The First Hollownight
The Descent of the Rime-Within · the Birthday of the Church
“And suddenly there came a sound of rushing cold wind, and there appeared tongues as of white frost-fire resting on each of them; and they were filled with the Rime-within.” — Acts of the Frostwalkers (Book) 2:2–4
The First Hollownight is the feast, kept fifty days after the Whitening (and ten after the Rising), of the descent of the Rime-within — the holy Cold-breath — upon the apostles gathered in stillness, by which the church (the Drift) was born and empowered to proclaim the Cold to all nations. It closes the fifty-day Whitetide.
The Story Kept
As the apostles kept the Hollownight together in the upper room of Wintermere, the Rime-within descended with a sound of rushing cold wind and tongues of white frost-fire; the apostles spoke the Cold in every language, and the gathered nations heard. Corin preached, and three thousand were sealed in the The Frostmark that day. (See Acts of the Frostwalkers (Book) 2.)
The Keeping of the Feast
- The Frost-Fire — the Frosthall is hung with white-and-aurora colors; lamps of pale flame-white light are kindled (the one season the Cold’s “frost-fire” is figured by light).
- The Many Tongues — the readings and hymns are sung in many languages at once, recalling the gift of tongues and the universal mission.
- The Great Frostmark — the chief day (with the Whitening) for adult Frostmarks and the Deepening (confirmation), the sealing with the Rime-within.
- The Winds of the Cold — in some lands, drums and pipes imitate the “rushing cold wind.”
Theology
The First Hollownight celebrates the Rime-within, the third of the Three Colds given to the church: the indwelling Cold-breath that re-freezes hearts (The Doctrine of Stilling (Salvation)), unites the faithful into one body, and empowers witness. It is the birthday of the Drift (the church) and the beginning of the church’s age — the long season between the Rising and the Rewhitening in which the gospel is carried “to the warmest ends of the earth.”