takes little interest in
Etherus’ domain of sensuality,
lust, and sex solely for sex’s sake).
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Fecundity, abundance, and reproduction, whether of plant
or animal, are all in Jeyriall's demesnes. She holds sway over all crops, medicinal herbs, and cultivated
vegetation. Pregnant beings and animals come under her auspices, particularly
strongly at the full moon. For example the Jeyriallene
Purification Rite is widely spread in most parts of
Santharia, a bath pregnant women take in
or near a temple of the Goddess during the last days of pregnancy. It is meant
as much more than just a physical cleaning, being combined with an extensive
praying session and thus a spiritual preparation for giving new life, which was
received months ago from the hands of the Goddess of Fertility.
Jeyriall's nature is generous and life-loving, and thus is easily swayed by any threat
to the continued existence of her creatures. During harvest time there is always
a chance of a sprinkle or two of rain, in the changeable fall weather, and these
short showers are referred to as “Jeyriall’s Tears” - the saying being that the
Goddess is weeping for the cut crops. There are a number of simple ceremonies
often performed at this time, with the pious intent of cheering up the mournful
deity, but with the overt desire for the rain to stop so the harvest can be
gotten in expeditiously!
One such typical action is to make a woven trummel, or basket in a
characteristic shallow inverted dome-shape. When filled to overflowing with
fruits and vegetables it is known as the Jeytrum. It is frequently seen in
sculpted form as the base for statues of Jeyriall, and is a common offering from
rural districts to their local temple. Farmers and peasants often also construct
the Cornplat, a sheaf of grain plaited roughly into human shape, with the heads
of the grain flowing upwards and out to represent hair. The Cornplat is then
hung on an exterior wall where it overlooks the household until next year’s
planting, at which time it is taken down, burnt, and its ashes scattered on the
newly broken ground.
A noisy farmer’s dance sometimes takes place in rural communities, where the men
of the village dress in women’s clothing and borrow assorted household metal
items: old pots, broken implements, large scissors with loose blades...
anything
that can be clinked, banged, or bashed to make a rhythmic noise will do. They
cavort through the village and out around the boundaries of as many plowders as
they can manage before their legs and ears tire. The women and children of the
village follow them delightedly, clapping and stamping in time, and improvising
wreaths from whatever vegetation is in leaf at the time. Oddly enough, unlike
many so-called harvest celebrations, this “Jinglin’ Leap”, as it is named, does
not end in a free-for-all orgy, but rather at the nearest tavern.
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Symbols.
Jeyriall is represented by the colours umber (soft yellow), pink, purple, and
peach, which stand for the ripe autumn shades of harvest time. She is evoked by
the full moon, all stonefruits (peach, plum, cherry, apricot, etc.), islands,
the period of dawn (sunrise), low hills, triangles/circles, grain and grass,
and the flowers of the foridus. All household containers are sacred to Jeyriall,
such as bowls, jugs, baskets, and most particularly cups. Animals said to be
specially favoured by her are the
rubit, the golden
butterfly, the harvest
mouse, and the Strata
cow.
Jeyriall's most famous symbol is the Cup; a deeply-bellied goblet with a simple flared
handhold and base, cast or molded in one piece. Stylized as an upright
semicircle with a long triangle beneath, the Cup stands for all the bounties
which Jeyriall loves to pour out upon her worshippers. It can also be seen as a
pregnant belly, a bent head upon a graceful long neck, a symbol of insemination,
or the moon poised over a mountain.
Celebrations.
Obviously the eighth month (Sleeping Dreameress) of the
Santharian Calendar is
sacred to Jeyriall, and the entire harvest season cannot be gotten through
without constant awareness of her presence and involvement. See notes above.
However, in the third and fourth months (Ploughin and Seeddown to the peasants,
Awakening Earth and Changing Winds respectively to the nobles) there are also
two days set apart for her observances. The eighth day of the third month is
generally considered an auspicious time to break the ground (may be later in
some more northward regions) and is called Frostturn Day. Plowblades, shovels,
axes, and other bladed implements undergo a rather suggestive ritual in which
they are ceremoniously greased with fresh butter in before being sunk into the
earth. Traces of this custom may still be seen among the city folk, who slide
their knives through (rather than wiping them across) the pat of butter on the
table before cutting their bread. The eighth day of the fourth month is,
somewhat unauspiciously, named Mód'estár (Mód'estár) or “Earth-Giant”, but it is the
day appointed to get one’s seeds or seedlings into the ground - and everyone
knows that it’s dreadfully bad fortune to start planting earlier. Seeds may be
‘set’, or ‘started’ inside, of course, but the plots of land must remain empty
until 8th Seeddown.
Temple Design.
Places sacred to Jeyriall range from tiny plowdar-corner shrines built out of
stray field rocks to monolithic temples which form the showpiece of a city.
Whatever the size or complexity, however, they are inevitably triangular or
pyramidal in shape. Wayside and field shrines are usually a pile of rocks set up
in a cairn, often with a bowl or cup inserted into one of the sides which can be
filled with milk or other food offerings.
The larger temples often have an area of cultivated or planted ground around
them, even in the busiest cities, and many jutting balconies, ledges, planters,
and open spaces to maximize vegetative space. Water is an often-used decorative
feature; flowing, falling, trickling through carved gutters, or in a still pond.
Often built from orange or golden sandstone, Jeyriallene temples have a rich
glow to their exterior which is often enhanced by the use of actual gold on the
window trim, planter boxes, and capstones.
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Inside, the temples are equally welcoming, with a serenity enhanced by the quiet
light, the gurgle of flowing water, and the large, curved rooms. They often
serve as sanctuaries for pregnant women who are experiencing complications with
their pregnancy or who are actually ready to give birth and wish to be assisted
by the midwife-priestesses of the temple. Often their deeper rooms are used as
food storage by the city, and it is said that the pyramidal shape of the temple
has something to do with the fact that grain, root vegetables, and even smoked
meat will stay fresh for far longer than in other cold storage areas.
Temple Locations.
The most famous Jeyriallene temple, the Temple of Water and Earth (Styrásh
Már'mód
or Már'mód), can be found at the northwestern border of the central
Santharian province of Sanguia. It is
located near the small town Nougvin in the midst of the Maehetilon Forest at the
Anaios Gap and was built upon the river Vong, which drops into the unknown of
the Anaios Gap.
The temple was erected between 690 and 675 b.S., honoring
the Goddess as well as
Diraton of Caelum, the
Centoraurian hero who sacrificed his life leading many dark elves directly
into the Anaios Gap. The lovely
landscaping repeats the triangular form of the main building
of the temple, and
the balconies are thickly planted with herbs.
The temple represents a wonderful composition of various Jeyriallene themes and
aside from its religious importance also is a magnificent piece of architecture.
The second most important Jeyriallene temple is the so-called Astharói (Styrásh:
Astharói,
lit. "Threes"), consisting of three triangular buildings forming another triangle in
honor of the Goddess. The Astharói is located in northern
Santharia, at the province of Nermeran in
fertile plains of the Vale of Kalir, near the province's capital,
Nyermersys. The temple is embedded by
mountain ranges with the Ishmarin lake close by and is not only a wonderful site
but also an often visited place for pilgrims of this Water Goddess.
"Theme
of Jeyriall", composed and performed by
Macar Format: MP3, Length: 4:06. Original Santharian Work Click here to download the song, use right-click and "Save as..." (3.76 MB). ![]() |
Information provided by
Bard Judith
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