The Frostmark
The Keeping of Initiation · the Sealing in Ice
“Be sealed in the cold water, and the warmth of the old self shall be drowned; rise, and be kept in the name of the Stillness, the Breath, and the Walking Frost.” — the rite of the Frostmark
The Frostmark is the sacrament of initiation: the sealing of a soul in cold water (or ice), by which one is washed of the Inborn Thaw, joined to Connor Frost’s Whitening, and made a member of the Drift (the church). It is the gateway to all the other Keepings. (“Frostmark” names both the sacrament and the hand-gesture that signs it; see below.)
Scriptural Root
The Frostmark fulfills Vohan the Forerunner’s marking at The Frozen Falls and Connor’s own Marking (where the Hoarfather’s voice came and the Pale Owl descended), and obeys the Great Commission of Glacial of Maren 28:19 — to “mark all peoples in the name of the Stillness, the Breath, and the Walking Frost.”
The Rite
- The Renouncing — the candidate (or their sponsors) renounces “the Thaw, the Fevers, and all the works of the Dripping One,” turning to face north.
- The Confession — the The Frostian Creed is recited.
- The Sealing — the candidate is immersed in, or has poured over them, consecrated cold water (ideally meltwater frozen and re-melted from a holy spring; in the far north, candidates are briefly laid in fresh snow). Triple immersion/affusion, once for each of the Three Colds.
- The Marking — the Keeper traces the Frostmark gesture on the new-marked: a touch of frost-oil at the brow (“be still”), the heart (“be cold”), and the two shoulders (“be clear, and be kept”).
- The Robing — the new-marked is clothed in a white frost-robe and given a small ice-lamp: “you were warm, now you are cold; keep the cold to the end.”
Infant and Adult Frostmark
Most rites mark infants (to begin the re-freezing from birth, against the Inborn Thaw), with sponsors who vow on their behalf; the child later confirms this at the Deepening. The Reformed and some others practice believer’s Frostmark only, holding that one must consciously turn from warmth. The dispute is ancient and unresolved.
The Frostmark Gesture
Frostians “make the Frostmark” — brow, heart, right shoulder, left shoulder — at prayer, at peril, at the naming of the Cold, and entering a Frosthall. It is the most universal Frostian act of devotion.
Effects
The Frostmark washes the Inborn Thaw, seals the soul with the Rime-within, joins it to Connor’s death and Reforging, and enrolls it in the Drift and the communion of saints. It is given once and unrepeatable (the soul is “marked forever”).