Agrarian Peasant Quest

[mcclay]

Dulcitsy, The Primust Church and Their Relation to the Medieval Peasant:

It may be hard for modern readers to imagine a time when the center of almost every community was the village church, where most decisions happened not in the courthouses and palaces of state, but between men and women after service in the back of their own basilica. Dulcitsy was one of the major pillars of medieval life, and in the western world its main voice was the Primust Church. To better understand this far off world of knights and peasants, let us dive into Dulcitsy and the Primustism through the eyes of a average peasant.

Folk Dulcitsy:

According to the Libros and Dulcitsy tradition Iona of Hadera, later known as Iona Dulcit, was born in the small coastal town of Betdagim (Lit: House of Fish) during the Reman occupation of Levia. She later moved to Hadera where she worked as a mason and builder, constructing housing for native Elsharaites and Reman settlers alike. Around when she was 30 years of age, according to the Libros, Iona began her first ministry and gained a wide circle of disciples, called the Apostles. During this time she is said to have done many miracles, such as curing a deaf man and fashioning working limbs out of clay for a man who had been horribly maimed. She taught that all men and women were equal under the god of the Leviites; known as El, God or The Lord, that peace was the true path to paradise and that one must be humble and just to be a good man. She also claimed to be the daughter of El, the promised Messiah of the Levvite people. For this she was captured by Reman soldiers, paraded through the streets wearing gag of nails and then hung on a cedar tree. Five days later, according to Dulcitsy, she emerged from the tomb after being brought back from the dead by her father. In the Libros it says that she reached out to her followers and told them that one day she would lead them all to heaven before going up to Paradise to be with her father.

Dulcitsy attempts to bring the words and teachings of Iona, as well as her Disciples and other philosphers, into the lives of its practitioners. Peace, charity, kindess and justice are put above all in the religious texts. An interesting feature of Ducitsy is the existence of 'Holy Spirits'. According to Dulcitsy some places of the world are so filled with holy power and energy, or are naturally holy due to the purity of nature (Which one is more prevelant depends on the sect), that they are sentient and alive. Almost all Dulcitsy sects of the Middle Ages believed that these Holy Spirits, along with Saints, the souls of martyrs and church leaders who had been blessed by El, could speak to the high angels and even El himself on behalf a petitioner. This process, called Intercession, was a main pillar of worship in the Middle Ages.

The peasantry, living out in rural villages, often only knew a single priest, whatever man happened to be preaching from their small village church. In the smallest or poorest of villages, those without a church or a shrine big enough to hold a congregation in, would get their spiritual needs met by traveling priests who went from village to village bringing the word of Dulcit. The village church would be a standard basilica, a large hall broken up by pillared colonnades with a apse at the end that held an altar. Often times the church would be the only building in the village with windows, and if it was rich enough those windows would be stained glass showing scenes from the Libros. The altar and the beams of the church would be made of cedar, the tree that Dulcit was hung upon, even in poor villages; a church without at least a cedar altar was considered a place lacking in spirituality and would focus its collection efforts heavily on acquiring one. On said altar would be a noose, in the peasant village often carved stone, the symbol of Dulcitsy.

Holy Spirits also played a massive role within the life of the peasant. While the Primust Church, which we will get to in the next installment, held a strict list of places that were considered to be Holy Spirits, out in the rural countryside these things were less regulated. A wandering bishop might shake his head at a group of peasants offering up prayers to a large oak tree and the city dwelling burgher might laugh at a farmer breathlessly telling him about how the nearby stream had answered his prayers, as every burgher knew the center square of their town was the only Holy Spirit near by, all had to deal with this minor heresy to avoid upsetting the rural population. Heavy handed attempts by kings and bishops to stop worship at local shrines had historically resulted in brawls, riots and outright rebellion, the most famous of which being a two day long battle between royal troops and peasants over the latter's worship of a local brewery. This state of affairs was kept by a ruling at the 956 Council of Clegres, which decided that some areas could 'temporarily house medicant Holy Spirits'. While this state of affairs was detestable to a overly pious member of the nobility and to theologians, for the peasantry it suited them just fine.