Pilgrimage in Frostianity
The Cold Road · the Customs of the Pilgrim
Pilgrimage (Frostian: the Cold Road, the Going) is a central devotion of the faith: the journey on foot through cold and hardship to a holy place, undertaken as penance, thanksgiving, petition, or simple longing for the The White Horizon. The pilgrim “walks the world’s cold as Connor walked it,” and the road itself is a long The Stilling.
The Great Pilgrimages
- The Northing — to The Glacier of the Sepulchre at Wintermere; the supreme pilgrimage, “to the empty tomb of the Reforged.”
- The Way of Embers — Connor’s passion-route through Wintermere, walked especially on Ember Eve (see The Way of Embers (Pilgrimage)).
- The Firstsnow Road — to Hollowfrost for the Firstsnow vigil at the birth-shrine.
- The Climb of Hoar — the ascent of Mount Hoar at the Rising and the Lawfeast, halting at the Forty Stations.
- The Falls Pilgrimage — to The Frozen Falls for re-blessing at Aurora Night. Lesser pilgrimages go to the shrines of the saints and their relics, and to the monasteries of the The Order of the Silent Drift.
The Customs of the Pilgrim
- The Pilgrim-Furs — the pilgrim dons plain frost-grey furs (the color of penitence), setting aside warm comfort and finery.
- The Frostwood Staff — a staff of pale frostwood, “to lean on the cold road.”
- The Vow of Stillness — many take a vow of silence or reduced speech for the journey, keeping the The Hours of Frost along the way.
- The Scrip and the Star — a simple scrip for bread and water, and the The Sixfold Star sewn on the breast or worn as a pilgrim-badge.
- The Cold Welcome — at journey’s end, pilgrims keep vigil, make the The Frostmark, and often carry home a token (meltwater from a holy lamp, a shard of ice, a star-badge).
The Theology of the Road
Pilgrimage enacts the truth that the whole Frostian life is a journey through the cold toward the White — that the kept are “strangers and pilgrims” in the warm world (see First Letter to Corin’s Flock). The hardship of the road is embraced as a cooling of the The Seven Fevers; the destination is a foretaste of arriving at last in the The White Horizon. “Every road north is a small rehearsal of the road home.”