Help needed ASAP: Hospitality rituals

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I'm looking for immediate help here, if possible:

My Midwood players have just entered the longhouse of a person of interesting parentage and she needs to practice some sort of ritual that will signify that neither party will be the first to turn on each other, making the longhouse a sanctuary against the monster-filled cold outside.

I'm going for a medieval Iceland/Finnish feel here, but barring that, any good flavorful ritual will work for me. This is all taking place in a temperate environment, atop a mountain high enough to have year-round snow.

Thanks for your help.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Many ancient hospitality rituals involved sharing scarce resources with their guests, demonstrating that the guest is considered part of the household, at least for now:

1) Sharing clean, cool water in a desert environment would be a good sign- in a wintery setting, sharing the leader's private hot-spring bath-house/sauna would be an indication of trust- what says trust more than hanging out naked & unarmed together?

2) Sharing salt and/or bread (almost anywhere).

3) Sharing choice fresh meat in the depths of winter. Alternatively, serving the guest the best of the veggies- almost unobtainable in some regions during the winter.

4) Sharing a fine wine or liquor, fish, or the like by a culture that doesn't produce anything like that- IOW a rare delicacy that can usually only be acquired through trade with faraway lands.

5) Exchange of valued weapons, helms, trophies, cultural crafts, keys or other symbols of personal or political power. In some cultures, the exchange of a good (in game terms, "masterwork") knife is a symbol of lifetime brotherhood between huntsmen or men-at-arms.

6) The Japanese Tea Ceremony and the Native American ceremony of smoking a pipe are 2 classics, and could be adapted to almost any culture- just pick your culture's ceremonial beverage or smokable of choice.

7) The sharing of blood- either by "slice 'n' mingle" or consumption from special vessels- between 2 people has been used as a symbol of binding persons to a vow. It could be symbolic of a lifetime of brotherhood or fealty, or merely a symbol that one's failure to abide by an agreement carries with it the penalty of forfeiture of life.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

She's already busted out a bottle of homemade slivovitz. I think #6 will work great. (And, ironically, mirrors something that happened to me in Bosnia, which I somehow completely didn't think of applying here.)

Thanks!

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Glad to be of help...

You know, it occurs to me that at least one of our ENworlders has a Finnish wife- I think its S'mon, but it could be Shilsen or Aus Snow...I just can't remember who.

If you have a way to message them, they might have further insight.

If not, you might want to edit your thread's title to be "Finnish Hospitality Rituals" to better catch his eye.

 

[ekb]

1 - An exchange of "Stormpeace?" while looking in each other's eyes.
2 - Within my kindred, whenever we greet a stranger wanting to join our rites we clasp hands AND embrace. The hands are fully seen and nothing is going on "behind the back."
3 - More formally at dining, we'll each take turns pouring cups from the same bottle, emphasizing the shared nature of the space...

Just some thoughts based on modern behaviors, that's all