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Caþþùdhvèr / Cathyverism
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The major religion of the Cathileans
This public article was written by [Deactivated User], and last updated on 10 Aug 2016, 07:41.

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Caþþùdhvèr / Cathyverism
[käθy:ve:ɾ / kæθɨvəɹɪsm̩]
The most common religion in Cathilea



"The One"
There are no concrete myths about how the universe was created, though it is commonly assumed that The One (the major deity of Cathyverism,  Cathilean "Gaoennr" [gʷen:ʊɾ]) was just born out of nowhere together with the universe. Gaoennr was born just like human beings as a baby, and therefore, there was little of interest in the first part of the universe.

As Gaoennr grew older, he started to play with new things, and created planets and stars for various creatures to live on. In fact, Gaoennr treated the entire universe as his play area where he experimented with what he was able to create. Additonally, he created some minor gods, known as "mèðiuraegh" (sg. "mèðeor") in the form of centaurs, to protect his creations from the evil spirits that hid around in the dark, while he played more. At the time of modern Earth, Gaoennr is in the relative age of a human eight years old.

The Disappearance of Earth
However, one day, Gaoennr created something so beautiful that he had never before seen something alike. It was a green light that enlightened the entire universe. Gaoennr was so fascinated of this light that he was blinded for anything else, and nothing could stop him from just sitting there and watch.

It happened in these days that Earth fell into a hole and away from the presence of Gaoennr. While he was watching the green light, there was nothing that could save Earth and bring it back. Therefore, two of the mèðiuraegh, Òðeann /o:ðjän:/ and Almundr /älmyndʊɾ/, jumped after to prevent eternal darkness and putrefaction to take over Earth. But they did not come in time to prevent the evil spirits from decaying it. In the leadership of the corrupted mèðeor Lucqueann /lykjän:/, they made the lives of the beings that inhabited the Earth short, and filled their minds with evil thoughts for one another.

The green light Gaoennr created is still visible from Earth sometimes, and it is well known in English as northern light or aurora. In some religious stories, both Gaoennr and the northern light is condemned, but most people think that it is time to forgive (the little accident happened billions of years back, right?). However, even though he is the highest deity, he is not worshipped.

Òðeann and Almundr
The two mèðiuraegh that followed Earth into the darkness are still fighting against Lucqueann and his evil spirits. As Lucqueann is constantly trying to implement bad actions to the human beings, often referred to as lucquinaegh (sg. lucun) or sins, Òðeann and Almundr are fighting them to prevent them reaching the humans. However, the two mèðiuraegh have a slightly different way of defeating the sins:

Òðeann is the mèðeor that fights the sins directly. This means that he travels around on the sky to prevent Lucqueann's evil spirits to reach Earth with their intention of bad doings. When people pray to Òðeann, they give him hopes to fight for, and mental energy to support him in his fight. Formerly, it was also common to sacrifice either livestock or crops to give him strength.

Almundr fights against the sins in an entirely different way. His primary task is to give the humans strength so that they can fight themselves against those sins that Òðeann misses, so that they do not end up being evil and act badly upon eachother. When people pray to Almundr, they hope and pray for that he will not fail them and keep giving them strength to hold out the sins.

Thereby, we can sum it up in the following table:

ÒðeannAlmundrLucqueann
the Sky
receives power
hope
future
the Earth
gives power
forgiveness
past
darkness
evil
sins
bad things
gratitude
completeness


Rituals
There are three main religious rituals in Cathyverism: caelemìribh (dedicatory ceremony), qoimpe (marriage) and miembe (cremation).

Caelemìribh is a ceremony that is conducted at the age of seven, and then repeated at the age of seventeen. At the caelemìribh, a group of kids are taken with a priest up on a mountain where they have a better connection with the mèðiuraegh. Here, they learn about the religion and are told stories about the mèðiuraegh and gaoennr.

Qoimpe is the Cathilean equivalent to marriage. The ceremony involves that the pair and a priest goes up on a mountain where the priest marries them. There are no other people present at the marriage, but there is usually a big celebration when they come down. Married couples benefit from laws that do not affect unmarried couples. For instance, only married couples are able to adopt children.

Miembe is the ceremony when someone dies. The dead person is burnt, and the ash is taken up on a mountain and spread. It is believed that when this is done, the soul will travel with the northern light through the universe, and back to Gaoennr.

The perfectness hierarchy
Many critics involve that the deities of Cathyverism fail so much. Why cannot Òðeann and Almundr defeat the sins so that no one of them can reach Earth? Why was Gaoennr blinded by the light, so that the Earth fell away into nothingness?

This is explained by the theory that nothing is perfect. The perfectness hierarchy (mBhaourðònnuvèr) is therefore commonly used in Cathyverism. The highest perfectness ever achieved is the northern light. That is the reason why Gaoennr was blinded by it. However, even the northern light is not entirely at the top. The second entity on the scale is Gaoennr, followed by the mèðiuraegh, and finally humans.

It is not known how absolute perfectness is, and this have caused that in the Cathilean culture, one does not simply call anything "perfect". If you happen to do so, you will most likely be seen as a liar, as everything knows it is not. However, it is common to express perfectness in hopes and wishes, though you will have to expect that it will not come true.
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